as I walk Toronto

Queen East Leslieville

Posted: March 13, 2022 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art, stores
Tags: Boston Discount, Busy Street, Eldon Garnet, feelings boi, graffiti, Jeremy Lynch, jumblefacefoto, Leslieville, Queen & Jones Pawnbrokers, Thomas Sowell, Time and a Clock

below: Leslieville mural on the west wall of Dave’s Hot Chicken, Queen Street East location.

below: I spotted a very similar piece of paper downtown but with words about knowledge and ignorance (see previous blog post). I wonder how many of these are tacked up around the city? These words can be attributed to American economist and social theorist, Thomas Sowell (b. 1930).

stapled to a notice board on the sidewalk is text graffiti with words about responsibility

“We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody’s responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did.”

below: Beside Jimmy Simpson Park there are four stainless steel pennants, each with a word – coursing, disappearing, trembling, and returning. These are part of a series of three installations called “Time and a Clock” by Eldon Garnet in the area.

below: Jumblefacefoto collage paste-ups.

below: Boston Discount Store with it’s red and white KitKat advert

below: posters and protests and one very muscular man three times.

below: Queen and Jones Pawnbrokers

below: Eddie’s Convenience with a range of tests available. I first read it as though Eddie was also selling pregnancy tests!

below: It’s now been 2 years since COVID was declared a pandemic.

below: Queen East mishmash of rooflines. Newer boxy construction butting up against older original half gables with their gingerbread still intact.

below: In a lovely older brick building with little architectural details, Fortune Smoke & Gifts Store along with Butchers of Distinction

below: Busy Street runs parallel to Queen, one block north. It was once a very busy street.

But now it is much quieter. Some of the buildings on the north side were once stables for the teams of draft horses that delivered the goods from the nearby Queen Street stores.

below: The horses have long disappeared and the buildings have been repurposed.

below: Another little upper storey addition above Cask Music and Samaira’s.

below: Moving up in an alley

below: Ubiquitous

below: Feelings boi graffiti paste-up

a touch of spring

Posted: March 12, 2022 in graffiti and street art, intersections, locations, public art, reflections
Tags: Anish Kapoor, art, Camilla Teodoro, CIBC Square, CN Tower, Compartment Earth, construction, covid vaccination, Esmaa Mohamoud, fence, hoardings, Light Stolen from the Sun, live again, Louis Agassiz, Love Park, posters, Queens Quay West, reflections, Renty, Rentyhorn, Roxy Paine, Sasha Huber, sculpture, Steve Driscoll, The Brotherhood FUBU, the power plant, traffic cones, Visoleil, windows

It seems like it’s been a long winter with more extended periods of colder temperatures as well as never ending snow. Last weekend was the first sign that maybe spring would arrive this year …. before the snow came back! Here are a few things that I saw on my walk last Sunday while out enjoying some warm sunshine.

below: A sign of the times; a sign for the coming spring.

below: There is still a large parking lot on the corner of Rees and Queens Quay. It may be the last piece of undeveloped property along this part of the waterfront.

below: Clearing away the piles of snow.

below: The skating rink beside the Power Plant is melting quickly. The designs painted on the concrete below provide a bright contrast to the towers of glass and steel nearby.

below: Same spot as above but this time looking northwest.

below: On the south wall of The Power Plant, a large image of the artist, Sasha Huber, on top of a Swiss mountain.

large picture on the outside, south, wall of the The Power Plant. A picture of the artist, Sasha Huber, planting a sign and plaque for Rentyhorn, renaming a Swiss mountain.

“Rentyhorn” (2008) is part of a campaign to rename Agassizhorn, a Swiss mountain peak. Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was a Swiss glaciologist who became convinced that Blacks were an inferior species and that he could prove it. Renty was an enslaved woman who was one of a group forcibly photographed by Agassiz in his attempt to prove his theory. There is more of this story, and more of Huber’s work, on display in the gallery.

below: Reflections and distortions in the windows of The Power Plant.

below: Queens Quay

below: “Compartment Earth” in the lobby of RBC WaterPark Place building on Queens Quay. It is 16,000 pounds of stainless steel; a sculpture by American artist Roxy Paine.

below: Work continues on the park, Love Park, that replaces the old York Street exit ramp from the Gardiner Expressway.

below: Esmaa Mohamoud‘s large image titled: ” The Brotherhood FUBU (For Us, By Us)” covers 37 x 144 feet (or 11 x 44 metres).

below: Looking up to the blue sky.

below: Part art, part health, this is “Visoleil” in the lobby of the new CIBC Square. A glowing circle of light to lift the spirits during the grey of a Toronto winter. I went on a Sunday and the doors were locked so I couldn’t get closer. Unfortunately, it’s probably gone by now as it was scheduled to be removed on 11th March.

below: Also at CIBC Square, “Light Stolen from the Sun” by Steve Driscoll. This new CIBC building on (by the new GO Station and across from Union Station) has been under construction for a few years now. It isn’t quite finished.

below: Looking through the front window you can catch a glimpse of this magnificent piece of backlit glass. Apparently there are twelve. This is something that I am definitely going to come back to see!

below: Street closed. Construction.

below: More construction, King and John.

below: Development notice on Crocodile Rock… yikes, 68 storeys proposed at Adelaide and Duncan.

below: Northeast corner of Adelaide and Duncan

below: Hoardings on Lower Simcoe street – “A Stroll Through the City” by Camilla Teodoro

below: Looking west on Front Street from Bay with Union Station, CN Tower, Royal Bank building, and the Royal York Hotel.

below: In Simcoe Park (Front Street), there is an aluminium sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor. It was installed in 1995.

below: Outside Metro Hall, a banner promoting COVID-19 vaccination in kids.

below: Snarky graffiti – “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”

below: Signs on traffic construction cones

below: Protest posters and graffiti. Anti condo development & corrupt landlords. Mercury contamination of water.

the air above, the memories within

Posted: March 8, 2022 in galleries, history
Tags: air gap, Airspace Tribunal, Amnesia Museum, Power Plant Contemporary Art, Shona Illingworth, Topologies of Air

Shona Illingworth at The Power Plant

This blog post looks at a portion of one of the exhibits now on at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. “Topologies of Air” by Shona Illingworth was commissioned by The Power Plant; it involves some video pieces that I have not included here. “Amnesia Museum” is a series of small works exploring how memory and forgetting intermingle. A sample (with apologies for the poor quality of the image):

below: Paintings from “Topologies of Air”

below: The full title is “The Right to Live Without Physical or Psychological Threat from Above” and it fills a wall. Across the top the images are related to satellites and the solar system. Images of people and human activity are on the bottom. The words fill the air gap between the two.

part of a full wall covered with words and black and grey images, on psychology of air space and the struggle for human rights to have no interference from above - such as military, drones, etc

Some of the text:
“Airspace also encompasses shared radio frequencies, our electromagnetic commons. Each drone is operated by a team of a dozen or hundreds who watch video and audio-track cell phones. Companies operate powerful algorithms in military command centers half a world away to decide who is a combatant and is not. But never forget that these are almost indistinguishable from the algorithms that are used by Facebook and Twitter to categorize us and profit from us. There algorithms are often staggeringly inaccurate. The margins of error built into these powerful databases are huge. ” and
“Humans need protecting. We’ve got an air gap. We’ve always lived with an air gap, which is simply the unconnected world. The ability to conduct your activities of any kind, in any way you want, without any form of connectivity, surveillance or control.”

We can argue as to whether or not this wall is art; we can argue as to the validity of some of the statements. But as I stood looking at the wall, it was thoughts of Ukraine that went through my head. The idea that air supremacy over that country was being fought over at that moment and that the Russians would love to control those skies. Not for the first time. Countries have used air power throughout recent history, from the time of the invention of the zeppelin and the airplane through to the introduction of drones into the modern arsenal.

We can also argue over the merits of living in a connected world but I’ve already ventured far from the focus of this blog. I’ll just end with three short notes. First, without a connected world, you wouldn’t be reading this. And second, how do you separate the good uses from the bad? Lastly, is this art’s role?

The Airspace Tribunal website

Power Plant Contemporary Art website

those big teeth…

Posted: March 5, 2022 in locations, nature, public art
Tags: big teeth, bridge, canoes, DVP, elevated sculptures, Forks of the Don, Labspace Studio, Lower Don Trail, Noel Harding, Passage, Taylor Massey Creek, water filtration, wetlands

…at the Forks of the Don

If you’ve driven on the Don Valley Parkway you’ve probably seen them, the big grey structures that look like teeth. They are just south of Don Mills Road, on both sides of the DVP. Over the years, the trees and shrubs have been growing around them so they don’t stand out as much as they did when they were first installed in 1998.

below: On the west side of the Parkway

The structures were designed by Noel Harding (1945-2016) and are constructed out of recycled polystyrene and acrylic. Financing was provided by a group from the Canadian Plastics Industry Association.

Their purpose is to help purify polluted water from the Don River watershed.

below: On the west side, the third planter stands alone, looking a bit like the back end of an elephant.

below: The three concrete structures form a line on the east side of the DVP.

They can be accessed by following the trail that goes under the highway and follows Taylor Massey Creek. If you follow this route, you end up walking generally east and you can walk for miles through the ravine system that runs under O’Connor Drive, through Taylor Creek Park and on to Warden Woods Park.

Forks of the Don – where rivers come together, trails go in all directions, and even the railway passes through.

below: Stairs up to Don Mills Road and Gateway Blvd,

below: Or take the ramp that passes under Don Mills Road beside the tracks.

below: Looking southbound towards Union Station.

below: From here the tracks follow the Don Valley east and then north. They pass under Don Mills Road once more, just south of York Mills Road, before heading to Oriole GO station.

below: This part of the Lower Don Trail really is a nexus, or hub, in the ravine path system. Trails also lead northwest to the Science Center and Wilket Creek Park.

below: Choose kindness

below: “Passage”, an art installation by Labspace Studio under the Don Mills Bridge – part of the PanAm Path project.

below: Southward on the Lower Don Trail where you can walk all the way to Lake Ontario.

below: If you are interested, this is a map of the PanAm Path, one of the projects from when the PanAm games were hosted here in Toronto in 2015. The Forks of the Don is in the center by the pink X. Something to consider exploring in the spring!?

*****

“The elevated wetlands are functional sculptures, symbols of the integration of the plastics industry, art and environmental stewardship. The sculptures were developed through a partnership between the City of Toronto, the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, and artist Noel Harding.”

“The sculptures draw attention to the importance of wetlands as an ecosystem. A solar powered pump lifts water from the Don River into a series of raised “planters” where native wetland plants and trees naturally remove pollutants from the water. Recycled plastics are used as soil substitute to promote vegetative growth. From the smallest container, water is emptied into a natural land based wetland, and flows back in to the Don River. The surrounding area has been naturalized through volunteer tree plantings to create a natural buffer between the sculptures and the Don Valley Parkway. “

on the waterfront

Posted: February 25, 2022 in public art, waterfront
Tags: art installation, Enter-Face, Introspection, Lake Ontario, One Canada, S'winter Station, waterfront, winter stations, Woodbine Beach

Winter Stations 2022

From late February through to the end of March is Winter Stations on Woodbine Beach along Toronto’s waterfront.

below: “The Hive” by Canadians, Kathleen Dogantzis & Will Cuthbert

below: Designed by a team from Daniels Faculty of Architecture, U of T, “Introspection”.

below: Designed by a Turkish pair, Cemre Önertürk and Ege Çakır is “Enter-Face”.

below: The structure on the left has circular openings on one side and a translucent panel on the other (lakeside) – you can through but the resulting view is slightly distorted. On the taller structure, there is a reflective material.

below: “S’winter Station” was designed by a team from Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science. The circular openings on the surface panels were made from beach towels, an object more associated with summer than with winter.

below: “One Canada” by a team from School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph. The “One” in the title is for the combining of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous together as one. Seven rings representing wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility, and truth. Orange (for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation) ropes weave the rings together in a pattern echoing those used to make drums.

back to Little India

Posted: February 23, 2022 in doors, graffiti and street art, locations, stores, windows and walls
Tags: Alexa Hatanaka, Alley cats mural, Andrew Horne, Catherine Cachia, Coxwell Ave, daisy, elephant mural, Ema Ciobanico, eyes, four-D, Gerrard St., Jim Bravo, Kohinoor Foods, kransky, las mujeres vampiro, mouse, murals, Patrick Thompson, Rob Elliot, Swizzle Studios, Tim Schjins, Timmy Drift, urban ninja squadron, visual noise

The alley and parking lot behind the south side of Gerrard Street between Rhodes Avenue and Craven Road has a lot of street art. Most of it was described back in November 2015 in a post titled:
Udlaakut, good morning (Inuit for good morning).

below: Mural by Timmy Drift aka Tim Schjins

below: A newer painting is this Alley Cats mural which is over 14′ high and is the work of Swizzle Studios (aka Rob Elliott and Andrew Horne)

below: Jim Bravo and Ema Ciobanico (2020) painted murals with Little India Bazaar themes over two buildings – one on the NE corner of Gerrard and Ashdale and the other across Gerrard on the SE corner.

below: On the northeast corner of Gerrard and Ashdale is the west wall of Kohinoor Foods – people with balloons, flags, and lotus flowers.

below: Visual noise and friends, slaps in an alley.

below: I have blogged about this mural before – Four-D by Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson at Gerrard and Woodfield, 2013.

below: An elephant above the vape shop

below: Mr. Monopoly tries to run away with the loot (by kransky)

below: Another mural! This one was painted by Catherine Cachia

below: Two of a series of different coloured ‘banners’ that have cut out images in them.

below: Buddha seems to be happy to hang around here.

below: “We’re all in this together” Still Covid days.

below: Northeast corner of Coxwell and Gerrard/Eastwood

below: Halal Meat Shop at Glenside

below: Lazy Daisy’s Cafe has been temporarily closed since Christmas while they “transform”.

below: Mural at the Black Pony (formerly the Flying Pony)

below: Looking west along Gerrard at Greenwood.

UTSC – Scarborough Campus ‘tour’

Posted: February 6, 2022 in history, locations, old buildings, public art
Tags: buildings, Ebti Nabag, Highland Creek, Highland Hall, John Andrews, Louis Archambault, mars, Miller Lash, neptune, path, ravine, Scarborough, solar walk, U of T, UTSC

In 1913, businessman Miller Lash bought a piece of land at what is now Old Kingston Road and Morningside Avenue where the Highland Creek flows. He built a house for his family by the creek and a coach house for his collection of cars nearby. They were made of poured concrete faced with river rocks that had been collected from the creek. The two buildings remain on they site but now they are owned by the University of Toronto Scarborough campus and have been repurposed.

below: Lace curtain in a window of the Miller Lash house.

The University of Toronto acquired the land in the 1960s. Toronto architect John Andrews designed the initial two buildings, the Humanities Wing and the Science Wing, which opened for students in January 1966. Both were built at the top of the ravine.

Last week when I walked around the campus it was very quiet; very few students were present. Most of the people I saw were like me, taking pictures of the buildings, or they were out for a walk through the woods. In class learning for UTSC’s almost 13,000 students resumes tomorrow, February 7th.

below: “Tall Couple” (or “Un Grand Couple”) by Louis Archambault (1915-2003) stands beside one of Andrew’s buildings, the Humanities Wing. This metal sculpture was first on display at Expo ’67 in Montreal.

The newest building on the campus is Highland Hall located by the main entrance to the campus on Military Trail. It features large pillars, red accents, and a glass facade.

below: The west side, main entrance side, above the pillars is a large glass feature that shows a satellite image of Scarborough.

below: East side of Highland Hall. The upper level on this side features an aerial image of Scarborough in the mid 1960s when the college first opened.

below: From CONTACT Photography 2021 (on view until March 2022), is “I’m Listening” by Ebti Nabag.

below: From the Solar Walk around the campus, information about Mars.

below: … and also Neptune. The Solar Walk was supported by the Canada 150 Fund that celebrated Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation. The position of the planets on the walk represent to position that they were in on 1 July 1867.

below: The Highland Creek still runs through the campus. There is a new walkway that winds its way down the side of the ravine from the main part of campus to the tennis courts, athletic fields, creek trails, and park. Here the new path curves in front of the Science Wing.

below: Signs of human activity beside the trail.

below: Construction crew working on the banks of the Highland Creek.

below: Koa Hall, side view

below: The modern equivalent of the smoking lounge?

Find your uncharted territory and explore!

below: Unchartered

south of Davenport

Posted: January 5, 2022 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alleys, Anya Mielniczek, Art Academy of Canada, baby birds, bacon, bellefleurhaus, birdo, Bruno Smoky, chairs, Chris Perez, Claire Browne, clandestinos, Dani Coghlan, Diana Lynn VanderMeulen, dumpster fire, Elicser Elliott, emily may rose, Erika James, garages, HeldbyHuda, Huda, Jieun June Kim, June Kim, laneways, laundry, luvs, muisca, murals, Nick Sweetman, octopus, Phillip Saunders, Planta Muisca, raccoons, Raoul, Rob Elliott, rowdyradrat, signs, speed, steam, stephanie bellefleur, street art, Tara Dorey, Tebby G, thank you, tiger, tomato, Victoria Day, white rat

Sometimes I find myself in unfamiliar territory and so it was last week when I went to investigate some alleys where I’d heard that new murals had been painted. My previous post, Around Wadsworth Park, was part of the same walk; there was just so much to see that I split my photos into two groups. In general, the last post was north of Davenport Avenue while this post features Davenport and the streets & alleys to the south.

below: More raccoons by Emily May Rose, this time they are being watched over by a big white rat. Quite the dumpster fire!

below: A large mural by Birdo beside Charles Sauriol school

below: A man reaching out a multicoloured hand to a woman by Phillip Saunders covers the back part of the house

below: A brown octopus and bright coloured tiger playing together – a collaboration between Luvs and June Kim.

below: Baby birds with beaks uplifted in a mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos

below: Blue jay and tomato face, rowdyradrat and Chris Perez

below: Taking cover under umbrellas on a rainy day in a mural by Elicser Elliott

below: Someone has extra time lying around, but without the coffee

below: Mural in a lane, signature says June, Bacon, and Erika.

below: Part of another June Kim feline

below: A man walks down the alley, between a mural on the right and Quick Recording Studios on the left.

below: In the window of the Art Academy of Canada, Davenport Ave.

below: A.J.’s So Fresh Coin Laundry, also on Davenport

below: A multi-lingual thank you to essential workers on Davenport – obrigado, gracias, merci, and grazie!

below: Boney Santa’s lost a lot of weight recently… he’s probably tired of all the weight gain jokes and comments though…..

below: More Emily May Roses’s mischievous raccoons and their cans of spray paint.

below: Anya Mielniczek’s woman’s face looks down the lane.

below: A closer look of the mural reveals another woman’s head on the far side along with people mixing together in the central portion painted by Raoul

below: HeldbyHuda mural

below: Patterns of circles and semi-circles on a gate by Stephanie Bellefleur

below: Another gate, but half of this one has been removed.

below: A Nick Sweetman painting of a large Cuckoo wasp feeding on a yellow flower

below: by Victoria Day

below: Sections of citrus fruit in glass bowls, by Steam

below: A pink and purple butterfly by Dani Coghlan

below: A floral wallpaper-like design by Tara Dorey

below: A collaboration between Diana Lynn VanderMeulen and Tebby G.

below: Pink flowers by Claire Browne

below: Self explanatory?

below: Planta Muisca mural with an orange snake under a purple night sky.

below: Birds wearing neckties and hanging out together in a mural by Rob Elliott

below: Sometimes while walking in this city during Covid and various lockdowns, even this might do!

below: Remains of a vegetable garden planted along the side of the alley. Portugal peppers once grew here.

below: Stop and smell the flowers

Support for the alley murals was provided by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Unfortunately, I have missed a few of the paintings. A complete set of photos can be found on Erika James’s Instagram page. She was one of the organizers of the project.

Some of the murals from this post can also be seen on by worldwide street art blog, Carleton Village murals Toronto 2021

around Wadsworth Park

Posted: January 1, 2022 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, Bareket, Carleton village, garages, garden, Haenahhh, houses, Kisong Koh, Kseniya Tsoy, lane, Mediah, murals, park, Que Rock, Wadsworth Park

Just east of Old Weston Road, between St. Clair and Davenport, is Wadsworth Park. This park dates from 1934 when the city purchased the land from the Canadian National Railway.

below: The sign in Wadsworth Park gives a brief history of the park in five languages. It also provides a map of the 19 species of tree that grow here, species include London Plane, Tulip, Linden, Freeman Maple, Norway Maple, Bur Oak, Kentucky Coffee Tree, and many others.

below: Suri in grey tones while drinking, mural by Haenahhh.

below: Mediah blues on the right and a Que Rock mural on the left.

below: A closer look at the mural by Que Rock – Mother Earth, loons, and pine trees.

below: Fantasy creatures playing in a mural by Kisong Koh

below: The alley behind Carleton Village school

below: Windows on the south wall of Carleton Village school.

below: Mural by Kseniya Tsoy on a garage door. On the extreme right is a small part of a mural of a purple dog by Bareket – my apologies for not including a better photo …. especially since I now know that she was responsible for organizing the mural paintings in this alley earlier this year.

below: End of season remains of veggies (brussel sprouts?) in a patch of land between the alley and the park.

below: Beware of Portuguese dog!

More murals (and other things) in the area can be seen at the next blog post, South of Davenport.

Some of the murals in this post can also be seen in my worldwide street art blog, Carleton Village murals Toronto 2021

Queen West track work

Posted: December 11, 2021 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: brick, chickens, construction, graffiti, historic, old buildings, Queen St. West, Queen West, shoes, stores, streetcar tracks, toys

The recent closure of Queen Street West for streetcar track work provided an opportunity to take a few photos without traffic or parked cars in the way. Straight documentation and not much more. But that way, when you next walk Queen West and it’s wall to wall new condo development you can check back here and say, “I remember when”….