FLEMING ISLAND – Mia Pearlman found inspiration for her sculpture “Undulation” from the county’s greatest resource – water. She quickly envisioned fish swimming through rippling water. She was motivated by bright colors and the relaxing combination of sun, water and wildlife.

“It was inspired by the research I did into the local fish and the river,” Pearlman said as her sculpture was unveiled Tuesday afternoon at Baptist Medical Center Clay’s West Entrance. “I was really interested in the waterways, underground rivers and like all the different ways that water plays a really important part here both in terms of leisure and also the economy.”

Art is an important aspect of Baptist’s mission, according to hospital president Darin Roark.

“Art is the big part of our healing process,” he said. After one of her designs wasn’t selected for Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, the hospital asked her to submit ideas for the Clay project – a year before ground was broken for the 102-bed facility off Village Square Parkway.

It took a year to create the sculpture, Pearlman said.

The artist said she also studied the residents of Clay County for motivation.

“I think a lot of it is who the county is,” she said. “I wanted to make something the community could adopt.”

The piece includes a series of different colored wavy bulwarks. You can imagine waves and fish swimming when as you walk around the sculpture. I’m really thrilled with the way it came out,” Pearlman said. “We went through three different painters just to try to get somebody who could get the right pigments to make the colors that we want. There are always a lot of technical things that happen behind the scene in this kind of project.”

The sculpture was installed outside the doors at the southwest corner of the hospital.