By Barbara Bradley - The Commercial Appeal - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 -

A child's first view of the new $340 million Le Bonheur Children's Hospital won't be desks, doors and lab coats.

In the lobby will be a sunny, mosaic tower reaching up two stories into a luminous blue dome. On top will be a fat bluebird with a joyful child perched on his back rotating among spinning silver clouds.

And that's just for starters.

More than $1 million in art adorns the new hospital at Washington and N. Dunlap, which holds its grand opening today, making it practically a new art museum.

Sculptures, paintings, textiles, mobiles and three-dimensional wall hangings were created by 40 professional artists, most from Memphis or the area. They include Dolph Smith and Cajun painter George Rodrigue, who contributed an original "blue dog" with a Le Bonheur-style red heart. Some 200 pieces were created by area children.

"We didn't want themes," said Meri Armour, president and CEO of Le Bonheur -- no zoo layouts or fairy tales. "This is a place for and about children. It reflects what they bring to the world: fun colors, bright things and happy moments."

Among the most spectacular art is a wind-driven, rooftop metal flower garden with 7-foot-tall flowers and petals that spin like windmills. A comical metal caterpillar crawls lazily across a stem; a butterfly's wings flutter; a lily opens to reveal a frog.

"It's going to touch so many kids," said Yvonne Bobo, who

created the garden, just outside a large waiting room, using blow torches and forges. "It will distract them when they're not feeling good."

Smith's contributions include an open metal book wall hanging etched with Le Bonheur history and words that appear to fall off the pages and into a metal rendering of the new Le Bonheur.

Carol DeForest created a big "Road to Le Bonheur" clay wall sculpture with Memphis landmarks.

Even FKP Architects of Texas, which designed the building, got playful with hallway cutouts of leaping children placed low to the floor that will light up in colors as children pass.

There's more than one reason for the visual feast.

"Studies have shown environment impacts healing," said Janet Phillips, executive consultant for the hospital who works closely with Armour. "Art as well as natural light, color and comfort are part of that. The art had to have a positive, uplifting influence on the kids and their families."

Volunteers Linda Hill and Dianne Papasan recruited the artists, and oversaw the art, nearly all of which was commissioned. They asked for art that was soothing, innovative, whimsical in a sophisticated way.

"Then we sat back and let them interpret," said Hill, who noted that most artists' time and efforts went far beyond their pay.

All currently commissioned art will be installed by Aug. 26, the date of Art with Heart, a fundraiser to be held at the hospital to raise money for more art for the 12-story building. (Tickets are $50. Call 287-4430.)

The grand opening today will include a parade at 10 a.m. narrated by Roscoe Orman and Sonia Manzano, "Gordon" and "Maria" of PBS's "Sesame Street," and broadcast live on WMC-TV Channel 5.

It took a flatbed truck, a hoist and two forklifts to cart and install "I Can Fly," the 17-foot, three-piece tower, bird and child centerpiece that will grace what will be the new entrance at 848 Adams in 2012. It was designed by Jeanne Seagle and fabricated by Lea Holland and a team of artists. There was one tricky moment when the child, being hoisted to his perch, got tangled in the cloud mobile created by Dawn Hamm. But the child was soon freed and seated to a round of applause by onlookers.

The three forms were manufactured by The Resource Factory in Florida, which has fashioned figures for Walt Disney World among other companies. Holland said the company scanned Seagle's clay model and cut the shapes out of polystyrene, then covered them in fiberglass to be strong but light. Then Holland's team tiled the pieces.

The three pieces were installed by Memphis-based Barnhart Crane & Rigging, a specialty company that also erected the steel beams for the Pyramid.

Seagle was prepared for the project, having created mosaic art for two city trolley stops, painted a huge mural for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and illustrated several children's books.

On the obelisk, children play through four seasons, suggesting patience, "giving time a chance to heal," said Seagle. It was Armour who suggested the kids be rendered whimsically in colors and shapes that obscure their gender and ethnicity.

The gentle-faced child on the bird, sporting green hair and yellow skin, could be any boy or girl who imagines escaping to a sunnier day.

-- Barbara Bradley: 529-2370

The details

Grand-opening ceremonies, open to the public, begin at 10 a.m. today on Le Bonheur Children's Hospital campus with a parade of children, families and hospital staff. It will be narrated by Roscoe Orman and Sonia Manzano, "Gordon" and "Maria" of PBS's "Sesame Street" and broadcast live on WMC-TV Channel 5. A ceremony will follow on the lawn at Washington and N. Dunlap. Hospital tours will run until 2 p.m.