A STUNNING sculpture has been commissioned for the entrance to Okehampton?s new community hospital, designed to highlight the pioneering ethos that dominates the building.
The sculpture will be created by talented artist Alan Biggs, of Belstone, who has recently won a national award for a piece of work commissioned by a major Leeds restaurant.
Leading town GP Paul Nielson said: ?The sculpture will be right at the front of the hospital. The theme is mother and child and will feature a mother lifting a child into the air.?
Dr Nielson said the sculpture will be of resin and almost full-size.
?It will be quite a big sculpture. It?s a nice vision, it represents growth and the passage through life ? mother and child is a sort of continuum; it?s an uplifting image and is particularly appropriate as the hospital delivers babies as well,? said Dr Nielson.
?The philosophy of the hospital is to use art, sculpture and the landscape as part of a healthy building. It?s a holistic approach that we hope will get better health results.?
Mr Biggs said he was ?absolutely delighted? to receive the commission.
?I have long been wanting to do a public sculpture locally ? it couldn?t be better, a new hospital on a new site, with a new sculpture ? I am very, very pleased.?
Mr Biggs said he submitted various ideas to the hospital trustees and was looking forward to creating the model they chose.
?I just wanted something that looked joyful and friendly. The mother will be swinging her child up ? it will be all in piece like an extended person.
?I think people who go into hospital for whatever reason don?t want to be depressed, they want something encouraging to look at,? said Mr Biggs.
?It will be fairly tall and as you drive up the hill to the hospital, it will be quite noticeable.?
Cllr Christine Marsh, mayor of Okehampton and one of the trustees of the hospital fundraisers, said: ?I think it will be lovely. It will be a mother playing with her child, it?s a happy image, what more could you want?
?I just hope people like it. I know people tend to think of being cured as nurses, doctors and equipment, but this is part of looking beyond that and using art in the environment as a way to be more positive about health.?
Val Mansfield, locality manager at the hospital, said: ?It think it?s a brilliant idea ? it gives a focus to the hospital you wouldn?t normally have.
?Often you have plaques outside a hospital, but I think a sculpture is going to give a different image.?
Ms Mansfield said that often people associated community hospitals with elderly people ? but the sculpture would reflect the fact that Okehampton?s new hospital catered for everyone in the community.
Mr Bigg?s sculpture of a female nude, commissioned by the prestigious new Bibis restaurant in Leeds, was part of the sign which recently won the British Industrial Signs of the Year Award.
Alan said the company wanted a 1920s feel to the sign and knew exactly what they wanted to finish it off.
?They wanted a young female nude holding a ball in the air ? they wanted it fairly realistic but stylised,? he said.
The company wanted the two-thirds lifesize sculpture to have a chromium-plated finish ? eventually, it had to be flown to Canada to be completed, as there was no-one in the UK able to do it.