There’s a peaceful path tucked alongside one of the buildings at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley meant to give anyone – patients, families and staff members – a spot to reflect, catch their breath, or just enjoy the flowers.
“This was a staff-driven project,” said artist Lauren Sinnott, who was commissioned to create a mural for the hospital’s “Community Memorial Garden,” located on the right side of the Family Birth Center entrance, explaining that staff members raised funds to create the space, which was designed to offer people a safe place to both remember anyone they have lost, and also to embrace the fragility of all life.
“The photo they gave me was of a forest with a pathway that had light streaming through,” said Sinnott while standing before her mural, explaining that the image “represented for them the pathway towards the end of life.”
Sinnott adds lots of whimsy to her murals, like a creek surrounding this water spigot. (Justine Frederiksen/The Ukiah Daily Journal)To evoke that feeling, Sinnott said, she painted dappled light between a grove of redwoods “that rises up to one spot that is still connected, representing the last breaths (before) it opens up into the sky.” And depending on your beliefs regarding life after death, Sinnott said “you can consider that whatever pathway the soul takes” after death.
Above that, Sinnott noted that she painted shapes of clouds and sky that she said can be interpreted as parts of the soul returning to inhabit the world below again, in whatever form the viewer imagines.
In announcing the mural’s completion, AHUV officials described the mural, as well as the Community Memorial Garden, as being “made possible by a group of team members, led by Elizabeth Farling, an ICU nurse, and Mina Al-shahed, pharmacist, and many members of the committee, who have organized fundraisers and worked hard to bring this meaningful tribute to fruition. We hope this space serves as a great place for remembrance and comfort for both our patients and staff for years to come.”
Sinnott said she loves to add familiar touches to all of her murals, such as hearts and four-leaf clovers, which are “hidden” in the hospital mural, which also features a portrait of a nearby rock dotted with lichen patches.
Another whimsical touch is how she surrounded a water spigot with a creek at the feet of the redwood trees, which she said she included because “they are so iconic to this area.” Another iconic tree included in the mural is an oak tree, which she made golden to evoke the “tree of life.”
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