The Hummingbird Room Story

In Indigenous culture, hummingbirds are messengers. Travelling diligently from flower to flower, they are thought to pass along spirit messages or messages of healing and love. They are elegant creatures whose presence symbolizes positive energy and lightness. Artist Richard Shorty aptly captures their delightful nature in his painting “Hummingbirds.” Here two hummingbirds hover side-by-side, wings outstretched, bills pointed towards each other as if passing messages between one another.

Incorporated into the body of both hummingbirds is the motif of a whale’s tail. Like the Hummingbird, the Whale is a positive creature, symbolizing kindness and compassion. Whales also symbolize unity.

Taken in this image’s context, the whale’s tale depicted within the body of a hummingbird represents the unity between the land and the ocean. Together these creatures illustrate the relationship between these two elements, which characterize the Pacific coastal landscape. The turquoise, blue and red in artist Richard Shorty’s “Hummingbirds” painting caught Porada Design’s eye and became the inspiration for the Hummingbird Room. As with all of the rooms, the artists’ work is meant to centre the space and become its focus.

The larger design of the suite is aimed at complementing and emboldening the featured artwork, in this case, Shorty’s whimsical depiction of two hummingbirds.

The Porada Design team used a palette of blues and oranges to harmonize the decor of the space with the original artwork’s colours. To further draw attention to the detail in Shorty’s painting, the design team was inspired to create a whale’s tail headboard on a wavy wooden panel. The whale’s tail motif is often subtly incorporated into Shorty’s images. The wavy texture of the wood used in the headboard represents rolling ocean waves.

As a whole, the Hummingbird Room is designed to showcase the intricacies of Richard Shorty’s artwork, which honour the relationships between all of nature’s creatures.