Originally Published: https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/downtown-mural-maker-a-role-model-for-young-queer-indigenous-artists-1541416
Ojibwe artist and graphic designer Patrick Hunter is the latest artist to incorporate his art into the downtown core as part of the Downtown Mural Project.
Starting Sunday, he began work on the wall at 298 Queen St. E. The design - his own take on the Woodland style - encompasses a massive tree of life, roaring rapids and a crow shooting out lines of communication (a fitting analogy for the building that will soon house SooToday, an artist sponsor for this mural).
Growing up in Red Lake, Ont., Hunter had always been creative but never imagined he could make a living as an artist.
He was enterprising, however.
“I loved interactions with people,” he remembers. “I had a restaurant for a little while growing up - I went to my friend’s house, took some things out of their fridge, and started selling it. Luckily, my friend’s grandma came over and said; ‘I’ll buy some stuff!’ and she sat down and had some carrots and celery that I was selling that day.”
Red Lake was instrumental in shaping who he is.