These loving strawberries offer a gift of well being to the downtown Barrie community. The strawberry, the first fruit of summer, offers hope and the promise of new possibilities.

The design was inspired through a process of reconnecting with ancestral Ashkenazi Jewish plant medicine. Berries featured prominently in the materia medica of traditional Ashkenazi herbal healers. Art is a healing practice; through my art, I am giving new life to the folk healing practices of my forebears. The lush red berries and beautiful white flowers are known in many cultures for their healing properties and teachings. This fruit speaks of the shared human appreciation of plant medicine. These strawberries joyfully celebrate the gifts plants have shared with us. They have taught us not only how to survive over countless generations but also how to thrive on this tumultuous planet we call home.

Little by little, a little becomes a lot.

One heart is a heart, but many hearts together create a masterpiece. In art, and in our communities, small gestures repeated enough times have a major impact. The repeating heart invokes an abundance of love and invites you to remember that you are loved, and exist in loving relation with the natural world. Plants don’t discriminate but offer support to everyone who
seeks and is open to their medicine. Plants offer us a sense of reconnection and invite us to discover a deep feeling of being at home in the city.