locations | as I walk Toronto

Archive for the ‘locations’ Category

St. Enochs Square

Posted: July 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: black and white cat, boy, brick wall, cat, city, dandelions, downtown, EGR, EGRart, Elicser Elliott, lane, mural, painted wall, people, rejuvenation, Shuter, St. Enochs Square, street art, Toronto, urban

St. Enochs Square, between Massey Hall and the back of the stores facing Yonge St., just south of Shuter St.

This mural was painted about a year ago as part of a project to rejuvenate this alley. It was a collaboration between EGR and Elicser Elliott.

entrance to laneway, red brick building on the left (Massey Hall), mural painted on the wall on the right. Mural shows a woman & a boy blowing the seeds from white puffy dandelions.

entrance to St. Enochs Sq. on Shuter St.

A woman is holding an infant and a small child. Another child is clinging to her. A man is to her right and a girl is to her left. The infant is ugly and may not really be an infant but instead be a little roly poly old man... or a hybrid of the two

left side of the mural

a large black and white cat is looking at the viewer. It is wearing a little crown. Beside the cat is a boy in a blue and white striped shirt who is blowing the seeds off a puffy white dandelion.

blowing dandelions

panorama of the mural

Bulwer Street

Posted: June 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bird, Bulwer, car windows, chain link, city, concrete walls, downtown, eyes, face, fish, graffiti, lane, photos, reflections, stickers, street art, tags, teeth, Toronto, urban, wall, weeds, yellow bird

Bulwer Street is a short street that runs parallel to, and one block north of, Queen Street West. It is only one block long, running east from Spadina Ave to Soho St.

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., the angle of the photograph makes it look like there is a large chain link fence in front of the wall.

children behind the fence

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., children including a larger than life sized boy wearing an orange T-shirt

children playing in the parking lot

white eyes

detail of graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., a large brown hand is holding miniature size city buildings in blues and purples

he’s got the whole city in his hands

rooftop reflections

reflections of a mural in the windows and side panels of a black car

mirrored in the glass

facing the alley

sticker of half of a man's face (cut vertically)

only half the man he used to be

picture of people in blues and reds beside a nondescript grey door at the back of a small parking lot (or driveway)

the back door

bright blue, pink and orange tag on lime green background

tag – suniti? BA Kings?

parts of three tags on a wall

A concrete wall with tags on the lower part. There are hydro wires in front of the top part of the wall, and they are casting shadows on the wall

wired tags on concrete

large paper stencil of the top part of a woman is still there although parts of it have worn away

worn away but clinging on

Uber 500’s little yellow bird shows up on this street too

little fish, big teethfish

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., with the CN tower behind in the distance

one of the many, many, views of the CN tower

*****

stuck on behind Bathurst

Posted: June 9, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bathurst st., black and white, brick wall, calzone, decolonize, dog, Dundas, eye, graffiti, lane, line drawings, mug shot, paper, phinite, photos, red eye, scribbled, stickers, strawberry, street art, tags, tongue, Toronto, window

There is an alley that runs behind Bathurst, on the west side. Most of these photos were taken in that alley. All of the photos are of sticker, or paper, graffiti that I saw when I walked that alley a week or so ago.

A window space in a brick wall that was covered over a long time ago. Now there are tags and stickers covering the space as well as graffiti on the walls around the space.

It used to be a window, now it is an ever changing canvas.

black and white line drawing that looks like something you'd create with spirograph

spirograph on the metal pole.

four stickers on a wall. One is a mask that looks either African or BC First Nations. One is a hairy dog like creature with a long tongue that is licking a red strawberry with legs. One has the word 'decolonize' on it along with a picture of a group of men. The last sticker is just the word 'phi-nite' with a symbol.

strawberry man gets licked by dog, a mask looks at you, decolonize and phi-nite, all in a small space

two stickers on a tag & scribble covered space. One sticker is a silhouette of a man on a skateboard. He has large wings coming out of his back. Ths other sticker is a greenish colour geometric design within a greyish white circle.

have wings, will skateboard

a purple and white sticker that has been defaced by the tag 'calzone'. Beside it is a sticker that says 'decolonize history' with a mug shot of a man.

calzone tag unfortunately scribbled on top.

five stickers on the back of a metal sign.

Billy and friends

black ink on brown paper graffiti of a woman's head & shoulders

brown girl on the wall

two stickers on a wall. One is the head of a blue cat. The other is a lacey looking circular design.

blue cat with lace

Someone has placed a red & white circular sticker over the iris of an eye that is part of a black and white eye graffiti picture

red eye

*****

over Cedarvale

Posted: June 8, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: bathurst st., bridge, cedarvale park, concrete, graffiti, pink, smoking man, street art, tags, under bridge

I am beginning to wonder how many bridges there are in Toronto! Yesterday I walked under three that I hadn’t been under before. These are the photos from one of those bridges – Bathurst Street over Cedarvale Park, just north of St. Clair Ave.

three large colourful tags and one grey scale picture of a man squatting and smoking a cigarette,Bathurst St. over Cedarvale Park, graffiti under the bridge

chillin’ & smokin’

pink!

flower face in black, grey and white, on the side of a support pillar, Bathurst St. over Cedarvale Park,graffiti under the bridge

a happy flower growing on the concrete

tags around a down spout, Bathurst St. over Cedarvale Park, graffiti under the bridge

tags around the down spout

Look Mom!

tags and a few small pictures on a large concrete support at one end of theBathurst St. over Cedarvale Park,graffiti under the bridge

an assortment of tags at the end of the bridge

In case you are curious, here is a list of bridges in Toronto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Toronto

*****

down on the shadowy concrete

Posted: June 6, 2014 in locations, people
Tags: abstract, afternoon, city hall, concrete, diagonal, fountain, groups, lines, nathan phillips square, people, photos, shadows, sun, Toronto, walking, water

From a vantage point over Nathan Phillips Square, we looked down on the people as they passed by. It was late in the afternoon so the shadows were long. Although we were looking for interesting characters, we were also creating compositions with people, concrete lines, and shadows as elements.

Three photographs are shooting from behind a low concrete wall. One has his camera aimed downwards towards the people walking below. The others have their cameras aimed farther out.

hunting shadows

A group of people walking across Nathan Phillips square. They are walking on crete and the afternoon shadows are long.

caught some!

A group of three people walking across Nathan Phillips square. They are walking on crete and the afternoon shadows are long.

on the diagonal

Most of the picture is of shadows on the concrete below. There are partial shadows of the arches over the fountain at nathan phillips square. There are also 4 people (or parts of the people) and the long shadows that they cast.

walking over the shadow arches

A group of young people walking across Nathan Phillips square. They are walking on concrete. Five guys and two girls. Both girls are in short black dresses with black sandals.

with matching little black dresses

A man is sitting at a table outside, on Nathan Phillips Square, late afternoon, with long shadows making patterns on the concrete

Some shadows kept still so they were easier to capture.

photo of the railing that is made of many vertical white bars. The railing is not straight. There are many shadows in the picture, and many patterns, linear and diagonal, made by the white bars and the shadows.

a multitude of lines and their linear shadows

Not all involved shadows. Sometimes, just people in the shadow.

A group of people are either sitting on a bench, or standing beside it, in Nathan Phillips Square, beside the fountain pool

Resting by the fountain.

Two women are walking on the concrete squares

walking between the lines

a little alley

Posted: May 22, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, chainlink fence, coffee, couple, doorway, face, Kensington, lane, mailbox, male nude, man, mosaic, people, stickers, tags, tiles, Toronto, woman

A little dead end alley in Kensington and the graffiti I found there.

Looking through a chain link fence towards a short laneway. There is graffiti on the walls of the buildings that back onto the alley

A chain link fence at the end of the alley.

Street art piece of a semi clad woman and a male nude, reaching for each other. They are larger than life, and higher up on a wall.

I love the way that the faces are incomplete compared to rest of the anatomy.

A graffiti piece of a black hooded figure. Someone has tagged over part of it in large white letters. The next person has put an orange line through the white tags and then added the words Fuck You learn some respect

The seemingly endless battle between graffiti artists and those who wantonly tag over their work.

A collection of small tiles that have been painted over by a larger piece of street art

squares pieced together

Multicoloured graffiti that covers a door as well as the wall.

hidden doorway

black outline picture of a tea cup and saucer, with steam rising from it, on top of green and purple graffiti

steaming

Doorway covered with stickers and scribbles

chaos with stickers and scribbles

Graffiti of a pinkish face with bared teeth. CHainlink fence on the left of the photo.

grimacing skull by the fence

Sonya’s Park

Posted: May 21, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: altered signs, brick, city, defaced, downtown, grass, green space, historical, houses, Kensington market, Oxford St., park, photos, pictures, playground, stickers, tags, Toronto, urban, wall

Sonya’s Park, a small green space on Oxford Street.

On the east side of the park there is a brick wall that had a number of scenes painted on it. The pictures depicted a trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. Some of the murals remain intact while others have been defaced.

A play structure with slide is on the left of the picture, a woman is sitting on a bench on the right side. Row houses on the opposite side of the street can also be seen. There are some large trees too.

Oxford St., from the park.

Spring plants are growing in front of the wall on which there is a mural on a brick wall depicting a scene from a visit to Kensington Market circa 1885. A small girl is standing beside a cart.

Trip to Kensington market, circa 1885. The first of the murals on the brick wall on the east side of the park.

Large white tags obscure part of a mural depicting Kensington market in the past

Once upon a time there was a mural there. Sadly, taggers have made their presence known.

mural on a brick wall depicting a scene from a visit to Kensington Market , people buying fruit and vegetables from a street vendor. Spring plants are growing in front of the wall.

buying fruit and vegetables, circa 1885

a large tag over another mural. Someone has then written large red letters that say Stop not taggin art

stop not taggin art & watch yourself

A brick wall that runs across the back of the park. It is covered with graffiti. There is a metal gate in the center and you can see that there is more graffiti on the walls of the alley behind.

at the back of the park

A chain link fence in front of a piece of graffiti in oranges, yellows and purple

diamonds of colour

A city of Toronto sign that has had four stickers attached to it.

Plea no the, Elder abuse, and Don’t worry CAMH is only a block away, all on one sign

508

Posted: May 21, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: bathurst, city, clandestinos, colourful, graffiti, house, murals, painted, photographs, photos, shalak, smoky, street art, Toronto, urban

One house in the city.

The number 508 is above the doorway. An eye, part of two different murals, is on either side of the door.

508 in the middle

View of the front of a two storey building taken from the street in front of it. The exterior of the house is covered with paintings. Two faces cover what once the front windows.

eyes on the street

large painting of a red and blue bird on the side of a house. Hydro wires are also in the photo

bird contemplating a wire

A white toilet sits on a sidewalk outside of a house. On the side of the house, just behind the toilet, is a painting of a an old house.

outdoor plumbing

A large mural on the side of a brick house.

characters on the north wall

laid up and cradled

Posted: December 18, 2013 in locations
Tags: boats, clouds, compass, covered, cradles, gecko, grey sky, harbour, hibernation, ice, icicles, national yacht club, nyc, photos, resting, ropes, sailboats, serenity, snow, storage, stored for the winter, tarps, Toronto, white, winter, yacht club

Tarps, ropes and metal cradles.

Lovingly and carefully stored boats, asleep for the winter awaiting spring and the start of a new sailing season. Canada, where the sailing season is short.

National yacht club, sailboats in their cradles, snow on the ground. In the center of the picture is a blue and red boat with the name Gecko written on the side. There are a number of other boats, most of which are white.

Red and blue Gecko in hibernation.

National yacht club, sailboats in their cradles, snow on the ground. In the center of the picture is a yellow and blue sailboat. On the right is a dark blue hull in which there are reflections of the boats around.

A chilly trio in white, blue and yellow.

The bows of two white boats, one on top of the other. The sun is trying to break through the clouds in the background of the picture, making for interesting lighting conditions.

Whiteness on a winter afternoon when the sun is trying to shine through the clouds.

close up of a red, dark green and off-white striped hull of a sailboat. A knotted white rope is in the photo too.

All tied up and radiating griminess.

In the background the sun tries to shine through the clouds. There is enough light that rays of sunshine bounce off the yellow hull of a boat that is in the foreground.

Rays of sun try to brighten the day.

Perched on shore and looking out over the lake, but stuck behind barbed wire.

Although snow and ice are an integral part of a Canadian winter, it is always interesting to find them in different settings. For example, icicles forming along the seams in the hull of a boat that is up for the winter.