A local headteacher has swapped pen for paint brush to produce a series of oil paintings that are now on display at the Full Circle Exhibition Space at St Mary’s Hospital.
Richard May’s exhibition ‘Second Sight’ is on display throughout May and into June for all to see. The exhibition has been organised by Healing Arts.
Speaking about his work, Richard has said:
“There are two main reasons for me to want to show these paintings at St Mary’s Hospital.
“I’ve always painted, but it’s been very much on the back burner throughout my teaching career – I had always quietly promised myself that it would come to the forefront of my thinking once I’d retired. This promise was almost broken a few years ago when I suddenly found the sight in one eye rapidly failing. It was a situation that terrified me, but that was quickly and calmly solved by the Eye Department just around the corner from here.
“All was well, but the experience did bring to an end my trusting relationship with the future; ‘I’d best crack on’, I realised – ‘It’s later than I think’. These paintings are the result of that change of pace and direction”.
Richard continues:
“The second reason to show them here at St. Mary’s is that I’ve spent a few hours recently waiting in hospital corridors – clinics, a sudden operation and more recently a long night waiting for a baby to appear. The art at St Mary’s played a vital role in keeping me calm and giving me something else to think about other than immediate health challenges and the impact they may – or may not – have.
Article continues below this advertisement “Art, for me has always allowed a door to open into someone else’s experience, their way of seeing and thinking – and, in these corridors, it opened just in time”.
All the works on display are for sale and Richard May is donating 25% of each sale to the Isle of Wight NHS Charitable Funds. If you would like to enquire about making a purchase of one of the works on display or about opportunities for future Exhibitions, email [email protected] or call 01983 534253.
