Connections
Here you will find connections, partnerships, friendships, and all other important relationships to us here at trudysheoras.com. Visitors will find links to our partner organizations, descriptions of our collaborations, and insights into how these partnerships enhance our community.
Whether it’s shared exhibitions, sponsorships, or community projects, this page will serve as a hub for exploring the network that helps bring our vision to life.
Butterflies in Spirit
The Baby Bonds Story
Chapter I
It began with an email in early November from a “Judy” who had chanced upon the link to my web site while visiting that of Mossom Creek Hatchery. She wrote the nicest message to me, one that still brings a smile whenever I reread it.
Judy is a nurse. She talked to friends and colleagues about my art and - a delightful surprise for Ella, Elizabeth and I - they chose to do their Christmas shopping in the trudysheoras gallery! They ordered scarves, books, cards, and tea towels. Plus Judy commissioned two of The Bond and a Currents. It was wonderful!
In addition to the personal gifts, they ordered Seeds posters for several hospitals and clinics. They also supported Mossom Hatchery by buying the last sets of Currents by the Breakwater cards.
Not long afterwards, Judy wrote that she had a colleague who was part of a grief support group for women who had experienced the loss of their baby. The friend had seen Judy’s The Bond painting and wanted a similar one to honour her babe. She requested a Baby Bond - her name for what has become a new series of paintings. The other five members of the group joined her in ordering Baby Bonds.
It was extremely emotional. I was often in tears as I sketched the mothers and babies knowing the love and loss that the images symbolized. In all other Bonds, mom and babe are separated, with the mom in the forefront. These were different. I sketched and erased, sketched and erased. It was when I finally placed the babe in front, tucked in close to mom, that the image felt right.
The responses from the women were so personal and touching - beyond anything I could possibly have imagined. I have now completed Baby Bonds for members of three grief support groups. While still emotional, it has become easier to paint Baby Bonds. The women have described the peace and healing that the paintings bring, providing a balance to the pain and sadness they represent.
The thank you messages that I have received are very meaningful and poignant to read. I am deeply honoured to have my art appreciated in this way.
Baby Bonds Story
Chapter II
Soon after the last group of Baby Bonds paintings were completed there was a message from one of the earlier recipients. She had been speaking with her doctor at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM) and her painting was discussed. From that conversation came a request for a Big Baby Bonds for the office.
“We have hung Baby Bonds in a large private room where we have many of our patients and clients come in to share their past and present grief, while continuing their journeys with hope, strength, and courage.
We initially spoke of hanging it behind reception but ultimately felt we wanted the energy and deeply symbolic meaning of Baby Bonds to hang in it’s present environment.
I mention “energy“ because it creates conversation and an expressing of vulnerable words of healing and hope. We refer to it as heartbreakingly beautiful; Baby Bonds, a painting to inspire deep feelings of hope, promise, and I gently dare say closure.”
- Dr Ken, Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine
I feel privileged to have Big Baby Bonds providing a measure of peace to those involved with the staff and services of PCRM.