Archive for February, 2015

the house that leather built

Posted: February 28, 2015 in history
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A couple of weeks ago I was at the AGO with some friends.   As we looked out over Dundas Street, one of them asked me if I knew anything about the building that we could see at the northwest corner of Beverley St. and Dundas.  I had to admit that I knew nothing about except that I thought it was the Italian Consulate (it does have an Italian flag flying in the front after all).

Then I thought nothing about it.  Flash forward about a week.  I was at the St. Lawrence Market, sitting in the lower level eating my lunch when I happened to notice some posters on the wall.  The posters were about the history of the area, especially the architecture.  Right beside me was a picture of the house at 136 Beverley St., the Italian Consulate.  Apparently it was called ‘Chudleigh’ and it was built in 1872.

So back I went to take some pictures.

Winter time, snow and large trees. Chudleigh, a large yellow brick house built in 1872, viewed from the side (looking through the bars of the fence)

Apparently the house is a fine example of the Second Empire style of architecture, a style that was popular between 1865 and 1880.  Features of this style found in ‘Chudleigh’ are the steep mansard roof, the ‘tower’ portion of the house, and the asymmetry of the design.

blog_beardmore_chudleigh

This 35 room house was built by George Beardmore, a tanner from Chudleigh Devon England.  It remained in the family until 1934.  In 1937 it became the Italian Consulate.   During World War 2 the Canadian government confiscated the property and used it as local headquarters for the RCMP.  In 1961 it was returned to the Italians who used it as a center for Italian immigrants before renovating it and turning it back into the Italian Consulate in 1978.

Chudleigh, a large yellow brick house built in 1872, viewed from the side (looking through at the bars of the fence in the foreground.) Winter time, snow and large trees

Chudleigh in 1952

Chudleigh, an old house built in 1872 as seen in a 1952 black and white photo.

photo credit: torontopubliclibrary.ca

When George Lissant Beardmore first came to Canada in 1844, he set up a tannery in Hamilton Ontario.    A few years later, this tannery was destroyed in a fire.  Rather than rebuild in Hamilton, Beardmore built a warehouse in Toronto and bought a tannery in Guelph to supply the leather from which he made shoes.   The Toronto warehouse, the Beardmore Building, was at 35 – 39 Front Street East and the building is still there today.  A Winners store occupies part of the building.

Four storey tall brick building with arched windows and mansard roof, yellowish brick. White and black stone sign built into the building at the level of the third floor that says 'Beardmore Building'.

A row of 4 storey brick buildings built in the late 1880's along the south side of Front Street, taken on a winter day with snow on the ground. Cars parked on the street in front of the builings. Arched windows, mansard roofs.

In 1967 Beardmore & Co. are the largest tanners of leather in Canada. Their buildings and properties cover an area of over 500 acres, including a tannery in Acton that Beardmore purchased in 1865.  They employed about 600 people.

Chinatown mural

Posted: February 27, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Chinatown Mural
2011 by Alexa Hatanaka and Aaron Li-Hill
Commissioned by the Chinatown BIA & located in an alley near Dundas & Spadina.
The mural is based on scenes from everyday life in Toronto’s Chinatown.

Part of a mural on an alley wall. There are two parts of the mural visible in this photograph. An older man is riding a bicycle in one part and twp people are sharing an umrella and walking away from the viewer in the other part

fish eye lens photo of the mural, taken from the left hand side, older man on bicycle is the closest picture on the mural, next are the two people sharing an umbrella. The remaining parts of the mural are more difficult to discern. There is a car parked in the alley

mural showing three people, a child, the head of a middle aged man with a brimmed hat in profile, and an older man sitting

fish eye pens photo of the whole Chinatown mural

part of the Chinatown mural

Part of the Chinatown mural - an older woman is with a small child

Right end of the Chinatown mural, the end that is closest to Dundas St. The shop that is next to the alley in which the mural is painted can be seen in the photo.

A bike is leaning against a wall of an alley, there is snow on the ground. On the wall is the right hand end of a long mural

over the boards

Posted: February 25, 2015 in history, public art
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Legends Row, Maple Leaf Square
in front of the Air Canada Centre

statues of  former Toronto Maple Leaf players,
Ted Kennedy, Johnny Bower and Darryl Sittler

Bronze statues of Maple Leafs Darryl Sittler and Ted Kennedy in front of the Air Canada Center.
below: Ted Kennedy played hockey for 14 seasons (1942-1957), all of which as a Toronto Maple Leaf. In those 14 years, the Leafs won five Stanley Cups.

Bronze statue of Maple Leaf hockey player Ted Kennedy, standing behind what is supposed to be the boards between the players bench and the ice.

below:  Sittler – One of Darryl Sittler’s claims to fame was in 1976 when he scored ten points in a singlemgame.  On 7 Feb 1976 the Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 11-4.   Sittler scored six of those goals and assisted on four others.

A bronze statue of Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player Darryl Sittler as he jumps over the boards and onto the ice, hockey stick in hand

below:  Johnny Bower was a Maple Leaf goalie from 1959 to 1978.  Often he was the oldest man on the team and at the end of his career he was the oldest player in the NHL.

bronze statue of Maple Leaf goalie Johnny Bower in his goalie uniform

Looking at the Legends Row statues from the side with Johnny Bower standing in the foreground. Ted Kennedy and Darry Sittler are in the background

still looking for spring

Posted: February 25, 2015 in galleries, locations
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Flowers, a sign of spring.  No real flowers outside yet and probably not for quite a while!
Instead we’ll have to settle for European pottery florals from the Gardiner Museum today.

below:  Ewer and basin, Sèvres France, 1757,  porcelain, attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis.  Pink ground with foilage-like edges.

1757 Sevres ewer (water jug) and basin in pink and white with a tiny bit of blue, floral patterns

below: Purple flowered mullein plate, from Derby botanicals, pattern 216, England, c1800.

yellow rimmed plates with pictures of flowering plants in the center

gumhead revisited

Posted: February 24, 2015 in locations, public art
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On the 4th of February I posted some photos and information on Douglas Coupland’s ‘Gumhead’.  This is the installation where people are meant to interact with a large head by sticking chewed gum to it.  The plain black head gets transformed into something new (a sticky mess?).  At that point, the head been inside Holts for Men for about two weeks.  One of the photos from early in February is this one:

A large (about 6 foot tall) black head sits in the front of a menswear store. People have been encouraged to add chewed wads of gum to the head. It is about one third covered.

Yesterday, almost three weeks later, I revisited it and this is the photo that I took:

Douglas Coupland's 'Gumhead' inside Holts For Men store in Toronto. It is a very large black sculpture of a man's head to which people have been attaching gobs of chewed gum.

I was expecting to see more gum on the head.  After all, a similar piece in Vancouver was totally covered by the time the exhibit finished.   As I stood there in my winter walking clothes, i.e. not dressed for shopping at Holts, I thought of a few things.

The Vancouver ‘Gumhead’ was outside with easy access to all.

Although this ‘Gumhead’ is visible from the street, it doesn’t invite people to come inside and interact with it.   Unless they have heard about the exhibit, passersby may not realize that they have the option of sticking their own wad of chewed gum on some guy’s big face.  In addition, inside a store is not really a public place.  It would be interesting to know how many people came in off the street to take a closer look at it.  By ‘people’ I mean non-customers with no prior knowledge of ‘Gumhead’.

And anyway,  it’s ugly.  That’s my two cents worth.

You have until March 9th if you want to get yourself to Bloor and Bellair  (near Bloor & Yonge) to participate.  Gum is provided.

 

Icefest

Posted: February 23, 2015 in events, locations
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Bloor Yorkville Icefest, Frozen in Time
Cumberland Ave., February 21 & 22

 Ice sculpture beside a sidewalk. The top part has the words Bloor Yorkville icefest and the bottom part has the words Frozen in time, icefest 15. The middle section looks like a large face made of Egyptian motifs.

The 10th annual Icefest featured the carving of blocks of ice into Ancient Egypt themed sculptures.

Four ice sculptures with Ancient Egyptian themes - King Tut, and a pyramid amongst them. Also a wall of hieroglypics with two guards beside it.

Both Saturday and Sunday were snowy days but the weather didn’t deter the crowds, or their picture taking.  I’m sure that there are thousands of photographs of the sculptures!
Here are a few of mine.

A man in a white parka is standing beside a sculpture with his elbow resting on it. A woman in white coat and hat is taking his picture.

A woman is facing a sculpture of a dinosaur. Both of them have their mouths wide open.

A boy is standing beside a sculpture

A mother with two little kids is posing with an ice sculpture.

A little girl in a pink snow suit it peaking throw a whole in an ice sculpture

A father is taking a photograph of his son beside an ice sculpture

A group of four people are standing around an ice sculpture. They all have puzzled looks on their faces as though they can't figure out what the sculpture is supposed to be.

An ice sculpture of a bear with it's front paws raised, looms over the interesection of Yonge and Bloor.

This bear loomed over the NE corner of Yonge and Bloor.

Most of the sculptures along Cumberland Ave (west of Bellair) are still there and will remain as long as the temperatures remain low and no one vandalizes them.

a break in winter

Posted: February 22, 2015 in locations, nature
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Yesterday Toronto got a brief respite from the frigid temperatures that we’ve been experiencing.   Instead, more snow fell.   I think that most of us are getting tired of this thing called winter, including me.  So, here are a few photos from inside the conservatory at Allan Gardens to brighten your day.

fan shaped arrangement of fern fronds in green and red, Allan Gardens conservatory

reddish coloured new growth on a green plant

close up shot of a dark pink and white tulip in bloom

close up macro photo of a bud on the end of a thorny stem

close up macro photograph of the center of a red poinsettia showing the stamens and other parts

three yellow daffodils

cedar branch in focus in the foregound with a bed of pink and yellow flowers out of focus and blurry in the background

A succulent plant with wide narrow leaves, view from the top, looking down at the top edges of the leaves
close up of the inside of a dark pink hibiscus flower with focus on the stamens.

geology lesson

Posted: February 21, 2015 in public art
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Time Cone
by Brad Golden and Lynn Eichenberg, 1996.
With help from Christopher Dewdney, poet.

In front of 25 Sheppard Ave West on the SE corner of Sheppard and Beecroft.

A tall bluish coloured glass building takes up the background. A tall conical shaped sculpture is in front of it.

A 15 cm stainless steel ribbon, supported by four steel beams, winds its way up to the cone at the top.   Cut out of the steel are words that pertain to the geology of  the area.  ‘Precambrian’ is the bottom word.  Other words include Pleistocene Glaciation, Gull River Limestone, Cenozic, Don, and Thorncliffe Till.

Looking up inside a sculpture that is a ribbon of stainless steel that winds up a conical hape, supported on 4 sides by stainless steel bars.

extra: In geology, ’till’ is unsorted unstratified material deposited directly by glacial ice.

warming up to art

Posted: February 20, 2015 in public art, waterfront
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5 lifeguard posts
5 art installations
5 places to sit and/or get out of the wind

All in one place – along the waterfront at Kew & Balmy Beaches
until 20 March 2015

1. Snowcone by Lily Jeon and Diana Koncan

Art installation that looks like a giant white pinecone on the beach in winter. The inside of the parts of the cone are bright translucent coloured plexiglass

Looking from inside a dome shaped structure that is made of geometric shapes of coloured plastic, looking to the bright blue sky, with snow on some of the pieces of plastic. Lots of bright colours.

From the inside of the Snowcone, looking up through the center.

 metal frame of a lifeguard stand surrounded by brightly coloured shapes of translucent plastic
2. Driftwood Throne by Daniel Madeiros

Beach in winter, snow, snow fence and lots of blue sky. There is a wooden art installation that is also seating for those who want to sit and look out over the cold lake.

Lifeguard station that has been partially enclosed by a wooden structure. Two people are sitting on the lifeguard chair with their backs to the camera

3. Sling Swing by Ed Butler, Daniel Wiltshire and Frances McGeown

The art installation, Sling Swing, in the breeze on a frozen snow covered beach. It consists of large pieces of orange fabric slings hanging from a metal frame. One can use the slings as swings.

Two women sitting on the orange sling swings on a cold winter day at the beach

orange lovebot sticker inside an orange life ring on a lifeguard chair. Pieces of orange fabric are draped around the chair.

4.  Wing Back by Tim Olson

Wooden structure on a winter beach between a snow fence and the lake

wooden structure on the beach in winter. Part in painted red. It is supposed to be a large chair, semi-circle, can seat a number of people.

5. Hot Box by Michaela MacLeod and Nicholas Croft

A large black box on a winter beach. The box is large enough to fit several people inside it.

This one feels creepy inside. No windows. Interior walls form narrow passageways.

article 13

Posted: February 18, 2015 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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Amnesty International Toronto Organization is a group that works in the to raise public awareness of human rights issues. One of the projects that it supports is  Urban Canvas.  Thirty murals were planned, each based on one of the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Art Alley Mural Project produced by Arts Etobicoke in 2010 was designed by  Susan Rowe Harrison and painted by William Lazos.  It incorporates a poem by Dionne Brand, Toronto’s Poet Laureate  in 2010 that is based on Article 13.   This article states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.”

A narrow lane, or pedestrian walkway, between two buildings. On the left hand side wall there is a mural with a black and white background, and red letters. The words are a poem about freedom of movement as stated in article 13 of the Declaration of Human Rights.

The mural is on the wall of 4893A Dundas St. West, alongside a narrow pedestrian walkway.

 

See also a previous post on two of Urban Canvas project murals at Parma Court 

Also, a mural celebrating education, article 26.

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