Robert Home Smith (1877 – 1935) was a lawyer, business man, civil servant, and land developer.   In the early 1900’s he acquired 3000 acres of land along the Humber River, from Lake Ontario north to what is now Eglinton Ave. 

 A mural has been painted by Emilia Jajus on Royal York Road as it passes under the train tracks close to Dundas West.  The east side of the underpass is finished and it depicts Robert Home Smith and some of the effects that he had on the area.

below:  At the south end of the mural there is a portrait of Robert Home Smith.  A young girl can be seen hiding behind the trunk of a large tree.   Because the tree is painted on the corner, you can’t see the young boy who is hiding on the other side of the tree until you get closer to the mural.

part of a mural on an underpass, including a portrait of a man, Robert Home Smith

part of an historical mural on an underpass, two kids are playing, one on either side of a large tree that has been painted on the corner.

 below: Part of the mural, fishing in the Humber River by the bridge at the Old Mill.  The bridge was built in 1916 after an older bridge was washed out in a storm.  It is still there.

part of a mural showing a stone bridge over a river, the Humber River.  A man is fishing in the river from the shore.

Part of the land that he owned was the site of the King’s Mill.  This mill was built in 1793 on orders from Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe.  It was to mill lumber for the proposed town of York.    Here, Home Smith built the Old Mill Hotel as well as the  the Old Mill Tea Room.  The tea room was opened on 4 Aug 1914, the same day that Britain declared war on Germany.

below:  Part of the mural, the Old Mill Hotel

part of a mural that shows the Old Mill hotel, a tudor style two storey building with the lower part being made of stone

below: The Old Mill hotel in 1945

Copy of a 1945 photo of the Old Mill hotel in Toronto

photo from the City of Toronto Archives

Robert Home Smith planned to develop the land on both sides of the Humber River (known as the Humber Valley Surveys) into residential lots that were aimed at affluent buyers.  Although he died before the completion of this project, the neighbourhood of Kingsway as well as parts of Swansea, Baby Point, and Humber Village, still stand.

part of a mural showing a two storey stone house with fake tudor upper storey, in autumn, with tree with orange leaves beside the house.

The parkland that is adjacent to the Humber River as it curves around Baby Point is named Home Smith Park in memory of this man.

below:   A poor quality photo showing a view of the whole mural.   A replacement photo is needed, one taken on a day when there aren’t so many shadows!

picture of a mural painted an the wall of an underpass.

A while back, I posted some photos of ‘Zones of Immersion’,  Stuart Reid’s art installation at Union Station.   Now that it is completed, I decided to revisit it.  There has been some talk about how depressing it is.
I’ll let you decide whether it is depressing or not.

If you are on the ‘northbound to Finch’ platform you get a clear view of all the panels.
If you are on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform you can only see some of the glass panels.

I’ve now been back a number of times and this is what I saw:
1) Of the figures with discernible gender, 12 or 13 were male.
2) The males are of different ages and shapes.
3) The number of females outnumber males by at least 2:1.
4) Almost all (or even all?) of the women are young.  They are all thin, if not gaunt.
5) There is one child…. with a finger up his/her nose.
6) Only two or three figures are smiling.

 

Part of an art installation at Union Station, paint on glass panels - a rough drawing, black outline with some grey shading of a couple

paintings on glass panels, Union Station art installation, two women. One on the left looks very sad, like she's been crying. The other woman is painted very dark grey with a few red highlights.

Looking along a subway platform at Union Station, the far wall is an art installation, paintings on glass panels of people

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels,

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman's head in dark blues and blacks, heavy paint around the eyes

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a large face in red
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part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, three men sitting on a subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left are white words on blue background, on the right are two women in profile

“the way we settle into a seat
the way we stretch when the train is empty
and retract as it fills
the way we deflect a glance and simultaneously present
language of the body claiming, relinquishing and balancing
personal space in the interstitial realm
halfway between the worlds of here and there”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman in yellow on a green and blue background, a man is waiting for the subway and his reflection is in the photo

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, woman standining

The panels that can be seen on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform are seen as the reverse of those viewed from the other platform.

black and white painting on glass of a woman holding a mobile phone

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, upper part of a man sitting and reading, in profile, on the left is the reflection of a woman waiting for the subway
“slicing through the clay of the earth’s first skin
steel rails and electric lines
going from      going to
slicing through time and distance
darkness and light
station by station
releasing us into the city’s fabric
stop by stop
after a days labour
taking us home”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, four women sitting on the subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a group of people standing. The word because is also visible in the picture

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman sitting on the subway with a child on her lap. The child has a finger up its nose

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left side is a man on blue and on the right is a woman's head drawn in blue

painting on glass panels, two women, on the left is standing, on the right is pointing to the left.

(added in October) I got off the subway at Union Station today.  There were three guys in front of me.  One of them stopped and pointed to the nearest painting which happened to be the one above.  As he pointed he said “See what I mean, if that doesn’t make you want to jump… “.

 

I’m happy to be corrected if you can prove me wrong.

 

Piliriqatigiingniq

This mural is on the south wall of Hosteling International on Church St.,
and in a parking lot on Court St.,
just north of King St. East and across from St. James Cathedral.

Painted July 2015

The beginnings of the mural on Court St. in Toronto.  The picture is drawn in blue on the wall, and the bottom part is painted.  Scaffolding is in place but no one is there at that moment.

This project was a collaboration between Mural Routes and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.  Artists were youth from Cape Dorset as well as graduates from Toronto’s Oasis Skateboard Factory: Latch Akesuk, Audi Qinnuayuaq, Cie Taqiasuq, Parr Etidloie, Julieta Arias and Moises Frank.

Two people sitting on scaffolding while they paint a mural

A man wearing a hard hat who is sitting on scaffolding and painting a mural on the side of a building.

Completed mural of stylized and symbolic bird and snimal shapes in many bright colours.  It is at least two storeys high.
Close up picture of the mural's bottom center part showing a man in winter clothing with a snowmobile strapped to his back.  He is hunched over as he walks.  On the snowmobile of a very large bird shaped crature with faces covering its body.

 

A newly installed large 3D sign in Nathan Phillips Square is Toronto’s latest tourist attraction and local photo op.  It is scheduled to remain in the square until the end of 2015 at which point it will be moved to another public location.

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -  a couple sits in the O posing for a picture while a young boy crawls between the O and the R

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - from the back, Toronto is spelled in reverse but there are still people taking their picture by it

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -  a couple stands in front of it, a man with a camera walks past it

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - kids standing in between the letters as well as in the round part of the O

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a man stands in the water in front of the word Toronto

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a woman stands with her back to the camera and takes a picture

#share3DTO  #hostcity2015

A few days ago I posted a series of photos of some of the graffiti and street art that I saw in Graffiti Alley between Portland and Spadina.   This post is a continuation of that one as it consists of the photos that I took on the same day but in a different section of the alley, between Portland and Niagara streets.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a very large grominator on the second storey, beside a door that goes nowhere

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a large two headed grominator above a garage door, and a birdo creature on the door.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto -  on a concrete wall, a birdo creature with a mouse head, a blue waffle body and pink and turquoise striped curvy body with long legs.  It is holding a green oval shape in its front paws.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a wooden gate, double doors, so that when the doors are closed a stylized face is the result.  It has mirror symmetry.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - three large scowling men's heads in blue above a garage door that has swirls in pinks and purples.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - black line drawing on white of a young man standing on the left and a young girl sitting on the right

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a stencil that looks like a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, both characters are sitting on a tree branch, Hobbes is stretched out and sleeping, Calvin is sitting.  THe words 'There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a large blue socket puppet with bulging eyes and a big black marker in its mouth.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto -  Two buildings in the picture.  In the foreground is a one storey garage with a large totund stylized guitar player sitting on the ground with one knee up.  Behind him you can see another painting of a guitar player but this one is a bit more realistic.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - A basquiat crown on a cartoonish face on a door

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a sylized blue woman from the waist up.  Puffy curly hair.  She's been scribbled on including a heart on her chest.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - Back wall of a store, large woman's face on part of the wall

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - the side of a concrete garage, small tree in front of it.  To the left of the tree is a man's head and hand.  In his hand is a lollipop but with it shaped like the symbol for Shell Oil.  Beside it are the words Rich Kid Lollipop.  To the right of the tree is a little blue figure with a pink basquiat type crown

a small collage by clowntearz, a sad face, rainbow, clouds,

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a collage like piece of street art on a garage door by clowntearz.  Googley eys, cannabis leaves, happy faces, zigzags, green  alien faces, red ooze

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a tag in browns and turquoise

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - on a wall at the bottom of the stairs, a mulitfaced person by elicser with a woman standing beside him with her arms stretched towards him.  The words 'Kill'em with niceness' are written between the couple

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - blue lettering, G P C

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a very large chocolate sundae, complete with whipped cream and a cherry, on a blue garage door

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a woman's face in profile, seems to be looking at a large ice cream sundae.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - BRDL, Penguin looking worried, dollar bills are flying out of his pockets and into a (real) vent of the building.  He's wearing a blue tophat.  Word bubble says

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - A large white man's face on a garage door, with a pile of broken boards in front of it.  The man is supposed to be Kim Jong of North Korea

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto -  the upper part of a topless woman with curly pink and turquoise hair.  Running vertically beside her are the words 'I got out of bed for this'  and below her is the words 'or leave'

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a lovebot of hearts playing card sticker on a metal pole beside a sticker of a woman's head with curly black hair and big earrings in the shape of a cross

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - brightly coloured painting in many colours and shapes

yipyaps sticker on a metal pole in an alley

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - angular shaped tag in blues

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - words scawled on a garage door,

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - an orange tag on rusty red background, painted across a wide doorway

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto -

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - Charlie Brown in the bottom right corner of a garage.  In green are the words Be WHo You Are

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - on a wood fence, someone was scrawled the words

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a colourful tag on a white garage door.  The number 710 is above the door.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - two stickers on a pole.  A small skull and cross bones and a large one that is a black and white creature with website liarliar.etsy.com on it.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - five stickers on white, also a big orange X.  One sticker is a knuts frog with its tongue stuck out.

 

#RiseUpTO
a protest coinciding with the PanAm Economic Summit and the PanAm Climate Summit,
both occurring at the Royal York Hotel.

The meeting place was Berczy Park, 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  Between 100 and 200 people showed up (I’m not very good at estimating numbers) to participate.  Photographers and reporters from all the Toronto newspapers and TV stations were on hand as were reprters from a number of radio stations.

The plan was to walk down Front Street where one group would block the intersection of Front and York while another group with block the front entrance of the Royal York Hotel.  Mission accomplished.

riseupTO demonstration and march - pedestrians cross a street with the morning sun low in the sky so the people cast long shadows towards the camera.  A group of protesters is in the background.

riseupTO demonstration and march - a group of photographers stand in front of marchers with a blue banner that reads

A construction worker in yellow & Orange work clothes and hard hat, stops work to take a photo of a passing demonstration in front of Union Station.

blog_riseupTO_royal_york

a woman is unravelling a skein of yarn and is using it to make a barrier across a city street.  She is using two hydro poles to wrap the yarn around.

a woman is unravelling a skein of yarn and is using it to make a barrier across a city street. She is using two hydro poles to wrap the yarn around.

riseupTO demonstration and march - yarn has been wrapped around hydro poles in such a way that it makes a barrier across a street.  Pedestrians are walking on their way to work on one side of the yarn while protesters have blocked part of the intersection on the other side of the yarn.

riseupTO demonstration and march - a group of young people drumming as they stand in a line in the middle of an intersection blocking traffic

riseupTO demonstration and march

riseupTO demonstration and march - two woman holding a red banner that reads 'Smash Capitalism End Colonialism'  They are standing in front of a line of peeople arm in arm infront of the Royal York Hotel front entrance.  Some police are between the protesters and the door.

riseupTO demonstration and march

a young woman with afro black hair and wearing a Bob Marley T-shirts is speaking through a megaphone at a protest march.   She is standing in front of a red and white banner that is being held up by a few other people

riseupTO demonstration and march - policemen and women stand besides their bikes as they do crowd control and direct the protest around a corner. A man is holding a black sign with white lettering that says "We find you guilty"

A security guard stands on a rooftop of a building, with taller glass skyscrapers behind him.

riseupTO demonstration and march - a line of policemen walk their bikes behind a group of protesters as they walk up Bay St. in downtown Toronto, with the clock tower of old city hall in the backbround.

riseupTO demonstration and march - protesters walking up a street, past a homeless man who is asleep on the sidewalk.  One of the protesters has just noticed the man and is pointing to him.

Protest, rally and march
from Queens Park to Allan Gardens,
5 July 2015

jobs, justice and climate action protest march - the lead banner of the march.  It says Jobs, Justice and the Climate. It is red with white letters and is almost the full width of the street.  A few drummers and dancers are in front of the banner.  Many people with signs and flags are behind the banner.
jobs, justice and climate action protest march -  a man is making large bubbles that float towards the  front of the parade.

below:  A protester prepares to carry a large effigy of Kathleen Wynne, leader of the provincial Liberal party, with the help of some colleagues.

A couple of people are helping a woman prepare to wear a large effigy.  A very large head of a woman wearing dark rimmed glasses.

below: David Suzuki being interviewed by CTV.

David Suzuki is being interviewed by a man from CTV.  A few people are standing behind.

Three young women are making signs to carry in the protest march.  Two are in green T-shirts.  One of the signs says '73 North Americans own the same as 1/2 the continent.'  Jobs, Justice and Climate protest rally and march.

A person wearing a sign that says 'Another photographer marching for #jobsjusticeclimate on his back.

At a protest rally, two women are posing for a picture.  One has a large cut out around her face that makes her face look like a large yellow flower

a groupd of young people standing beside a large yellow banner that says 'Youth marching for Climate Justice' at a protest rally in front of the Ontario parliament buildings.

below: The base of Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue provides a step up for photographers
(It looks like only some of them wanted to take my picture!)

Many photographers are standing on the base of a statue while they wait for a protest march to begin in Toronto at Queens Park

Two people with protest signs on their backs.  One says 'Act like you live here' and the second says 'Stop Debating, Start acting'

A group of people at a protest rally.  Somone is holding up a sign with a picture of Stephen Harper neck deep in water with the words, 'What climate change blub blub blub'

At the jobs, justice and climate action protest rally, a man wearing a hat that looks like an owl head.  He's carrying a sign that says 'Give a hoot'
  below:  ‘Protect Turtle Island’ signs waiting for the march to begin.  North America is referred to as Turtle Island by many Native tribes, Native rights activists, and environmental groups.

A large parachute shaped piece of fabric in bright orange and white lies flat on the ground.  In it are three signs waiting for people to begin marching in the jobs, justice and climate change march.  The signs say 'Protect Turtle Island'

A group of people holding a large red banner that says 'Canadian Unitarians for social justice'

Three women at a protest rally.

A young girl in a bright red Tshirt runs in front of some protesters, one of whom is holding a sign that says Hope.

At the jobs, justice and climate action protest rally, four people hold a banner that says 'TTC riders, a voice for ttc riders' and it has a picture of a street car on it as well.

below:  $15 now refers to raising the minimum wage to $15/hour

jobs, justice and climate action protest march -  a man is holding a sign that says $15 Now.  It is white with red letters.  It stands out because most of the signs around him are all bright red.

jobs, justice and climate action protest march -  a group of people at Queens Park, the back of the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald can be seen.  One woman is holding a sign that says Jobs Justice Climate.  Another person holds up a picture of Pope Francis.  They are all getting ready to march down University Ave.

below: After the rally at Queens Park, protesters marched south on University Ave.
and then east on Dundas St.

policemen on bikes block the street as they direct a march through city streets

jobs, justice and climate action protest march - some of the people marching, a white haired man is holding an orange flag that says Socialistworld.net  Some people are walking their bikes.

A man is walking in a protest march while holding one end of a banner.  He is wearing a large yellow chicken head and a T shirt that says 'this is what a vegan looks like'

two women are walking in the jobs, justice and climate action march in Toronto and both are carrying signs.  One has a large peace symbol and the words 'vegan for life' and the the other sign says 'animal agriculture is responsible for 91 percent of amazon rainforest destruction

A number of women in a protest march, each is holding a different coloured sign and each has a different letter - together they spell 'yes we can'.  Each women is also wearing a coloured box that matches the colour of her sign and each box represents a differ aspect of social policy such as gender equality, primary education, poverty eradication, healthcare,

A diverse group of people walk in a protest march in Toronto

A man in a red shirt pumps his fist in the air as he walks in a protest march

A man is holding up a protest sign with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's head on three monkeys along with the worsd, Hear no science, speak no science, see no science.

Marchers on the jobs, justice and climate action protest march who are carrying a large orange banner that says We have solutions.

 

Two middle aged men walking a in protest.  One of them has a sign that says 'radicalized by Harper'

A large number of people walking in a protest march carrying signs and banners

A man wearing a green party T-shirt is carry a large sign that says 'carbon tax yes'.  There are other green party supporters with him as they walk in a protest march in Toronto

jobs, justice and climate action protest march on University Ave showing many people walking.  Two are holding large white signs with orange letters.  One says Let hope prevail.  The other says There is no Planet B.

jobs, justice and climate action protest march  - a young woman in a head scarf holds a red and white sign, the woman behind her is wearing a floppy hat and there is a sign that says Be Brave in large capital letters above her head.

Lovebot takes flight over the city
with a poser bunny tagging along for the ride,

beside 289 College St.

a mural on the upper storey of a two storey building.  Lovebot is flying above a city scene with a light brown poser bunny holding on to him, and flying behind him

Another walk down Graffiti Alley between Portland and Spadina.
Some new and some not so new.

uber 5000 birdie in a little space ship with a beam of light eminating from the bottom, on a red brick wall

tags and letter graffiti in blues and purples on an alley wall, with a few people walking down the alley as well

tag in reds, oranges and yellows, on green, with dark blue background

close up of a street art painting that now looks abstract, black lines on green, pink and beige
  below: Catching a glimpse of what goes on in it’s head
double doors painted in a pink, orange and red face (large face), the doors are slightly open so there is now a gap down the middle of the nose and mouth

a black and white poser bunny on a wall at the corner, around the corner is a painted arrow that is part of a graffiti painting

graffiti in an alley - 4 stickers on a metal pole.  Knuts on the top, a woman in profile with the word think next, black and white drawing third and on the bottom is a green on white line drawing of a man's face

below: Batman descends on the city

A young man is spray painting part of a batman mural.  The figure of batman is completed and is about 4 meters tall.  A city scene is being added in the bottom corner

below: This photo was taken about 2 weeks before. The graffiti KURST and the lettering below it have been painted over. Batman has taken its place.

tags in an alley

A large bird head street art painting covers the end of a building in a lane

A white graffiti skull with the words belleding heart written underneath

a wall of a building in an alley, including the door, is cover with a red tag, a small uber 5000 bird and the remains of a greenish coloured tag.

A stylized greenish brown bull with horns is smoking a cigarette, only the head is shown.  It is on a wall and beside it is a door that had a woman's face painted on it.  The face has been tagged over.   Dis jnt is written across the top of the door.  disjoint perhaps.

  below: Dazed and confused

tag in silver and black with pink and orange highlights on a grey metal door

tags on a black wall in an alley.  Between them is the word doh

messy tags and scribbles on and around a door in an alley

small graffiti piece of a giraffe standing on the ground, on concrete, in an alley

below: Insane portrait of a woman

woman's face in profile painted on a wall in an alley

  below: Another portrait of a woman, this one by Kairo

Woman's face painted by Kairo in an alley, blue background

blog_portland_spadina_knuts

  below: Making lemonade

graffiti picture of a lemon wearing sunglasses and a sun hat and holding a glass of lemonade

below: This takes the place of the mural that had “I love sandwiches” that was there for quite a while (a couple of years?).  The frame with the little figures cut into it remains.

blog_portland_spadina_love_toronto

street art painting of a dog foaming at the mouth, mad dog

Woman taking picture on a smartphone, standing beside a street art piece of a man with earphones plugged into

pieboy graffiti, large green one eyed monster

below: Poser bunnies on a garage door

poser bunny street art on a garage door

blog_portland_spadina_red_collar

Andy Warhol Revisited
presented by Revolver Gallery,
on display at 77 Bloor St. West

below:  Three Andy Warhol’s watch the passersby on Bloor Street.

statues of Andy Warhol, one pink, one yellow and one blue, in a window of an art gallery,  He's dressed in black, with black rimmed glasses and his hands are folded over his chest in all three statues.  Life sized.

below:  Three prints from Warhol’s Mohammad Ali series

Two women are sitting ona silver couch in an art gallery.  On the wall in front of them are 3 silkscreen Andy Warhol prints of Mohammad Ali.

 below:  Iconic Campbells soup cans on black and white stripes.  To the left, a young Lucille Ball and a young Ronald Regan amongst other cultural references.

prints of three Campbells soup cans on a black and white striped wall, cheddar cheese, old fashioned vegetable, and hot dog bean.  To the left a woman is looking at other Andy Warhol prints on a wall including a print of Mickey Mouse, Lucille Ball and a young Ronald Regan.

below:  Prints from Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians series.

Some of Warhol's Cowboys and Indians series prints hang on a gallery wall as two young Asian men walk past. There is also a couple sitting on a silver coloured couch in the right side of the photo.

The exhibition continues until the end of December 2015 although apparently a new set of pictures will be shown starting sometime in October.

A collage of photos of Andy Warhol, many photos, about 100 or more