The Meaningful Mural project at the Misercordia Hospital in Edmonton was done as part of a concept called Community Prayer Paintings developed by Summer Bozohora. Groups of people in a community such as the Misericordia staff volunteer their spare time and begin by sharing their own visions and hopes for their community, work place, family or world. Jounals are kept and through various creative spiritual exercises, poems, sketches and ideas are generated

Images are then brought together through a process of brainstorming to create a model or mock-up sketch for the community prayer painting.

The staff or community is then professionally guided to paint their images onto canvases or walls as murals. (No previous art experience is required)

Hope and Healing reflects the true intention of the Meaningful Mural Project

The staff that volunteered to take on this project were not "artists" and they came from various departments including psychiatry, rehabilitation, medicine and human resources. The had very little to no art experience prior to this project. And prior to actually painting on the walls, we provided very little art instruction. Instead, we guided them through spiritual exercises on hope and healing in their workplace and the world.

The goal of this kind of process orientated art is to bring inner images outward, to birth ones dreams and deepest longing of ones soul into the external world. It is done specificlly in groups or communities because creation is best shared with others. We generate ideas, are given feedback and support. We learn that creation is a communal and mutually beneficial activity.

Art is a metaphor for life, creating from a place of inner meaning allows you to focus on that rather than how it looks externally. As a result, you aren't so tense, your hand movements flow and you no longer fight the paint. Even the most conservative and utterly convinced that "they can't paint, can't draw, can't, can't, can't" - do learn to trust themselves in the process and thus the aesthetic result is also pleasing.

The process does not stop at the finished murals. It ripples outward. It isn't just the colour on the walls that boosts spirits, it's the commiunication of inner symbolism and hope that the images portray that lead to increased morale, and a feeling of community within the hospital.

When others see the staff in the midst of creation it enlivens them and they ask quesions. The staff, in turn talk about their art which further serves to encourage them to express the deepest longings of their heart - to express their hope. This kind of art demonstrates to us that we all have gifts and that what sparks into our life a sense of meaning also has meaning unto the whole.