PAINTING BY COLUMBIA FALLS ARTIST
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Mental Chaos" by Mandi Zeiler

TUCSON, Ariz., July 6, 2001 - A painting by Mandi V. Zeiler of Columbia Falls, Mont., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. The Collection features artwork by people with neuromuscular diseases from across the country.

Zeiler's "Mental Chaos" is an oil painting depicting a silhouetted head -- chin in hand, obviously in deep reflection -- surrounded by swirls of thoughts and emotions.

Zeiler, 20, has spinal muscular atrophy, which primarily affects the motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. She's used a wheelchair since age 8. Zeiler uses a standard easel while painting, then rotates it to give her better access to all parts of the canvas.

Zeiler's fascination with painting and drawing began when she was 2. She's a junior at the University of Montana, majoring in fine arts with a minor in media arts, particularly computer animation. Zeiler also features her work, along with a selection of original poetry, on her own Web site at www.experimentalartists.com. (Mandi's married name is now Ziino).

"We're honored to have such a powerful and evocative painting by Mandi Zeiler in the permanent MDA Art Collection," said MDA Senior Vice President and Executive Director Robert Ross. "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 Zeiler will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and will be included in MDA Art Collection traveling exhibits. The MDA Art 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 260 works by artists ages 2 to 82 and represents 48 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.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA maintains a clinic for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at St. Vincent Hospital and Health Center in Billings, Mont.

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