What began as a professional relationship between Summerhaven resident Troy Landy and coordinator Milton Hill has blossomed into an artistic partnership which holds its first exhibition at the Smith's home for the physically challenged tomorrow and Friday between 5.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

Mr. Landy, who became a quadraplegic following a hit-and-run accident when he was just 17 years old, was understandably bitter about the hand fate dealt him. Prior to the accident he had been an avid sportsman who excelled at football and motocross, and now he was paralysed in the prime of his life and facing an uncertain future. Sent abroad to the Shriners' Hospital in Philadelphia, the young Bermudian underwent five years of rehabilitation during which his artistic talents were rediscovered and nurtured.

“As a child I was always drawing, but I had never painted,” he says. “At the hospital, I also did drawings until the art teacher encouraged me to put some colour in my drawings. I had never painted before, and I have taught myself everything I know. I have never been to art school. From one painting I learned that I could do the next one better.”

So good was Mr. Landy's work, in fact, that in 1992 he had an exhibition of 15 paintings at the Shriners' Hospital, which were not only very well received but also attracted public and media attention - something he describes as “a great experience”.

Mr. Landy eventually created quite a collection of his work - so many paintings, in fact, that when the time finally came to return home ten years ago, the grateful patient gave them away to doctors and nurses who had cared for him.

Having been away from the Island for so long, 22-year-old Mr. Landy was understandably preoccupied with socialising with friends and family again, and says painting “slipped away” from him for about five years.

“However, as I got older and more mature, I realised it was time to find a focus in my life and see where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do,” he says. “I always loved art so I figured I would concentrate on that and see where it could take me.”

Thus it was that in February this year Mr. Landy picked up his brushes again and now works at his easel every day. Although he longs to paint en plein air around Bermuda, several factors are stopping him: His motorised wheelchair is too heavy to transport, and he cannot afford a non-motorised one that must be tailored to his needs, although this would give him the freedom to be mobile away from Summerhaven. Transportation is another big problem.

As a result, most of the artist's subject matter is taken either from photographs or his imagination, or a combination of both, although he does paints views of the South Shore from Summerhaven. “I have a good friend, Shawnette Easton, who works at Summerhaven. She really pushes me to get paintings out, so I give her a lot of credit,” the artist says. “She gives me a lot of ideas on what to paint next. Many times she brings me things to paint. Sometimes it is a photo, and she'll say, ‘This is a piece of history', you have to paint it.”

In fact, Mr. Landy has done a painting of the now-bulldozed “Incubator” building on the North Shore, graffiti and all.

He also praises Mr. Hill for his unfailing encouragement and support, as well as the beautiful cedar frames he has made for Mr. Landy's paintings.

Viewers will find that this artist has a wonderful sense of colour; his work is immediately appealing and carefully executed. While the originals will not be for sale at this time because Mr. Landy plans to make marketable prints of them first, he hopes that viewers will come and enjoy them during his two-day show. It is not only on canvases that Mr. Landy exhibits his art, however. For friends, he also paints on denim clothing, most often for children, for whom cartoon characters are especially popular.

Understandably excited about the exhibition, the artist says: “I am happy that I have a focus in life. It was time for me to get it together, and I am very pleased with myself. It has been ten years since I painted, and I wish I had done it sooner.”

Model boat maker Milton Hill is no stranger to woodwork, having been a shipwright and cabinet maker for much of his life. Growing up in an era when it was customary for young men to learn a trade, he was apprenticed to shipwright Rhodes Ratteray who taught his teenaged charge so well that about 12 years ago, when Mr. Hill's son suggested they make model boats to sell, it was a craft with which he was already very familiar.

“Mr. Ratteray taught me the art of shipbuilding for four years,” Mr. Hill says. “He would also give me blocks of wood and tell me to carve them, and that is how I learned.”

The father and son team marketed their first collection of boats through Bluck's store on Front Street west, and they sold very well.

“It just took off from there,” Mr. Hill says. “For about three years we sold them in hotels, the Craft Market at Dockyard, and in department stores. My son used to make a lot of small parts for me, and then he went to school in England, so I was at a loss because his assistance complemented my work.”

Mr. Hill then confined his hobby to supplying department stores on consignment. Hulls are either carved from a block of wood, or scale models. He mostly works in Bermuda cedar, and some have a varnished finish while others are left in their natural state. His “repertoire” of local boats includes fitted dinghies, Baltimore clippers, Bermudian rigs, pilot gigs, Bermuda sloops and schooners, and turtle boats, all of which are complete replicas.

“I work to a ten-inch scale, which I created myself,” he says. “I have got it down to where it takes me about two hours to carve a hull, and about four hours to do one with planking.”

A hand-carved and planked pilot gig features two masts with 12 oars clove-hitched connected to the tiller. Other fine details include a working ship's wheel which turns the tiny rudder. Wooden, wind-filled sails and intricate rigging complete each piece, where appropriate.

To protect his models, Mr. Hill also makes proper cradles for them, as well as cedar-framed glass showcases. He also adds plaques detailing the boat's style.

Justifiably proud of his art, the quiet-spoken grandfather is equally enthusiastic about this week's exhibition of his work, and he is especially happy to be sharing the limelight with Mr. Landy, whom he has always encouraged.

“It is wonderful to have an exhibition together,” he says.

Their relationship stretches right back to the 1980s when Mr. Landy first had his accident.

“I was working for the Aged and Handicapped Association and they sent me to his house. Tro and I became friends from there. When he moved to Summerhaven, the association was discontinued I got another job,” Mr. Hill says. “I worked at Summerhaven when it first opened, and I came back again this year as a coordinator. We assist residents to bath and groom themselves. I am almost like a male nurse.”

Mr. Hill's love of miniature boat making, however, is still busy pastime, but his expertise doesn't stop there.

“I also make cedar jewellery with semi-precious stones, Afro-centric and Egyptian art, and cedar bangles,” he says.

Summerhaven, a purpose-built residence for the physically challenged, is located on the South Shore Road in Smith's Parish near John Smith's Bay. Admission is free, and all are welcome.