05/30/2026
Thank you Madelyn Haasken of the Bemidji Pioneer for your fine work in covering this event.
 BEMIDJI — “There’s nothing wrong with art; you can’t make a mistake. Anything we think is a mistake, we can just keep working on it and the more beautiful of a piece of art that’ll become.”
As local artist Wesley May worked alongside Hope House members to paint an eagle mural in the organization’s drop-in center, he embodied those words and encouraged his fellow painters, many of whom had little to no experience in creating art.
“With art,” he said, “we can’t do nothing wrong.”
May has been creating murals throughout the area for more than a decade, with his work featured at Bemidji High School, the Bemidji Public Library and the Bemidji Wastewater Treatment Facility along Paul Bunyan Drive, among other locations.
As it turned out, he was also the perfect candidate to help guide Hope House, which serves those with severe and persistent mental illness, in bringing its members' idea of an eagle mural to life.
“Last year at a member meeting, someone suggested that an eagle mural in their newly remodeled drop-in center would be a great idea,” a poster describing the project explained. “Others agreed, and excitement grew to find an artist to lead them in learning not just art, but also about the significance of the eagle in native culture, which nearly 30% of members shared.”
The project was unveiled at an open house on Wednesday. At the event, May expressed to attendees that the project came at a time in his life when he was struggling mentally.
“I was contacted by a friend of mine to come do a mural over here,” May said about how the process started. “Well, that friend knew what I’d been through in life and where I was at … I was trying to find my own identity again.”
Once May connected with the members, the group knew it was a perfect match. As many of the members weren’t experienced artists, May began by teaching them basic techniques.
“We got to all start out on the same page, right from the gate,” he said about those early days. “No one was the best artist; no one was the worst.”
May started by leading participants through the process of drawing a dreamcatcher, showing them how to create a simple straight line first to build their confidence.
“Let’s draw a straight line and another straight line and another straight line in a circle. We walked through doing that,” he explained. “When participants realized that’s what we’re really doing, they got to be more empowered at being able to create something that’s so complex, but yet so simple, right? One little step at a time.”
Amara Bedford, Hope House’s activity coordinator, expressed gratitude to May for providing residents with a welcoming environment where they could feel supported while they worked to create the mural.
“You just have a really good way with people,” she told May, “and the way that you create a structure with enough flow to allow people to feel safe and show up as ourselves.
“Now we have this beautiful mural for many, many years to come here in Hope House. It’s a very wonderful remembrance of a special experience for us here.”
And as they painted, the group drew parallels between the mural and their own experiences. While May preached that mistakes in art offer an opportunity to learn and grow, mistakes in life have a similar purpose.
“So then we realized that it’s the same with life," May recalled. "Whatever reason we made a mistake, we can keep working on it."
