Two years ago, Lisa Todd set out to visit her mum in hospital in Bath. At the hospital, there was an incredible singer, Frankie, performing for the patients. She told Lisa she had been commissioned by Hetty Du Pays, Head of Art at the Heart, an initiative by Royal United Hospital in Bath.
Lisa reached out to Hetty, touched by Frankie’s performance for her mum, and wanting to give back. The two went on to meet when Hetty was a guest at the auction for the owl sculptures created for Minerva’s Owls of Bath in 2018.
During the coronavirus lockdown, Hetty got in touch with Lisa once again. She said she had an important secret project and wanted Lisa’s help. Lisa, of course, agreed. On Monday, Lisa received a call from Ruth Sidgwick, the Arts Programme Manager at North Bristol NHS Trust, asking if Lisa could help decorate the Bristol Nightingale hospital.
That Friday, Lisa had a once-in-a-lifetime knock on her front door… the army had arrived to collect her artwork for the hospital. The artwork included the owl from the auction and the Lion she decorated for the Lions of Windsor sculpture trail in 2019.
Along with the sculptures, Lisa generously loaned some of her paintings. Afterwards, the North Bristol NHS Art Fund decided to purchase 9 of Lisa’s paintings for the Fresh Arts Initiative’s permanent collection, realising Lisa’s bright and beautiful prints were just what patients needed to cheer them up.
The painting series is called Under the Sea and will decorate Bristol hospitals, rotating around different wards. They will particularly benefit patients with dementia (which Lisa’s mother suffered with), diabetes (which Lisa has) and in the Movement Disorder Clinic (cervical dystonia is a movement disorder).
