Raleigh-Durham International Airport Hosts MDA Exhibit

RDU Airport, NC – The Raleigh-Durham International Airport will display 21 selected works from the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection from August through December. “Transcending Barriers: Selections from the MDA Art Collection” will be on display from Aug. 1 through Dec. 1 in the gallery located in the walkway between Terminal A and Terminal A North. The gallery is near the main baggage claim area and “meet & greet” location. The Collection features artwork by young and adult artists across the country who challenge the obstacles imposed by neuromuscular diseases. Young artists created five of the featured pieces, while the other pieces are from adult artists. The exhibit includes four works by North Carolina artists. The featured selections include traditional acrylics, oils and watercolors, as well as digitally enhanced media, mixed media, photographs, marker art and wire sculpture.

The exhibit is part of the airport's program for public art. The goals of the program are to enhance the airport travel experience for passengers while reflecting the unique characteristics of the Raleigh-Durham region. “The Raleigh-Durham International Airport offers fine art to give the public a break from the fast pace of air travel,” said Teresa Damiano, RDU's director of marketing and art program coordinator. “We're honored to be able to share these inspired pieces with the Raleigh-Durham region and traveling public.”

The airport's permanent works of art include ceramic tile murals depicting North Carolina; the Triangle Icon, commissioned in 2003 to mark the centennial of flight; and the Dream of Flight sculpture in the general aviation terminal, which features three stainless steel statues and a suspended stained glass mobile. The airport, located equidistant between Durham and Raleigh, began operations in the 1940s and has grown to accommodate nine major and 14 regional carriers. It's located in the heart of the Research Triangle Region and serves an average of 24,000 passengers a day. The exhibit will be open to the public seven days a week. Admission to the exhibit is free. Parking is available in the adjacent parking facility, with an hourly rate of $1. For directions or more information, call (919) 840-7706, or visit www.rdu.com/whileatairport/art.htm.

“It's a great honor to have a portion of our MDA Art Collection on display at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport,“ MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. “We're inspired by the talented children and adults who have contributed to the Collection and delighted to share their remarkable works with the people of North Carolina and those who visit the airport.” The Collection's permanent home is MDA's national headquarters in Tucson. Samples of the Collection also can be viewed at www.mdausa.org/commprog/art. 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 Collection currently comprises more than 300 works by artists aged 2 to 82 and represents all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each artist is affected by one of the neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.

Selected art from the Collection has been exhibited at the Art Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke; 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 more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA maintains clinics for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham and the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill. The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.

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