Ice Community is created with the bright pink of happiness that to me represents my personal mental health. This ice scene encompasses many people participating in various winter activities on the ice. The ice-hut villages I would see on the ice as a child, kids skating and playing hockey on the ice, families chatting and drinking hot chocolate, and iceboats racing around the bay are all different activities that bring people out to enjoy nature even in winter. It helps us enjoy and appreciate nature, and get more in touch with seasonal changes. This scene touches on the diversity of interests for different activities, the diversity of skin-tones and backgrounds of the participants, and it doesn’t matter what you’re participating in, it’s that you are participating. It also discusses inclusion, with different body shapes, ages, abilities, skin-tones, cultures, and backgrounds all creating community together. Shared childhood memories are documented and promoted again for younger generations. The ice-huts are a warm place for winter activity that may help to reduce barriers for people based on climate, comfort, and interest. Ice-fishing can also be a fairly equitable activity without the need for a hotel, long drives, boats, or restuarants. Food can be packed and eaten in the huts, and larger fish are more accessable in the middle of the lake without the need for a boat.

Innisfil ideaLab & Library, Hotbox Huts, Lake Simcoe. 2022

A local mural created with 19 grade 8 and 6 students from Andrew Hunter Elementary School. The volunteer students were involved in every aspect of the idea development, design, and painting of the mural. The mural discusses things that are in our community and issues that are important. Topics include nature and wildlife, park activities, sports and recreation, family activities, friendships, environmental responsibility, and inclusion. It also touches on local destructive graffiti, cultural diversity, LGBT2+ communities, human rights issues, and the war in Ukraine. These are the things elementary school students are thinking about.

City of Barrie, Lampman Lane Park. 2022

Lake Simcoe is important for the plants and animals in our area, our drinking water, cooling in summer, fishing, habitat, tourism, recreation, economy, watershed, and flood control. The water is essential for our survival, along with the trees. This panel is about the environmental stewardship we need to pay more attention to, and the behaviour adjustments we need to make in order to protect these elements of life.

Innisfil ideaLab & Library, Hotbox Huts, Lake Simcoe. 2022

The sun is also essential for our survival, it provides heat, light, growth of plants, nutrients for living creatures, and brings joy. That something so far away is so essential to our survival demonstrates the fragility of our existence and the responsibility to take care of the things we can assist, like the water, the trees, and our natural environment.

Innisfil ideaLab & Library, Hotbox Huts, Lake Simcoe. 2022

The social isolation that we’ve all faced over the past couple of years has prompted us to bond by way of common interests more than ever. Pop culture connects us through its ability to reach so many of us with those similar interests. This iconic fantasy fish-eating scene, has been parodied to create the new scene of the creature being eaten by a monstrous fish, creating humor and irony with his fishing endeavors. Pop culture has helped keep us connected through these last couple of years.

Innisfil ideaLab & Library, Hotbox Huts, Lake Simcoe. 2022

Waterflow is a project created for the Sprockets and Brushes Bike Repair Station Project with Orillia and District Arts Council. The project put 17 Bike repair stations painted by local artists at bike trailheads throughout Simcoe County. Waves are one of the ways water moves throughout the world to transport nutrients.

Orillia & District Arts Council, Simcoe County Museum. 2022-2023

Through the natural movement of water, all living things grow and thrive. Be it rain, waves, or waterfalls, these forms of water movement allow nutrients to move from one place to another, to nourish us, and all living organisms. I have depicted these forms of movement on each component of the bike stations to remind us how important water is for the local forest, its inhabitants, and ourselves as well. As water moves throughout the world via waves, waterfalls, and rain the global impact of protecting the water in any location is vital for health.

Orillia & District Arts Council, Simcoe County Museum. 2022-2023