Dancing in the streets. Pride 2022.
Photos from Dyke March 2022
Archive for the ‘events’ Category
Pride Parade 2022
Posted: June 27, 2022 in events, peopleTags: Bloor St., costumes, crowds, dancing, dogs, flags, hugging, parade, people, placards, pride, Pride Parade, rainbow, signs, spectators, tattoos, trans, umbrella, watching, Yonge St.
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Dyke March 2022
Posted: June 26, 2022 in events, peopleTags: abortion, banners, bikes, bubbles, coat hanger, crowds, dyke, dykes on bikes, fun, march, motorcycles, parade, people, poster, protest, Yonge St.
And we’re back! After missing two years because of Covid, Pride is back in Toronto.
Hot! ( 30+ C and sunny) but it didn’t seem to slow anyone down!
portraits, larger than life
Posted: May 7, 2022 in events, public artTags: CONTACT, Contact photography festival, Cultural Turns, georgia, Jorian Charlton, King St. West, Metro Hall, Out of Many, photography, portraits, Tyler Mitchell
This year’s CONTACT Photography Festival showcases the work of a few photographers who focus on portraits. Two of these, Tyler Mitchell and Jorian Charlton, are shown here.
First, on the west side of Spadina near King Street is this large portrait:
It is “Georgia” by Jorian Charlton, a Toronto based photographer whose works centers around Jamaican-Canadians and their culture. There is also an exhibit of her work titled “Out of Many” at the Art Gallery of Ontario that can be seen until 7 Aug 2022.
Nearby is a series of portraits by American photographer Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995) is on display on King Street West by Metro Hall. This is “Cultural Turns”.
There are actually three parts to this exhibition. Unfortunately I do not have photos of the other parts but they are billboards at Dovercourt and Dupont as well as an indoor component at the CONTACT Gallery.
pillow fight 2022
Posted: April 3, 2022 in events, peopleTags: fighting, fun, laughing, nathan phillips square, people, pillow fight, pillows
The spring pillow fight at Nathan Phillips returned this year. It was a smaller turnout than in pre-covid times but there was still lots of energy and enthusiasm! Family fun too – all ages welcomed and included.
below: After the fighting, a pillow toss to celebrate.
walking to the Bentway
Posted: August 9, 2021 in events, landmarks, locations, public artTags: art exhibit, ArtworxTO, Assemble, Bentway, Big Red, CN Tower, Double Dribble, downtown, Esmaa Mahamoud, fort york, Garrison Common, Garrison Crossing, GradEx 106, Graphic Arts, Illustration, Nil:Nil, OCADU, Palace Arms, Playing in Public, railway tracks, Studio F Minus
from King Street West
below: Palace Arms hotel on King Street West at Strachan
below: Southeast corner of Strachan and Wellington
below: She’s looking in the window
below: Harry Rogers worked for the city of Toronto in various capacities between 1921 and 1971. He was Commissioner of City Properties in the 1960s. Has this sign been here since then?
below: Part of Garrison Crossing pedestrian bridge
below: Yellow wild flowers growing in the field between the two sections of Garrison Crossing bridge. Looking east to downtown Toronto.
below: There are more than wild flowers between the bridges!
below: Sun bathing at Garrison Common, just outside Fort York
below: On the fence between Fort York and the Bentway there is a series of images that I happened upon the day I walked this route. This is GradEX 106, the work of graduating students in OCADU’s Graphic Design and Illustration program. My apologies to the few students whose work I inadvertently missed.
below: Michael Hu, Shahrzad Soroosh, Lydia Lam, and Dan Waites
below: Aidan Wilkins, Merryn Connelly-Miller, Vincy Lam, and Rebecca Michie
below: Leann Mei Foon, Tina Shan, Ivan Nikitin, and Emmily Fay Fin
below: Valerie Poon, Radha Joshi Raulgaonkar, Alan Zhang, and Sid Sharp
below: Joy Kim, Victoria Tao, Mia Debbas, and Emily Dakin
below: Lucy Hong, Thamara Perera, Tianshu Kuai, Jenny Lynne Castillo, Reyhaneh Mohammadi, and Caroline Icardo
below: Fence on west side of Fort York
below: More of the OCADU exhibit on the fence between Fort York and the Bentway
below: Caitlin Todd, Alizah Hashemy, Lina Wu, and Lisanne Van Der Oort,
below: Jon Owen, Joanne Lee, Kyle Miron, Vuoni, Selina Serok Park, Sarah McIntosh,
below: Liam Marks, Daniel Mendez, Daniel Melnyk, Haojun Gong, Jingyi Dong, and Mika Parial
Also at the Bentway is an art installation called ‘Playing in Public‘. This is part of ArtworxTO, Toronto’s year of public art 2021-2022. Three of the installations are shown below – they will remain at the Bentway until 26th September 2021.
below: ‘Nil:Nil’ by Studio F Minus
below: ‘Double Dribble’ by Esmaa Mohamoud
below: ‘Big Red’ by Assemble
go for the photography, stay for the love
Posted: August 1, 2021 in events, locations, people, public artTags: alley, Christ Donovan, Curtiss Randolph, Dunstin Brons, emily may rose, graffiti, hearts, Jesus, Maximum Exposure 26, New Generations, photography, Quran, reflections, RIC, Ryerson Image Centre, Ryerson University, statue, William McElcheran, Yonge Dundas Square
Yonge and Dundas and thereabouts
below: Part of a large relief sculpture on the wall of the northwest entrance to Dundas subway station of life sized figures on their way – Terra cotta artwork by William McElcheran from 2015.
below: Ryerson Image Centre,
There is a photography exhibit outside the Ryerson Image Centre showcasing three winners of the New Generation Photography Award, Chris Donovan, Dustin Bron, and Curtiss Randolph.
below: ‘Boy in the Window’ by Chris Donovan
below: A second, “Objects in Mirror” also by Chris Donovan
below: ‘AC 2019’ by Dustin Brons
below: ‘Horizon 2017’ by Curtiss Randolph. First in a short series involving a staged drama at this intersection.
below: The statue of Egerton Ryerson is gone. There is graffiti on the walls where the statue once stood.
below: On the Bond Street side of the Ryerson building is another photography exhibit. This is Maximum Exposure 26, an annual exhibit of pictures by Ryerson’s School of Image Arts students. There are 28 very diverse photos included here.
below: Food Pantry. Take what you need; Donate what you can.
below: In the alley behind the Lutheran church and Ryerson.
below: Peace, hearts and respect written on the green bike.
below: The old white building on the northeast corner of Victoria and Dundas is still there and the mural by Emily May Rose with its cute raccoons survives. If only the real raccoons were as lovable!
below: Looking east on Dundas. There is talk of renaming Dundas Street.
below: Yonge Dundas Square is now filled with hearts. There are pink heart shaped seats to sit on and pink hearts on the ground too. Each heart on the pavement has something about Toronto to love – street art, endless streets to explore, the Jays, great architecture, always changing, and more.
below: Keep looking up!
below: Another part of a large relief sculpture on the wall of Dundas subway station
Spring Stations at the Distillery
Posted: June 8, 2021 in events, locations, public artTags: ARc de Blob, art, CHarlie Leather, Distillery District, flowers, From Small Beginnings, heart, Jack Leather, sculpture, The Epitonium
Because of COVID, the annual ‘Winter Stations’ art installation at Woodbine beach was cancelled. Instead, there is ‘Spring Stations’ now showing at two locations including at the Distillery District.
below: “The Epitonium’ by Iranian design team of Mojtaba Anoosha, as well as M., Shahed, Elaheh, and Alemeh Yenglabad. It looks like a large sea snail has landed in the Distillery District.
below: ‘ARc de Blob’ created by Austrian and UK team Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum.
below: ‘From Small Beginnings’ by Jack and Charlie Leather behind the red heart. The original design called for small spruce seedlings growing on the timbers.
late in the day, Queen East
Posted: April 28, 2021 in events, graffiti and street art, locations, public art, windows and wallsTags: "Headlights", Chris Foster, Collective Memory, dalmation, Daniel Seagrave, Edward Platero, Elise Gooodhoofd, fire hydrant, firehall, flag, John Kuna, Kristyn Watterworth, lamp shade, Luminosity, mannequins, murals, plants, Queen St. East, Robert McKaye, Scarborough Amusement Park, Stoyan Barakov, the Beach, Thelia Sanders Shelton
below: “88 Keys of Light”, a collaboration between Edward Platero and Kristyn Watterworth
below: Southeast corner, Queen St East and Woodbine Ave
below: A cheerful dalmatian stands outside Firehall 227
below: Mural, “Greetings from the Beach” by Elise Goodhoofd
below: A Lovebot sticker
below: Don’t tell her that her head is empty.
below: Another Starbucks gone.
below: faded to yellow
below: Another Luminosity installation, “Headlights”, by Collective Memory aka Robert McKaye and Stoyan Barakov
below: About an hour later….
below: Mural by John Kuna painted in 2019. It replaced an earlier mural (2007, by Rudolf Stussi) that had deteriorated.
below: Part of a mural, Scarborough Amusement Park, by Daniel Seagrave, 2008
below: Above the entrance to an empty store.
below: One of many hearts shining in the windows.
below: Looking in other windows too.
below: “Share the Love”, Thelia Sanders Shelton
below: Part of “Beacon Silo” by Chris Foster
below: Same installation but from across the street
below: “Out from under the Shadows”, by Bryan Faubert. Light passes through cutouts in the metal plate to make shadow pictures on the wall.
below: Firehall 227 with it’s clock tower
below: Open doors, Firehall 227
Lighting up the darkest days
Posted: December 20, 2020 in events, stores, windows and wallsTags: candy canes, Christmas lights, December, HBC, holiday, nathan phillips square, presents, robots, Santa, skating, The Bay, toys, tree, winter
Trees wrapped in lights.
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It’s late December and the Christmas season is upon us. The winter solstice has arrived with its short day light hours… If you can call the greyness of today “day light”.
Santa in his sleigh, Yonge Dundas Square
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Nathan Phillips Square
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Like Decembers past, The Bay has installed holiday displays in some of their windows. Unlike past years, there are no elves or Santa, or even any human form. The robots have taken over and everything has been automated.
Candy canes are packed
and toys wrapped, with a beep and a whirr.
Ornaments are crafted with A.I. and a software update.
Even Santa’s wish list is machine made.
The elves have been kidnapped? Or just sickened with Covid. We’ll probably never know (does Siri know?) but it seems rather fiendish and cold to remove the “human touch” in a year where we’re all 2 metres apart and not hugging anybody.
Stay warm
Stay safe
And may your Christmas be as bright as possible.
winter village evening
Posted: December 3, 2020 in events, locationsTags: art, brick, Christmas, Christmas tree, coat, decorations, Distillery District, evening, gallery, light projections, lights, people, windows, winter
Another COVID cancellation is the Christmas Market at the Distillery District. This year’s offering is “Winter village”, a down scaled version of past years’ festivities.
The lights are up, the tree is gorgeous, and the atmosphere is almost Christmas-y.
I’m going to say that I actually prefer this year’s less crowded version.
as I walk Toronto 