Visitors to St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will be welcomed by two new arrivals from this morning as a pair of bright and bold sculptures take pride of place in the grounds of the Trust.
The sculptures entitled ‘Pea Green Love’ and ‘Colourful History’ are part of Knowsley’s Owl & Pussy-Cat sculpture trail which is taking place across the borough from 20 June to 4 September.
Celebrating the fact that the famous poem – The Owl & the Pussy-Cat – was written by Edward Lear at Knowsley Hall, the free trail is part of Knowsley’s celebrations as the Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture.
‘Pea Green Love’ has been designed by Lynne Hollingsworth, an award-winning artist that has created a multi-coloured doodle style design with an emphasis on ‘pea green’ in homage to the famous poem. What is even more special about ‘Pea Green Love’ is that the individual designs of the hearts were created by young patients at Whiston Hospital’s Children’s Ward.
The artist wanted to create an image that depicts the love and friendship of the Owl and the Pussy-Cat as well as showing love and gratitude for the amazing NHS staff and facilities.
Joining the owl is ‘Colourful History’ by St. Helens based graffiti artist Simon Daly. Simon works across the north west with community groups to encourage all generations to get involved in workshops and learning more about graffiti. His design for ‘Colourful History’ aims to encapsulate important parts of Knowsley while showing a complete contrast between areas of Knowsley’s landscape and heritage.
Ann Marr OBE, Chief Executive of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We’re delighted to be able to join in with the cultural festivities taking place across the Knowsley this year, and it is our absolute pleasure to receive these wonderful sculptures from our friends at Knowsley Culture for the enjoyment of our patients, staff, and visitors.
“These beautiful sculptures are already helping to brighten spirits across the hospital, and it’s wonderful to see people stop and smile as they walk by.”
Cllr Graham Morgan Leader of Knowsley Council commented: “The Hospital is such an important part of Knowsley, not just for the service it provides to our residents but also as a major employer in our borough. We were thrilled that they were keen to be part of our trail and we are delighted that the thousands of people visiting the hospital in the coming weeks and months will get to see Pea Green Love for themselves.
“A big thanks to the hospital for agreeing be part of our Borough of Culture celebrations and a special word of recognition for the artists involved and for the children and young people who applied their creative talents to help create ‘Pea Green Love’.”
The sculpture trail which will run all over the summer includes 32, 2-metre-high owls and pussy-cat which are located across Knowsley in parks, public spaces, transport hubs and town centres. A further 50 smaller sculptures – decorated by local school children – are also on display in public buildings in Knowsley. People can download a free App, follow the trail, chart their progress in finding all of the sculptures and take lots of photos and share online tagging @cultureknowsley.
