New mural at Shelter House shares experiences

THUNDER BAY – The Shelter House’s hallway has literally been painted with experiences.

Over several weeks the shelter’s staff and clients have been creating illustrations based on their past, present, and future experiences to be placed on the shelter’s new Mural of Hope inside the building.

The artwork ideas included stories, art pieces, and doodles that served as inspiration for the sketch drawn on the wall of the Shelter House’s main hall by local artist Angela Gollat.

“It’s a good representation of people’s feelings,” said Shelter House development officer Takwana Nhau.

Nhau said the project came from the shelter’s intern Elsa Barnes-Philp had the idea to have the residents create the concept of a mural.

For three days, Shelter House staff asked residents questions in regards to the three themes and with those themes they came up with sketches to provide the local artist with a mural idea.

“It’s not guided,” Nhau said. “We are staying true to the original concept of have the clients create the pieces with their ideas, and they are the ones creating the colour according to what works for them.

One of the mural’s major themes was family.

“We see big themes of family, big themes of children, and people saying that they created their own family within the shelter, so the theme of family was very big” Nhau said.

“I think in that sense anybody walking through these doors can relate to that part of family, and I think it would have significance in that sense to anybody.”

Both staff and clients painted the final touches onto the mural Thursday morning.