LOVE IS IN THE AIR

The Love is in the Air community-engaged art project encourages kindness, compassion, and open-mindedness for all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and backgrounds. The project was conceived and led by artist Betty Carpick in collaboration with the Solidarity Collective.

At three free drop-in Maker Sessions at CoLab Gallery + Arts Centre in early 2023 over 100 participants learned basic stitching, practiced embroidery techniques, and used watercolour pencils to complete the unbleached cotton banner. The banner’s colour palette and motif are inspired by the strawberry which, because of its shape, is known as the heart berry. In Indigenous cultural teachings, the strawberry plant (“odemimin” in Anishinaabemowin and “otehimin” in Cree) is a food and medicine that teaches about creation, community, and love. In other cultures, the strawberry is symbolic of love, passion, and much more.

A photograph of the completed artwork was used for postcards, stickers, and 24/7 outdoor billboards, including a north-facing billboard on Simpson Street at Northern Avenue and a digital billboard on Red River Road at Court Street South.

The Solidarity Collective is a grassroots network of Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) and LGBTQ2S artists and activists who connect through accessible creative, anti-hate awareness, and healing. The Collective came through funding from the Safer and Vital Communities grant with the support of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association and the Thunder Bay Community Safety & Well-Being Council. The Love is in the Air project is this year’s large-scale media project dedicated to the Collective’s main goals.

Betty Carpick is a land-based artist and educator. The interdisciplinary and intergenerational ways that she offers stewardship are shaped by her Cree and Eastern European heritage. Much of her work looks at social, cultural, and environmental issues in both serious and playful ways through a multi-layered interactive process.