ARTWORK BY FLORIDA ARTIST
ACCEPTED INTO MDA ART COLLECTION
 |
"First Date" |
TUCSON, Ariz., May 11, 2005 – Two watercolor paintings by Monty
Topche, a Lauderhill, Fla., artist, have been accepted by the Muscular
Dystrophy Association’s Art Collection.
Now in its 14th year, the Collection features artwork by people from
across the country with neuromuscular diseases.
Topche is affected by amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS).
Topche’s “First Date” is a delightful painting that
uses colorful pastels to capture the interaction between a grade-school
girl and a boy. The pastels bring life to the painting’s brown
and tan hues.
Topche has also donated “Clown Quartet,” which implements
bright red, blue and yellow hues in its depiction of four lifelike circus
clowns. While one clown is waving to the audience, another is holding
two thumbs up, giving the watercolor painting an uplifting tone.
Topche, 80, has contributed four watercolor paintings to the permanent
Collection. He donated “Cooking Up a Storm” and “The
Scribe” in July 2004.
“It’s fitting that we welcome two more paintings from Monty
Topche into the permanent MDA Art Collection as we prepare to observe ALS Awareness Month in May,” MDA President & CEO Robert Ross
said.
 |
"Clown Quartet" |
Retired since 1990 from selling textiles to women’s sportswear
manufacturers, Topche received a diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s
disease) in 1999. A disease of the parts of the nervous system that
control voluntary muscle movement, ALS causes muscles to become weak
and then nonfunctional.
Every May, MDA holds a series of special public awareness events across
the country to inform people about ALS, which affects some 30,000 American
adults and has no cure.
Topche’s arms still function well enough for him to paint without
assistance, and he specializes in paintings of people, especially children.
He’s been painting for 12 years.
Topche’s watercolors have won blue ribbons for four years at the
Senior Citizens Art Show and Auction in Broward County. His artwork
has been exhibited at numerous shows in Florida and has won a variety
of awards.
“Monty’s contributions to our Collection will continue to
delight all who see them as they travel to galleries and museums as
part of special exhibits of the Collection,” Ross said.
The new additions by Topche are on display at MDA’s national headquarters
in Tucson, Ariz., and can be seen at http://www.mda.org/commprog/art/displayall.aspx.
They 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. In addition to
the Kessenich Family MDA/ALS Center at the University of Miami, MDA
maintains clinics for Miami area adults and children affected by neuromuscular
diseases at the University of Miami School of Medicine and the Broward
General Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale.
The Association’s programs are funded almost entirely by individual
private contributors.
# # # |
