New Recovery Café’s mural is done!
We don’t have to keep the secret any longer! We are so excited to share that the statement mural at the Recovery Café’s permanent location is finished! When the first daub of paint was captured, we promised to tell you the full story behind the mural once it was complete - so here it is!
The Kettle has a long history and connection to the arts. From our famous mural at the Drop-in centre, to the long-term engagement in the Eastside Culture Crawl. And if you've ever visited a Kettle site, you may have noticed the walls covered in art - that's because many of our members are multi-disciplinary artists. The creative process of creating art can provide healing and a positive outlet for expression.
With the opening of our permanent Recovery Café location, incorporating a statement mural was a no-brainer. We knew that it will be an integral part of the story and ideas behind the Recovery Café’s programs.
Capturing the first daub of paint!
Jennifer Clark is an artist whose primary medium is painting.
Her work explores themes around the natural world, psychology, and the polarities of what it means to be human in our contemporary culture. Jennifer has painted murals for the Vancouver Mural Festival, and multiple businesses in the lower mainland and has exhibited at various galleries in Vancouver and Montreal.
The mural’s title is “Imaginal Discs” and it is done by Jennifer Clark. Read what she shared with us about the inspiration behind the piece that symbolizes The Recovery Cafe’s members and their journeys as they recover from homelessness, poverty, isolation, substance use, and other mental health challenges.
“Butterflies and moths are the primary imagery on this piece represented as symbols of transformation. They are changing, shifting, and forming through the process of metamorphosis. The same can be said for the community at The Kettle, their lives are shifting in new directions. The flight of the butterfly is symbolic of hope, the yellow and blue squares reference light, matter, pixels, stars, and individuals in a community, together. The white forms in the background bring light, something necessary to illuminate a path forward. Nature carries within its design a kind of poetry that we can learn from. Maybe if we study and appreciate the complexity of nature we will take good care of it, as well as ourselves, because the two are connected and are part of a bigger whole.”
“ The process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly can be painful. Most tissues in the cocoon dissolve with the exception of a few cells called the imaginal discs. Imaginal discs are cells that are formed in the egg before the caterpillar stage that later aid in the formation of eyes, wings, and the body of the butterfly. These cells can act as a metaphor for the potential we all have within ourselves to evolve.”
