ARTWORK BY COLORADO ARTIST
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Vortex"

TUCSON, Ariz., March 4, 2005 – A painting by an Aurora, Colo., 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.

“Vortex” by Jennifer L. Getson is a soft pastel painting, with an abstract concept. Getson, who generally paints landscapes, used a mixture of bright yellow and dark blue tones to emphasize the painting’s inherent whirling or circular motion.

Getson is affected by Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a genetic disorder that initially causes weakness of the lower arms and legs, resulting in significant mobility problems. She worked in a photography lab for many years and switched to painting when she became unable to handle large cameras.

Getson has been working primarily with pastels since 1998. In several of her paintings, she focuses on the Nebraska Sandhills and the Rocky Mountains near her Colorado home.
Getson, 39, has created art since childhood, working in a variety of media. Her artwork has been displayed in shows in Colorado and Nebraska, and she has work in private collections. In October, some of her pastels were shown at the Lapis Gallery in Denver.

Getson earned an associate’s degree in photography from Denver’s Auraria Community College in 1986, and has taught at the Longmont Academy in Longmont, Colo.

Her oil painting “Northern Lights” was accepted by the MDA Art Collection in 2001.

“We’re deeply honored to welcome Jennifer Getson’s second 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 Getson is on display 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 two clinics for adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases in Colorado, at the University of Colorado in Aurora and Children’s Hospital in Denver.

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

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