DRAWING BY SALEM YOUNGSTER ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

TUCSON, Ariz., August 24, 2001 - A mixed media drawing by Kaitlyn Kulesz of Salem, N.H., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. The Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

"Having Fun in the Sea" by Kaitlyn Kulesz

Kaitlyn's "Having Fun in the Sea" uses both pencil and crayon to depict a person rowing a boat while a porpoise frolics nearby with a ball in its mouth.

Kaitlyn, 10, is affected by congenital muscular dystrophy(CMD), a form of muscular dystrophy that is detectable at birth. The disease causes generalized muscle weakness and causes her to tire easily.

Kaitlyn has been drawing "forever - ever since I could hold a pencil," she says. The fifth-grader at St. Joseph Regional Catholic School enjoys singing and playing the piano. She also holds a first-degree black belt in karate.

"We're honored to have such a charming and playful drawing by Kaitlyn Kulesz 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 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 a clinic for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, N.H.

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