New Mural on the Northwest Indian Development Center in Bemidji
Exciting things are going on around the lake! If you’ve driven through town you may have already had a chance to sneak a peak at the new mural being painted on the side of Aazhoomon, the Northwest Indian Development Center. Please visit this link and watch the video!
The Northwest Indian Community Development Center, located in Bemidji, has started a community-based art project in the form of new mural, which will be seen on the side of their building facing Bemidji Avenue.
The center is a Native-run community nonprofit organization that has been serving the Indigenous population of the greater Bemidji area for the past 35 years.
“We’re located between the three largest Ojibwe reservations in the state of Minnesota,” explained NWICDC Executive Director Martin Jennings. “And we have a significant Native population, but you don’t really see that expression very prominent in this community. So I want this center to be a place that helps tell that other side of the story and the richness of the culture, the strengths and beauty of the Indigenous population, which originally called this area our homelands.”
The NWICDC not only wants to be a forefront for Native representation inside the enter, but outside as well.
“I want this building to be a landmark,” stated Jennings. “I want this to be a place of visibility, pride, the Indigenous values that we have.”
“The mural project is to inspire appreciation and building community together through sharing culture, because culture is meant to be shared,” said lead mural artist Sylvia Houle.
So far, the background and first layer has been painted, and this weekend the artists will get together to start painting the people.
“There’s going to be people from different backgrounds participating in this different races, identities,” explained Houle. “But the main thing is to have Indigenous relatives in modern times doing traditional practices.”
In being brought in as the lead artist, Houle is mentoring a group of teenagers connected with the NWICDC who are volunteering to help with the project.
“You don’t have to be technically skilled at it from the gate,” said Houle, “I encourage them to just learn to have fun with it, learn to play. So even if it’s just like getting your hands all covered in paint and just smearing it on the wall, because that’s where it starts – it’s just learning how to become comfortable with it.”
Although Houle was the only one painting Friday due to the rainy weather, you can drive by the Northwest Indian Community Community Development Center at any point this weekend or next week to see the group of artists at work. They’d appreciate a wave or “hello” as they continue to work on the project, which is set to be finished within the next week and a half.
Visit https://lptv.org/in-focus-northwest-indian-community-development-center-painting-new-mural/ to read more and to watch the video!