MARKER DRAWING BY PICO RIVERA YOUTH
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Camp Fun"

TUCSON, Ariz., June 27, 2003 — A colorful drawing by Alexis Marie Villa of Pico Rivera, Calif., has 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.

“Camp Fun” follows a popular theme among MDA’s young artists — MDA summer camp. Alexis, 7, uses brightly colored magic markers to depict children frolicking in the water, with a cheerful sun smiling down on them. On the nearby pier, an empty wheelchair sits forgotten, representing the essence of the MDA summer camp experience — a week during which kids with neuromuscular diseases can focus on fun.

Alexis, the daughter of John and Sonia Villa, serves as MDA’s State Goodwill Ambassador for California, and photographs of her have been featured in national materials for several MDA fund-raising programs and publications. A second-grader at Mary E. Meller Elementary School, Alexis has enjoyed drawing since she was 2 years old.

Alexis has type 3 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which primarily affects the motor neurons that control the muscles of the body. She walks with the aid of leg braces.

“We’re pleased to welcome Alexis Villa’s work into the permanent MDA Art Collection,” MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. “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.”

Alexis’s drawing will be displayed 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 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 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; JFK Center at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Duluth Art Institute; Capital 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 the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, Calif.

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