TWO PIECES BY LANSDALE PHOTOGRAPHER ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Greystone Castle"

TUCSON, Ariz., June 16, 2003 — A pair of digital photographs taken by Carl Yeager of Lansdale, Pa., have been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Art Collection. Now in its 12th year, the Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.
“Greystone Castle,” taken in 1999, depicts a stone building from the ground up, giving the photograph an almost ominous feel. “Winter, Sepia Gold,” also taken in 1999 in Yeager’s backyard, depicts a clump of grass surrounded by snow that seems to reflect the gold of the sun shining on it.

Yeager enhanced the tones of the photos using Paint Shop and Photoshop software.
Yeager, who describes himself as a “photographic graphic artist,” has been a photographer since 1972. He used to develop his photographs in a conventional chemical darkroom, but now uses a film scanner to input his negatives into a personal computer for cropping, tonal control and color mixing.

Yeager, 54, has spinal muscular atrophy, a motor neuron disease that causes his hands to shake, necessitating the use of a tripod for his photography. Yeager also tires easily and uses a tracheostomy tube for respiration.

"Winter Sepia Gold"

“We’re deeply honored to welcome Carl Yeager’s work into the permanent MDA Art Collection,” MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. “His contributions to our Collection will undoubtedly move all who see them as they travel to galleries and museums as part of special exhibits of the Collection.”

The new additions by Yeager 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 some 300 works by artists aged 2 to 82 and represents all 50 states. Each artist is affected by one of the neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.

Selected art from the Collection has been exhibited at prestigious venues across the country, including the Dallas Museum of Art; Forbes Magazine Galleries in New York; Bishop Museum in Honolulu; Chicago Public Library; and the Los Angeles Children’s Museum.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA maintains three clinics in Philadelphia for adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases, at Children’s Hospital, Drexel University College of Medicine and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

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