TUCSON, Ariz. – The Woods Memorial Branch Library in the Pima County Library System will display some 30 selected works from the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Art Collection, all created by artists with muscle-damaging diseases.

“Transcending Barriers: Selections from the MDA Art Collection” runs from Aug. 1 to Sept. 15 at the Woods Memorial Branch Library, located at 3455 N. First Ave., and is open seven days a week. Admission is free.

The MDA Art Collection features works by adults and children across the country that are challenged by obstacles imposed by muscle-damaging diseases. The Woods Memorial Branch Library exhibit comprises 30 works from adults and young artists in acrylics, watercolors, pastels and photography.

The exhibit highlights works by artists from 17 states, including “Self-Portrait” drawings from four local Tucson youth and three paintings by young artists from the Phoenix area.

“It’s a great honor to have MDA Art Collection selections on display at the Woods Memorial Branch Library,” MDA President & CEO Gerald C. Weinberg said. “We’re inspired by the talented children and adults who have contributed to the Collection and delighted to share their remarkable works with the people of Tucson.”

The MDA Art Collection’s permanent home is MDA’s national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. Samples of the Collection also can be viewed at mda.org/about/community-programs/art-collection/. The Collection was established in 1992 to focus attention on the achievements of artists with disabilities and to emphasize that physical disability is no barrier to creativity.

The Collection currently comprises more than 385 works by artists aged 2 to 84, representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each artist is affected by one of the more than 40 diseases in MDA’s program.

Selected art from the Collection also has been exhibited at Dallas Museum of Art; The Forbes Collection in New York; Bishop Museum in Honolulu; Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; Los Angeles Children’s Museum; JFK Center at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Capital Children’s Museum, Washington; the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich.; and the Tucson International Airport.

MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education.

MDA maintains two clinics in Tucson: the Children’s Clinics for Rehabilitative Services and The Mucio F. Delgado Clinic at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.