The work of a talented Aberdeen artist and nurse who died from motor neurone disease (MND) will be celebrated as part of a charity exhibition.
Artwork by Sandie Youngson will be put on display to help raise funds for MND charity My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RSCEd) will launch the event later this month.
Spearheaded by the college’s director of heritage, Chris Henry, the exhibition will feature prints and artwork created by Mrs Youngson throughout her years as a self-taught artist.
Inspired by memories of her childhood, she would use her art to depict growing up along the Scottish coastlines.
The exhibition will showcase her distinctive seascapes, beach scenes and colourful landscape paintings.
Before her death earlier this year, the grandmother-of-eight worked as an artist and was a former Macmillan nurse. She ran classes for terminally ill cancer patients, encouraging the therapeutic quality of painting.
Although Mrs Youngson was no longer able to paint during her fight with MND she still enjoyed sharing her paintings with loved ones and all those who came to view her work.
Her husband, former RCSEd vice president, George Youngson is also helping to launch the event at the College’s Hall Museums in Edinburgh.
‘She would have been thrilled’
The retired surgeon described the exhibition is a “great honour” for his late wife, and her “remarkable artistic practice had a huge impact” on the people she worked with.
He added: “Much of her generosity included donating her work to charities. Therefore, our family has chosen My Name’5 Doddie as the beneficiary of an exhibition of her paintings being held in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
“Sandie’s courage and spirit in coping with MND is well reflected in the charity’s founder Doddie, his family and his team of supporters. The foundation has shown the leadership and advocacy in promoting awareness and exploring new treatments that are so desperately needed in an illness that has been so difficult to make progress on.
“I’m enormously grateful to the college for allowing us to show Sandie’s paintings. If she could have known that her art could provide pleasure for some, at the same time supporting research into this awful condition, then she would have been thrilled.”
Jill Douglas, chief executive of My Name’5 Doddie Foundation has thanked the RSCEd and Mrs Youngson’s family for supporting the charity with the “wonderful event”.
She said: “Sandie’s story has moved everyone at the Foundation and we’re so pleased that her beautiful artwork is being exhibited.
“MND is not incurable, it’s just underfunded, and events like this will help our fundraising efforts as we continue to invest in targeted MND research and support patients living with MND.”
The exhibition will be held within the main reception of the College and main atrium space on April 20.
