About a week ago I had a blog post with trees and leaves at its heart. Today a tree is mentioned but from a completely different angle and purpose.

From time to time I have brought to your attention a piece of sculpture from my travels and each one has been well received. Now I have another one.

I had reason to visit Antrim Area Hospital, not for the first time, but the other day I was well prepared, the visit was short and I had brought my camera.

The Healing Tree is a bronze cast sculpture, by Brian Connolly who hails from Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It is sited in the Forecourt and owned by Antrim Area Hospital.

The theme is ‘mutual support’ and the hollowed-out figures of two men and two women are in a sitting position, about 1.2 metres high. They are positioned in a circle, facing outwards, with each supporting the other. The rear surface of each figure is textured with elements of bandages and embedded leaves. The tree in the centre is an ornamental Norwegian Maple and it is “symbolic of life around which we are placed”.

Unfortunately there was a car on my tail as I was leaving the car park, so I was unable to stop and photograph The Swans another sculpture on a bank at the side of the roadway.