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Sculpture dedicated in Community Living Center courtyard
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Linda Marsh was anxious to get to North Chicago after a long drive from Minnesota April 22 so she could see her creation’s new home in the courtyard of the Lovell Federal Health Care Center Community Living Center.
“I couldn’t wait to see how she is holding up,” Marsh said during remarks at the ribbon-cutting for the bronze sculpture “In my hand.” Marsh and her husband, Air Force Maj. and MD Patrick Marsh sculpted the piece together.
“I see that she’s settled in pretty well,” Linda Marsh said, looking over to the low brick wall where a graceful, seated girl gazes intently at the bird that has alighted on her outstretched hand. In turn, the bird curiously observes the girl.
Linda Marsh said the sculpture is meant to celebrate the internal stories “we all have inside, stories of resilience, self-determination and lasting strength … we all find wellness as we interact with nature.”
Lovell FHCC Director Dr. Robert Buckley said the sculpture will add “another beautiful dimension to the patient experience,” and he noted that it was fitting to locate it in the courtyard, “in the healing garden, where we can all appreciate the restorative qualities of art and nature.”
Navy Capt. Chad McKenzie, deputy director of Lovell FHCC, said in his remarks the sculpture was the result of teamwork between Lovell FHCC Recreation Therapy and Whole Health and Integrative Wellness staff, who applied for a grant for the arts and humanities from the Department of Veterans Affairs central office. Additional funding came from Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods.
“We’ve been privileged to partner with Brushwood Center for a number of years now, for meaningful activities that benefit our Veteran patients,” McKenzie said.
Brushwood launched a public call for artists, held a competition, judged, and selected the piece of art that would best fit the place of healing in the CLC courtyard.
“We hope all the residents of the Community Living Center, and staff here, will come to find their own meaning in the sculpture,” Linda Marsh said.
The couple poured the sculpture themselves at the foundry. Patrick Marsh joked that he primarily does “the heavy lifting,” and that his wife is the real artist. “In my hand” is not the first bronze public art they’ve done. They created another piece in 2017. Before they started sculpting together, she painted as a hobby, and he was a woodworker.
Buckley and McKenzie also thanked the Lovell FHCC Facilities Management team that designed the pedestal and oversaw the installation of the sculpture.
Buckley and McKenzie were joined by CLC resident Bobby Worship, the artists, Brushwood Center Director of Arts and Administration Julia Kemerer, Lovell FHCC Whole Health and Integrative Wellness physicians Dr. Debjani Roy and Dr. Judith Hudson, Chaplain Alexander Inke, and Supervisory Recreation Therapist Sean Gartland, to cut the ribbon in front of the statue. Veteran Angela Walker, who also volunteers with Brushwood, sang the National Anthem.