DRAWING BY GREAT FALLS WOMAN
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"A Friend's Dog" - by Susan Kinney

TUCSON, Ariz., July 19, 2001 - A sketch by Susan Kinney of Great Falls, Mont., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. The Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

Susan's "A Friend's Dog" was drawn using a black sketching pencil. The sketch features such attention to detail that the dog's surprised, quizzical expression is plainly apparent.

The artist is affected by Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a genetic disorder that results in weakness, particularly of the muscles of the hands and lower legs.

Susan, 41, has been drawing since childhood. She also enjoys cross-stitching and creating computer graphics, which she displays on her Web site, www.smkgraphicstudio.com.

"We're honored to have this wonderful sketch by Susan Kinney in the permanent MDA Art Collection," said MDA President 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 Susan Kinney will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and will 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 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 clinics for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at St. Vincent Hospital and Health Center in Billings, Mont., and at the Benefis Therapy Center in Great Falls.

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