ABSTRACT BY MASSACHUSETTS ARTIST
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Sun Plasma"

TUCSON, Ariz., May 10, 2004 — An abstract piece by an Easton, Mass., artist has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Art Collection. Now in its 13th year, the Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

In “Sun Plasma,” by Robert Coe, vivid splashes of light blues, yellow and black explode on a white background. Coe creates “action paintings” by rolling his power wheelchair over globs and streaks of paint, by holding a paintbrush or plastic flower in his teeth, or by dragging a rope tied to his wheelchair through paint and onto canvas. The result resembles the style of abstractionist Jackson Pollock.

A former local MDA Goodwill Ambassador, Coe takes art courses at Massasoit Community College and teaches in the art program of the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton.

Coe, 28, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which causes progressive muscle wasting and weakness.

“We welcome Robert Coe’s artwork into the permanent MDA Art Collection,” MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. “His contribution to our Collection will undoubtedly captivate all who see it as it travels to galleries and museums as part of special exhibits of the Collection.”

The new addition by Coe will be displayed at MDA’s national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. It will also 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 more than 300 works by artists aged 2 to 82 and represents all 50 states.

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 the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education. MDA maintains a clinic serving Southeastern Massachusetts residents with neuromuscular diseases at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.

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