08/18/2025
𝗔 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘄𝘀
On Monday, Aug. 11, artist Carol Z. Hambridge () celebrated the installation of a large, new work of her art at Novant’s Matthews Medical Center ( health).
Hambridge donated the design to the hospital to celebrate the hospital and 30th anniversary of service to the Matthews community. She created the work to capture the spirit of the facility and the community around it and hopes it will be a comfort to patients, their families and the hospital staff.
Matthews Medical Center president and CEO, Zack Landry, said the new mural has already become a “moment of beauty and serenity in what otherwise might be a stressful day.”
Hambridge created the mural — a vinyl photo collage spanning a large wall in the main lobby — from more than 1,000 layers of photographs she took of the hospital, its grounds, and flowers (one of her personal passions) using digital painting and other techniques. Flowers accent the work throughout, from large blossoms in the sky to impressions of flowers rippling in the water or hidden in the foreground. On the edges, Hambridge included photographs of actual trees she found on the hospital grounds.
The artist was intentional in her use of colors across the piece, each with different meanings:
💛 Shades of yellow symbolize healing.
🌅 The sky was designed to give the warm, comforting appearance of both sunrise and sunset.
💜 Hints of aubergine represent Novant.
In her closing remarks, Hambridge, who recently moved to another city, said she was thankful for the opportunity to leave behind “… a greeting card on the wall for everyone who comes here.”
