TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Muscular Dystrophy Association recently accepted a new painting by Katy Hinckley into its art collection. The piece marks the 300th donation to the collection, which was established in 1992 to celebrate achievements of artists with disabilities and emphasize that physical disability is not a barrier to creativity. Hinckley's acrylic painting, "Have Wheels, Will Travel," celebrates her love of motorcycling.
Hinckley was a lecturer on communications and journalism at the University of Wyoming when she received a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) in January, 2002. She and her husband decided it was time to get serious about the adventure trips they'd talked about taking someday.
"We put the bikes on a trailer and the wheelchair on the bike and hauled them all to Vegas where we spent four days touring the countryside," said Hinckley, who lives in Laramie, Wyo.
The painting depicts various wheels the 47-year-old artist used on the trip, including the wheels from her folding wheelchair/stroller and those from the couple's Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
It's fitting that the Art Collection's 300th piece boasts a Harley-Davidson theme, since this year marks the 100th anniversary of the company, a longtime MDA national sponsor.
"We're deeply honored to mark this milestone in our art collection with Katy Hinckley's imaginative work," MDA President and chief executive officer Robert Ross said. "Not only will her painting help draw attention to the amazing abilities of artists with ALS and other neuromuscular disorders, it will also help us celebrate our friends at Harley-Davidson."
Works from the collection, which are by artists from ages two to 82 representing all 50 states, have appeared in exhibits nationwide. Each artist is affected by one of the neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.
For more information, visit www.mdausa.org.
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