Noble Anser faces

Posted: September 30, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Seen on a wall on Noble Street:

Street art painting on the side of a brick wall, black line drawn faces with some reds, whites and blues
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The eyes of a graffiti face look like they are peaking from behind a couple of branches.
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Street art painting on the side of a brick wall, black line drawn faces with some reds, whites and blues , and one with brown hair
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Street art painting on the side of a brick wall, black line drawn faces with some reds, whites and blues
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one line drawing of a woman's face, the tree branches look like her green hair.
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Street art painting on the side of a brick wall, black line drawn faces with some reds, whites and blues , and two realistic looking eyes on either side of a window .

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Ireland Park

Posted: September 22, 2014 in history, locations, memorials
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By the time of Confederation in 1867, one quarter of the population of Canada were of Irish ancestry.  Although the Irish had been immigrating to what is now Canada for a long time, the Irish famine years of 1845 to 1849 saw an increase in the number of immigrants.  Immigration peaked in the summer of 1847;  boatloads of Irish settlers arrived.  Most were very poor and sick.  They landed in a number of places along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, including Toronto.   Thousands of those Irish immigrants died in Ontario that summer, mostly from typhus (or typhoid fever).

Ireland Park is home to a memorial in honour of those immigrants. It is on the waterfront between Lake Ontario and the old Canada Malting Co. silos.

view of Ireland Park from the waterfront, and looking slightly north east. A large shape made of limestone is on the left of the photo and a green space is beside it. The silos of the Canada Malting Company are visible as is part of the Toronto skyline in the distance.

Sections of limestone fit together in a shape that resembles a boat.

Names are engraved on the sides of the limestone sections.  They are placed such that they are in the gaps between the sections.  At first they are not visible.  It is only when you are close to the stone that you can see the names.

Names in black lettering carved into the side of limestone.

675 names are carved in the stone. These are the known names of the 1000 to 1100 people who died shortly after they arrived in Toronto in the summer of 1847.

 

The park also has seven sculptures by Rowan Gillespie of Dublin Ireland.
The installation is called ‘Arrival’. 

Sculpture of a man with his arms upraised. He is looking over part of the harbour towards downtown Toronto.

‘The Jubliant Man’ from behind.

close up of one of the sculptures in Ireland Park. It is a man with his hands clenched in front of him and a worried look on his face.

‘The Apprehensive Man’

 for more information: the Ireland Park Foundation website

grammar?

Posted: September 22, 2014 in general Toronto
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Considering the number of different languages spoken in this city, it is not surprising that some signs have English grammar mistakes.  It is the official signs with incorrect grammar that make me shake my head.

Sign by a sidewalk that says Please do not chain your bicycle to the lamp post. Will be removed immediately at owner's expense. Large condo towers are behind the sign.

Lack of subject makes for an incomplete sentence, not to mention some confusion. Something will be removed.

Sign on a wood fence by a park that says, Dogs that dig holes must have owners fill them in immediately.

If only dogs could read.

A sign on a fence beside a driveway that says Please don't parking on driveway.

don’t parking

A pink sign that has been taped with green tape beside the entrance of a shop that says We open. Please come in.

we open

 

beside 530 Richmond West

Posted: September 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There is a mural in the lane way that runs beside 530 Richmond Street West (and connects with Graffiti Alley).  It was completed earlier this summer.  It is a collaborative effort by Shalak Attack (woman’s face), Kevin Ledo (child’s face), Uber5000 (blue cat) and Bruno Smokey ( man).

A large mural on the side of a building in a lane. Three or 4 people are taking pictures of it.

A number of people were taking pictures when I was there.

part of a large mural on the side of a 2 storey building, a large multicoloured woman's face. She is wearing earrings that look like skeletons

death dangles from her ears

part of a large mural, a picture of a smiling small boy wearing a light blue cap. It is very large.

grimaces? smiles?

part of a large mural on the side of a 2 storey building

ghetto cat

part of a large mural showing the bottom part of a blue cat that is standing on two legs. Under his legs are 2 Uber chickens and one is saying Pizza. Another chicken is sitting on the cat's tail and he wants tacls. There is a clock on the cat's tummy.

I guess it’s dinner time…. pizza, tacos and beets!

part of a large mural, a very large wrinkly man's face with large eyeballs and large ears

eyes to the right

part of a large mural on the side of a 2 storey building, a small uber chicken is being held between two fingers of a very large pair of hands

chicken fingers

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alley creatures

Posted: September 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art
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Creatures on walls and garage doors, all seen yesterday between Dundas & Palmerston and College & Bathurst.

a garage door that has been painted with two very large red roses on either side of a painting of a skull with lots of flowery motifs in it.

Graffiti in an alley, a large number of finger like creatures in a boat. Black line drawing on white garage door.

Graffiti painted on a wall that looks like a stylized dog as a red devil with horns, wearing sunglasses and holding a yellow devil's fork

Graffiti in an alley, a few stickers on a grey wood wall - the head of a cat, a small horse and an abstract drawing.

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AIDS walk

Posted: September 14, 2014 in events
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AIDS Walk, 13 September

Beginning at Yonge Dundas Square…..

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto

Getting dressed and ready to walk.

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Making posters to carry in the walk.

….. north up Yonge Street…..

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto. A Sikh man wearing a red turban is holding up a poster about treating and defeating AIDS.

Test.  Treat. Defeat.

 

Looking south down Yonge Steet. A large group of people are walking as part of the AIDS walk. They are in the far lane of the street. Orange traffic cones run down the middle of the street to protect the walkers from traffic.

 

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto. A boy in a yellow raincoat and holding a blue ballon is smiling for the camera.

 

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto, walking up YOnge St. One man has a dog on a leash. The dog is wearing a red Tshirt.

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The walk made its way to the AIDS Memorial in Barbara Hall Park on Monteith Street (near Church and Wellesley).
Here, each walker was given a red carnation to leave at the memorial.

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto. A man is putting a red carnation on the AIDS Memorial in Toronto. Quite a few carnations are already there.

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A group of people is winding its way through a park in which there are short concrete pillars. Each pillar has plaques on it with the names of the people from Toronto who have died of AIDS. Red carnations have been placed by the plaques O

Winding their way past the names of those from Toronto who lost their lives to AIDS.

 

The memorial was opened late in 1992 and dedicated during Pride Week in 1993.
There are about 2700 names now engraved on the plaques.  New names are added once a year.

A young woman is holding a red carnation as she waits her turn to lay it with the others at the AIDS memorial. One of the triangular pillars with 6 plaques on it is behind her.

 

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto. A group of volunteers is cheering on those who have walked so far. They are standing on the sidewalk.

Enthusiastic volunteers cheer on the walkers.

 

people at the AIDS walk in Toronto. Miss Teen Canada winners, seven of them, are walking as a group. They have stopped to have their photo taken.

A cheerful Team Miss Canada Globe stopped for me for a few moments.

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Money raised in the walk goes to support act  (AIDS Committee Toronto).

A small group of people is holding a banner in the walk. The banner says Scotiabank AIDS Walk, in support of ACT . A C T is AIDS committee Toronto.

The lead group in the walk.

 Link to the official Toronto AIDS walk website 

women on David French Lane

Posted: September 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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David French lane runs between Borden St. and Brunswick Ave., south of Bloor.   I know that I have posted some of the graffiti on the garages in the lane before.  Most of those garages have since been covered with ugly and boring tags.  There isn’t as much of interest there these days…. but I did see the following today.

Street art piece of two large women's heads. One is blue and she's wearing a black mask.

Masked and unmasked

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A stencil (on paper) almost life sized woman wearing shorts and a Tshirt. She has a metal arm with a vice grip hand that looks sort of robot like.

Waiting in the doorway. Note the trashy tags around her.

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Bright red lips on a wood fence.

smoochies!

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Graffiti man's head with red eyes and mouth. Red paint that looks like blood dripping is above him.

Ooops, that’s not a woman!

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another Kensington alley

Posted: September 4, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Back in May I posted some photos from a small dead end alley in Kensington. 

This past weekend I took some pictures in a different Kensington alley.

Take a look 🙂

Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane. Close up of a pair of grey eyes. Bottom part of face is obscured, including her cheeks.

Eyes hold a fascination for me.

. Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane showing a person with a large head, from the ribs up. Hands are crossed in front of him. Multicoloured geometric shapes are on either side of his head.

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Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane
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The top part of a woman with long black hair and wearing a white and blue dress is standing amongst many tree trunks.... Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane. There is a broom, a mop, and two large buckets on the sidewalk in front of her.

It looks like she is in the midst of cleaning. Mop, broom and buckets handy.

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Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane

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Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane stencils of heads, one dark blue and one purple.

twins, similar but not identical

.Colourful graffiti in a Kensington lane, an oldered bearded man with yellow hat (or turban?) is holding up his hand to show the eye that is on his palm.

summer days

Posted: September 2, 2014 in general Toronto
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The day after Labour Day, the official end of summer get back to school day.

So here are a few photos of the lazy hazy days of this summer past…..

two sisters are hugging while having their picture taken in front of a large wire mesh heart. The word LOVE is spelled in large wire mesh letters. People have locked padlocks onto the wires.

summer love, in the Distillery District

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Looking down at a man who is sitting on his balcony and reading a book. Across the street is an open hole where a new condo is being constructed

‘On a Toronto balcony’… or, ‘Looking out my window’

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A boy dress in shorts and holding a plastic bucket is watching a group of men and women practise a performance that includes long bamboo poles.

Watching performers practise at Kultura, the Filipino Arts Festival, Wychwood Barns.

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A path leads through a garden, there is a group of people sitting in the park. The CN Tower is in the distance.

Hanging out at the Music Garden, on the waterfront.

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always in the way

Posted: September 2, 2014 in general Toronto
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If you can’t beat them, join them.

No matter where I went this summer, I seemed to always find the CN Tower lurking in the background.
It photobombs a lot of pictures!  🙂

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A bright red tugboat is tied up in the foreground. Many glass windows of many condos are in the photo. The top of the CN tower is peaking up over the top of the condos on Toronto's waterfront.

The M.R. Kane, a bright red tugboat sits tied up at the waterfront near the foot of Spadina Ave.  The CN Tower stands tall above the condos the line Queens Quay West.

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An SUV and a red truck are parked in a parking lot. On the left side of the picture are two walls that are covered with graffiti. The CN Tower is above one of those walls.

behind graffiti walls in a parking lot on College Street

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Black eyed Susan flowers in the foreground, some taller buildings including the CN tower in the background. There is also a tall thin sculpture (decorated pole?) in the picture

Trying to hide behind the sculpture in the Music Garden, waterfront

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The pink wall of faces is a fountain and it is on the left side of the photo. People at the ex and the CN Tower are also in the photo.

…. and at the Ex too!

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The CN Tower and the Toronto skyline as seen from the east part of downtown Toronto.

Where Eastern Ave. joins Richmond Street East before they cross the Don River.

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Part of a bright red metal sculpture is in the foreground. The CN tower is in the background (the top part of it anyhow)

Lurking under sculptures….

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Part of the stone church, St. Andrews Presbyterian, dominates the photo. Part of a tree, the edge of a skyscraper and the CN Tower are on the right side of the photo.

Peeking out from behind St. Andrews Presbyterian Church on King St. at Simcoe.

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