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For 34 years, former UVA Health orthopedic surgeon Richard Whitehill, MD, used his steady hands to restore patients’ mobility. Now retired, Dr. Whitehill has found a new way to put his precision and dexterity to use, welding original metal sculptures for friends, family and the University Medical Center.

“In the mid 1990s, I watched the Lee Street parking garage construction. This inspired me to take a basic welding course at Charlottesville Technical Education Center (CATEC). I then started welding, anything metallic I could get my hands on,” says Dr. Whitehill.

One of his latest creations, titled “Swallowtail,” is on permanent display in the lobby of 5 South, which is now home to the Charles O. Strickler Transplant Center. The 3-foot-tall butterfly is made of steel and aluminum TIG welding rods with colorful wings hand painted by Dr. Whitehill’s wife, Karen, a writer, editor and artist who has collaborated with her husband on multiple sculptures over the years. This piece, she says, was especially “meaningful and fun.”

It’s one of a series of three sculptures — two Monarchs and one Swallowtail butterfly. Shelter Associate Project Manager Allan Hatcher commissioned one as a gift for his wife, while another is installed outside the home of Mark Abel, MD, former chair of the UVA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. 

When she learned of the remaining butterfly sculpture, Anne Brown, Environmental Experience and Arts Program Manager, knew it would be the perfect addition to the UVA Health Transplant Center. “The butterfly is an iconic symbol that represents the transformative journey of our transplant patients,” she says. “The way ‘Swallowtail’ is mounted gives the appearance of being in flight, which is truly beautiful and inspiring.”

“Swallowtail” is not the first of Dr. Whitehill’s sculptures to find a home at UVA Health. Approximately 15 years ago, he created a 14-foot metal sculpture of the Tree of Andry, a curved sapling that is the universal symbol for the field of orthopedic medicine, along with other smaller pieces that were installed in the garden at the former Fontaine Orthopedic Center.

Contributing his art to the place he donated his surgical expertise is a way for Dr. Whitehill to continue giving back. “I hope my art gives patients and families a sense of optimism,” he says.