It happened when Lise Lindstrøm contacted me and told me I had drawn her little boy in the main teaching hospital in Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet in 1991. I’d given her a copy then, and she wondered whether I still had the original, because she wanted to buy it.
Luckily I had kept all my baby drawings, right from when I started drawing in hospitals in 1983, archiving them by place and date, and most had the name and birthday as well. I told her I would look and write back – his name was Christian born 14th January and this was written on the drawing.
The drawings are all in drawers in my studio. I pulled out the folder labeled Rigshospitalet 01.91 – and found it. Lise came, and photographer Heather Gartside was there to record the moment when she received the drawing. Christoffer is now a grown man of 28.
I do not have the possibility of contacting the parents – or the now grownup children themselves, but from time to time I hear from someone and it is fun to see whether can find a certain drawing. I wish I had a way of making contact with more – the early copies I gave them were very bad – but there are few who find their way to me as Lise did.
Lise Lindstrøm l.lindstroem@hotmail.com has given me permission to publish this story. To use the photographs please contact the photographer ©Heather Gartside heathergartside@gmail.com
We hope that the story of a drawing found after 27 years, along with the photographs, can be published in Denmark and elsewhere to reach a wider audience.
If you are, or know of any families who have had a premature infant sketched by Heather Spears since 1983, and would like to receive the original drawing from the archives, then please contact Heather via the form below 🙂
