ARTWORK BY NORTH CAROLINA ARTIST
ACCEPTED INTO MDA ART COLLECTION

"Peace in the Willows "

TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 24, 2004 – A painting by a Hope Mills, N.C., artist 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.
“Peace in the Willows” by Susan C. Robertson is an acrylic landscape depicting willow trees hanging over a waterway. Robertson, a self-taught painter, uses muted blue and green tones in her presentation of the sky, trees and water.

Robertson, 49, developed her painting skills in order to cope with a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). She has been painting for less than a year, and her artwork has been displayed in her local church. The artist also creates paintings for friends and community organizations.

Robertson spent 25 years as an X-ray technician in North Carolina and California.
She was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 1996. A disease of the parts of the nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement, ALS causes muscles to become weak and then nonfunctional. Robertson still has use of her hands and uses a power wheelchair.

“We’re deeply honored to welcome Susan Robertson’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.”

The new addition by Robertson will be displayed at MDA’s national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. It also 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 more than 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 six clinics for adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases in North Carolina, including one at Wilmington Health Associates Medical Clinic and an MDA/ALS Centers at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

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

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