The Muscular Dystrophy Association Art Collection is sailing into the new millennium with a replica of the HMS Bounty recently donated by a Florida artist. The ship is the 200th piece of artwork accepted by the collection, which showcases the talents of artists with neuromuscular disorders.

The creator of the ship, Paul Topkin, 58, of Lakeland, Fla., began working full time at his craft in 1990 when he could no longer walk because of his facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Topkin's 3-foot-long replica can be seen in the permanent collection, along with the works of other adult and child artists, each affected by one of the 40 neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.

Paul Topkin

The replica of the HMS Bounty, famous for its crew's mutiny in 1789 against Capt. William Bligh, shows the intricate detail and precision with which Topkin works his craft. The realism of the British naval ship is captured in such features as the weathered look of the deep wood grain, the brass Topkin hammers by hand, the delicate knots on the ropes and the small captain's wheel that turns.

Building ship models started as a hobby, Topkin says. Friends encouraged him to enter art shows, where his work drew tremendous response. Topkin says building models helps keep his hands agile.

Each ship may take several months to build, and the former restaurateur and salesman tries to build four ships a year. Topkin also restores model ships, usually old whaling ships or sailing ships, many of which are about 100 years old.

"It's the feeling that I'm doing something that's going to be here a long time," Topkin says. "I'm contributing something. And I enjoy the history of the ships."

Among Topkin's many awards and achievements are Walt Disney World Resorts' purchase of a 3-foot Cutty Sark model for about $3,000 and a 4-foot HMS Victory model, with a selling price of $25,000, which was on loan for display at the Lakeland Yacht Club. His HMS Victory took first place in the mixed media category in the 1995 DeLand (Fla.) Fine Arts Show.

Topkin, who admits to getting seasick on real boats, recreates the ships' details after studying their history and reading blueprints. He built ships as a teen-ager, and his only training was a high school drafting class in which he learned to read blueprints.

Topkin is active with the local MDA chapter and donates a ship each year for its auction. "We're pleased to have this beautifully crafted ship by Paul Topkin as the 200th piece in the permanent MDA Art Collection," said MDA Senior Vice President and Executive Director Robert Ross. "It vividly expresses the message of the collection: that physical disabilities can't diminish creativity."

The MDA Art Collection was established in 1992 to focus attention on the achievements of artists with neuromuscular disorders. Since the arrival of the collection's first piece in August 1992 -- a paper collage called "Amusement Park" by Andrew Cameron, then 9, of Temple, Texas -- the permanent collection has grown to encompass works created and donated by more than 300 artists ages 2 to 82 and to represent 41 states.

About a million and a half people have seen selections from the collection in exhibits across the country. Art from the collection has been exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art; the Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center and Forbes Magazine in New York; Tucson Museum of Art; Bishop Museum, Honolulu; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; Los Angeles Children's Museum, University of California-Berkeley, Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Duluth Art Institute; Capital Children's Museum, Washington, D.C.; Chicago Public Library, Harold Washing-ton Library Center in Chicago; Santa Fe Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; and the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich.

In addition, works from the collection are featured on MDA note cards, calendars and holiday cards. The collection features unusual artistic media, from computer designs and collages to paint applied with wheelchair wheels and feet. More traditional media include oil, watercolor, acrylics, pen and ink, crayon, pastels, bronze, ceramics and photography.

Some of the children's projects were created at MDA summer camps or MDA-sponsored workshops. Adult artists range from talented amateurs to award-winning professionals whose works hang in museums, galleries and private collections worldwide.