“Northwoods Forage”

Northern Minnesota themed mural created in collaboration with Minny Grown

We set out to create something representative of our northwoods region and its natural areas, and chose to focus on a black bear as the primary inspiration. I wanted to illustrate some of the connections that black bears have to local flora, as well as the interconnected nature of these various plant species and fungi. Blueberries, chokecherries, acorns, honey mushrooms, clover, and insect larva all contribute to a black bear’s diet, and also share many relationships among themselves (blueberries love the shade of oaks, bees will inhabit oaks and pollinate clover and berry plants, honey mushrooms feed saprophytically on oaks, etc). Not only in nature, but in life, all things share connections with one another. There’s a John Muir quote that has stuck with me since I first read it as a teenager:

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”

Lyndale Avenue - Minneapolis, Minnesota

2024