Artists adorn North Bay, Ont., hospital fence with bears and strawberries

The fence that surrounds the cultural grounds at the hospital in North Bay, Ont., is now adorned with a woodland-style mural featuring bears, strawberries and flowers.

The mural was designed by Brady Penasse and Desiree Sands.

"I was super inspired to draw bears, the mukwa animal, because in my culture the bear clan is in charge of medicines," said Penasse, who lives in Garden Village in nearby Nipissing First Nation. 

"The bear teaches us a lot about medicine and it has such a big importance."

When the artists were laying out the design, they initially were going to paint one bear but decided to add an intergenerational aspect with the baby bears. 

In Anishinaabe culture the strawberry is also an important medicine, called odemin, which translates to heart berry in the language. 

Penasse said he hopes people feel a sense of their childhood home when they're at the hospital and see the mural. 

"When we painted them I really got a sense of my childhood and the feeling of safety, having your parents around, having your guardian around," he said. 

The placement of the floral designs is also significant because the artists wanted to show there's life behind the fence where activities like cultural teachings with elders and seasonal feasts occur.

The idea for the mural has been in the works for the last year, according to Jennifer Funnel, a clinician who works with the Indigenous mental health program at the hospital. 

She is originally from Marten Falls but grew up in Constance Lake First Nation, 425 kilometres northwest of Sudbury, Ont.

"We wanted artists that were local because this is First Nation territory, so we wanted artists from Nipissing First Nation," said Funnel. 

Funnel said she encouraged them to paint whatever they felt. She said Desiree Sands told her that because the hospital is a place of healing, the artists wanted to use the image of the bears and the strawberries as a representation of forgiveness and new beginnings. 

"It's been well received at the hospital," said Funnel.

"It received a lot of comments and people were saying how pretty it is and how much they like the colours."

Funnel said the hospital hopes to add more artwork to the fence in the spring and summer, bringing in other Indigenous artists and perhaps having patients paint an area of what wellness means to them.