Steel Spirit: Military doctor finds artistic outlet via cartoons

The Steel Spirit is a gallery of art submissions and stories from members of the military, first responders and hospital practitioners (serving or retired). The Steel Spirit has transitioned to a digital space so that artists can continue to share their works and stories with the community. Lt. Col. Andrew Currie is one of the featured artists.

“I’m a very impatient artist. I’m the guy with the hair dryer on watercolour and I’m drawing (something else) between coats.”

Lt.-Col. Andrew Currie is a military physician with the Canadian Armed Forces and has always moved through time with a determination to make progress — whether it be in making an impact with his military career or his nonstop love of creating artwork.

Currie originally decided not to pursue university in order to do training in Arizona to become a motorcycle mechanic. He always loved taking things apart and trying to diagnose and repair them. Eventually, however, he decided he wanted to pursue a career with a wider scope of opportunities.

In 1989 Currie enrolled in Pre-Med at the University of Regina. Three years later he joined the Canadian Armed Forces Medical Officer Training program at the University of Saskatchewan. It wasn’t long after this that he had his first deployments to Bosnia (SFOR) and Kosovo (KFOR) with the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

“To be able to travel to other places in the world where healthcare is almost nonexistent, and to see what an impact it is to be able to help some of these folks. It’s startling. It’s extremely rewarding.”

Currie’s introduction to deployments propelled him further with his career. In 2000 he completed a Master’s of Science in Occupational Health, then in 2002 he was posted into the Medical Intelligence Cell in Ottawa. In 2008 he began his second post-grad with a fellowship in Sports Medicine. In 2011 he became the Base Surgeon at CFB Borden.

In 2012 Currie deployed again, this time to Afghanistan. He was the Lead for the residency mentoring program in Kabul. It was during his time in Afghanistan that other staff took note of his artistic side.

Currie had begun drawing cartoons on a white board in an attempt to help give others a laugh during their stressful days. People loved it so much that they began taking pictures of his cartoons and chased after him if he fell behind in updating the board regularly. He also started doing caricatures of staff that were leaving as a going away gift.

After Afghanistan he was later posted to the Canadian Forces Health Services Detachment in Geillenkirchen, Germany. Then, it was back to Ottawa as the head of the Communicable Disease Control Program. He also spent three months in Beirut, Lebanon as the Task Force Surgeon for the Government of Canada mission to bring Syrian refugees to Canada.

Currie’s long list of accomplishments has constantly expanded over the years. He also holds qualifications as a flight surgeon and basic diving medicine. His final posting is currently in Esquimalt, B.C. as the Pacific Regional Surgeon.

“It’s amazing to see how much Andrew has achieved over the years and yet he never stopped doing his artwork on the side. Not only that, he also brought his artwork into his workplace and helped with morale. He is a doctor who cares about connecting with his patients and his comrades. That says a lot,” says Barbara Brown, founder of The Steel Spirit.

When asked what the secret weapon is in terms of how he finds the time to do his artwork and accomplish so much, his simple response was only four words. “I don’t watch TV.”

The Steel Spirit is a platform for artwork submissions by military, first responder and hospital practitioners. They are always looking for new and emerging artists with and without experience, from every background and every age. For more information or if you would like to be involved, please visit: www.thesteelspirit.ca 

There will be an upcoming Steel Spirit Gallery at Barrie City Hall this September and October. If you are from the services and are interested in being involved or finding out more, please email [email protected] for more information.