PHOTOGRAPH BY BOISE ARTIST
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION

"Prairie Road Homestead"

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 3, 2003 — A second photograph by Constance Prater of Boise, Idaho, 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.

Transporting the viewer back to a simpler time, “Prairie Road Homestead” depicts a 1903 homestead near Mountain Home, Idaho. Descendants of the family who lived in the home at that time still farm nearby.

This is Prater’s second donation to the Art Collection. She is a longtime photographer and enjoys taking pictures of wildlife and landscapes.

Prater is affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy as a manifesting carrier, meaning that she hasn’t developed the full-blown disease, but she experiences muscle weakness and has difficulty walking long distances.

“We’re deeply honored to welcome another contribution by Connie Prater 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 Prater will be displayed at MDA’s national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz.. 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 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 for Idaho adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital in Boise.

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