PAINTING BY BOYNTON BEACH ARTIST ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Portrait of Jerry Lewis," by Chrystal Bates

TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 12, 2001 - A painting by Chrystal J. Bates of Boynton Beach, Fla., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. The Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

Bates' "Portrait of Jerry Lewis" is an acrylic painting of a posed and smiling Lewis, MDA's national chairman and number one volunteer. Bates painted Lewis from a photograph and eloquently captures his trademark smile and bright, expressive eyes.

Bates, 60, has been painting since she was a teen-ager. She attended Famous Artists School in Westport, Conn., where she studied both commercial and fine art. She has taught art and worked as a medical secretary, and she enjoys sewing, music and genealogy. Bates is affected by spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive motor neuron disorder that causes weakness in the arms, legs and torso.

"We're delighted to have such an eye-catching portrait by Chrystal Bates in the permanent MDA Art Collection," said MDA Senior Vice President and Executive Director Robert Ross. "It was kind of Ms. Bates to use her talents in a way that honors MDA's national chairman. Her contribution to our Collection will undoubtedly delight all who see it as it travels to galleries and museums as part of special exhibits of the Collection."

The new addition by Bates will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and be included in MDA Art Collection traveling exhibits. 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 permanent Collection currently comprises more than 250 works by artists ages 2 to 82 and represents 44 states. Each artist is affected by one of the neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.

Selected art from the Collection has been exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art; Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center and Forbes Magazine Galleries in New York; Tucson Museum of Art; Bishop Museum in Honolulu; Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; Los Angeles Children's Museum; University of California-Berkeley and Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Duluth Art Institute; Capitol Children's Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich.

Visitors can also send an e-Postcard featuring one of a variety of selections from MDA's Art Collection.

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 a clinic for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at Broward General Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.