as I walk Toronto

tiff and the toilet paper

Posted: May 12, 2016 in events, public art
Tags: Bell Lightbox, CONTACT, downtown, french fries, globe, images, King St. West, Long Weekend, looking, passerby, people, photography, photography festival, razor blade, running shoes, Scotiabank CONTACT, sidewalk, smelling, TIFF, toilet paper, Toronto, typewriter, walking

It’s common to see posters pasted on walls so finding movie posters on the walls of the tiff Bell Lightbox didn’t strike me as unusual. I walked past this display until I noticed the sign that marked this as a CONTACT Photography Festival installation. Fake movie posters, many designed with a touch of humour, that look just like the real thing.

below: The installation, titled ‘Coming Attractions’ covers the corner windows and wall space. The posters were designed by ‘Long Weekend’ which is a collective of artists working out of Winnipeg. They were made from ads and illustrations from old books and magazines.

On the other side of King street, and just a but further east, is a series of eleven large images taken from past editions of ‘Toilet Paper’, a biannual magazine founded by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. They hint at advertising and they blur the line between fantasy and reality.

below: Muhle is a German company that makes shaving products and one of their blades looks identical to the one in this picture.

If you like these images, you might also like Toilet Paper’s website.

spring has sprung

Posted: May 12, 2016 in general Toronto, nature, waterfront
Tags: blossoms, CN Tower, fake flowers, garden, leaves, muskoka chairs, outdoor, outdoors, plastic flowers, red chairs, spring, trees, urban, waterfront, wave deck, weather

There is time between winter and spring that is a dreary time of greyness and dullness. It is a time when the the snow is gone but nature hasn’t come out of hibernation. It is also a time best forgotten.

Luckily we don’t have to wait long.

… just a little longer ….

or if you can’t wait, there’s always plastic!

From the time the first spring flowers start to show

until the time they are in full bloom is usually only a matter of days.

Trees too soon show their colours. The yellows of the willow trees usually appear first.

Almost daily the trees are greener…

… or full of flowers.

And for another year we forget the last grey days of winter

it’s all about the DNA

Posted: May 10, 2016 in events, people
Tags: activities, adults, bananas, biochemistry, building, chemistry, design, DNA, Dundas Square, experiments, family, kids, people, Ryerson, science, U of T

Did you know that we share 50% of our DNA with a banana? Bananas don’t have DNA that codes for eye colour and we probably don’t any genes that produce yellow peels. What we share is similar basic biochemistry, such things as DNA replication, cell metabolism, and regulation of cell growth, to name a few. One thing that you can do with banana DNA is easily extract it. We all know that cells are too small to see and that DNA is even smaller, BUT if you mash a whole a banana, you can produce enough DNA to make a small clump. That was one of the activities at Science Rendezvous this past Saturday.

Science Rendezvous is science outreach festival that occurs across Canada, a day when science hits the streets. This year it was May 7th. In Toronto, there were information booths, demonstrations, and activities by students from Ryerson (at Yonge Dundas Square) and students from U of T (St. George Street).

“There’s no place like GenHome” is a project by Ryerson students to break a Guinness World Record by building the longest DNA model. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a double helix. Although it is a complex molecule, it can be broken down into components called nucleotides. Nucleotides consist three parts – deoxyribose which is a sugar molecule, phosphate, and an organic base. At the risk of being too simplistic (because the chemistry of DNA is way beyond the scope of this blog), the sugar and phosphate of the nucleotides form the backbone of the double helices. The organic bases are in the space between the two backbones and if they are ordered properly, the bases hold the double helix together.

A couple more things you need to know about DNA. First, there are four bases, adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). And second, bases come in pairs and only certain pairs can exist if the double helix is to form properly. Adenine has to pair with thymine and cytosine has to pair with guanine, i.e. A with T and C with G and nothing else.

How would you build a DNA model? The Ryerson University students wanted to get people involved in the project and if you were at Science Rendezvous, you could have become part of their DNA model.

below: Bases need partners and so do you ! Find a partner and take a spin.
Are the two of you A & T or G & C?

below: Next, have your picture taken with your base letter.

A few moments later your picture is printed and ready to attach to the DNA model.

below: My partner for the activity adds his G (toe to toe with my C).

I don’t know how long the DNA model is at this point. I was hoping that there would be some information online but nothing has shown up yet.

Also, If you want to try extracting the DNA from a banana, the instructions are online at numerous sites including Scientific American. You will need a banana, water, salt, detergent, rubbing alcohol, and a coffee filter. Have fun!

*** a little breather after all that molecular biology ***

below: At Science Rendezvous they were walking together until she saw my camera and then she tried to get away. Hmmm…. Mr. Scientist Creature (mutant science rodent?!), maybe she was embarrassed? 🙂

Dysturb

Posted: May 9, 2016 in events, graffiti and street art
Tags: black and white, conflict, CONTACT, downtown, exhibit, Kensington, outdoors, paper, paste up, people, photography, photography festival, photojournalism, public art, Scotiabank CONTACT, Toronto, urban

Spread around Kensington and Chinatown are 20 large black and white photos taken by a number of freelance photojournalists who are part of a group called #Dysturb. One of their goals is to present photojournalism in new ways, including as street art, with the aim of engaging people and encouraging discussion of global issues. The images are part of an exhibit for the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

Kensington has had a problem with taggers for a while. Often street art gets vandalized in that area. The #Dysturb photo that was at 56 Kensington (under Mona Lisa) has already been torn down and a couple of others have been ripped.

Pictures of some of the images that are part of the exhibit are shown below. I have included a partial transcription of the words that accompany each picture.

Libyan Coasts, August 1, 2015
Photo by Christophe Stramba-Badiali/Haytham

West African migrants are seen aboard a boat, approximately 20 nautical miles off the Libyan coast, as they are about to be rescued by Medecins Sans Frontieres. The MSF-hired ship, named Argos, was patrolling the waters off Libya when it encountered one rubber dinghy carrying a total of 111 migrants including several children and infants. “

Barpak, Ghorka District, Nepal, May 9, 2015 ”
Photo by Renaud Philippe/Hans Lucas

Children play in a cloud of dust and gravel thrown by an Indian army helicopter landing in Barpak Nepal. The community is at the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that struck April 25, 2015, taking over 8000 lives. Of Barpak’s 1400 houses, only 20 remain standing. The rest of the town is a pile of rubble that blends into the rocky landscape. An archway that somehow survived the quake greets visitors with a rueful ‘Welcome to Barpak’.”

Shaanxi Province, Henan, China, February 27, 2014
Photo by Sim Chi Yin/Vii

Gold miner, He Quangui, battling silicosis, struggles to breathe while cradled in the hands of his wife Mi Shixiu. After many attempts to stabilize his breathing, in the early hours of the next morning her tried to kill himself to end the suffering. He contracted the irreversible disease working in illegal gold mines in China’s Henan province. He is among some six million workers in China who have pneumoconiosis – the country’s most prevalent occupational disease.”

Cizre Turkey, October 30, 2015.
Photo by Emilien Urbano/Myop for Le Monde
NOTE: I took this picture on Friday. Today (Monday) it was gone.

A militiaman from the PKK Youth wing YDG-H in Cizre Turkey. The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) – the militant youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – are battling to defend their neighbourhoods from Turkish security forces. The YDG-H has been acting as a paramilitary force in Cizre for the past few months and has closed off several Kurdish neighbourhoods with their armed checkpoints and patrols.

Fort McKay, Alberta, Canada, August 12, 2015
Photo by Ian Willms/Boreal Collective

Dez, 7, plays in his bed. Dez was born with an underdeveloped heart and has received multiple open heart surgeries. His family and healthcare professionals in Fort McKay believe that his condition was caused by environmental pollution. Fort McKay is an indigenous community that is surrounded by oil sands developments.”

Kunduz City, Afghanistan, November 18, 2015.
Photo by Andrew Quilty/Oculi

Najibah tries to comfort her daughter Zahara, 8, as they weep over the grave of their husband and father, Baynazar. Baynazar, 43, was wounded by gunfire on his way home fromwork during the Taliban takeover of Kunduz in late 2015. He was taken to the nearby Doctors Without Borders (MSF) trauma centre. In the early hours of October 3, during his second operation, a US AC-130 aircraft attacked the hospital for more than half an hour, killing 43 MSF staff, patients and nurses. Dozens more were wounded.

About #Dysturb

#CONTACT16

four women

Posted: May 8, 2016 in history, memorials, public art
Tags: bronze, bust, Edith Clavell, Florence Wyle, Frances Loring, history, Mary Pickford, memorial, nurses, plaque, sculpture, WW1

Happy Mothers Day!

I didn’t write this blog post specifically for Mothers Day even though it’s about four women, Mary Pickford, Edith Cavell, Florence Wyle, and Frances Loring. Just because they are women doesn’t mean that they are mothers, in fact only one is. Mary Pickford adopted two children. I also didn’t intend to write a blog post on the merits of motherhood vs childlessness so I am going to say nothing further on the subject!

The first woman can be found at the corner of University and Elm. Here, there is a a bronze portrait bust of Mary Pickford that was sculpted by Eino Gira in 1983.

The plaque beside her says:

Born in 1893 in a house which stood near this site, Gladys Marie Smith appeared on stage in Toronto at the age of five. Her theatrical career took her to Broadway in 1907 where she adopted the name Mary Pickford. The actress’s earliest film “Her First Biscuits”, was released by the Biograph Company in 1909 and she soon established herself as the international cinema’s first great star. Her golden curls and children’s roles endeared her to millions as “America’s Sweatheart”. She was instrumental in founding and directing a major film production company and starred in over fifty feature-length films including “Hearts Adrift”, “Pollyanna” and “Coquette”. For the last named film she received the 1929 Academy Award as the year’s best actress.

below: Just up the street, next to one of the entrances of Toronto General Hospital, is a memorial to British nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915) and to all the Canadian women who served as nurses in WW1. The memorial was installed at University Ave and College St. in 1921 but later moved to its present location.

In memory of Edith Cavell and the Canadian nurses who gave their lives for humanity in the Great War. “In the midst of darkness they saw light”

Cavell had been working in Brussels when WW1 broke out. After the Germans invaded Belgium, Cavell helped wounded Allied soldiers escape to the Netherlands. She was caught by the Germans, charged with treason, and executed on 12 October 1915. She became the most well known woman casualty of WW1.

The above memorial was designed by Florence Wyle. There is a memorial to Wyle and her partner, Frances Loring (also a sculptor), in a small park at the corner of Mt Pleasant and St. Clair.

below: bronze bust of Florence Wyle, by Frances Loring

below: bronze bust of Frances Loring, by Florence Wyle

below: There are a couple of small statues by Wyle in the same park, including this one.
“Young Girl”, about 1938.

Loring and Wyle are responsible for a number of sculptures around the city. Two of these used to be on the Bank of Montreal building at the northwest corner of King and Bay. It was built in 1887 by architects Marani and Morris and demolished in 1968. The building featured a series of sculptures representing the Canadian provinces that were done by a number of artists. Frances Loring sculpted the panels for Ontario and Quebec. When the Bank of Montreal building was demolished, all of the panels were moved to the grounds of the Guild Inn in Scarborough where they remain today.

refugees outside the Italian Consulate

Posted: May 7, 2016 in events
Tags: art, art installation, black and white, cars, CONTACT, Dundas West, event, italian consulate, pedestrians, photogrphy festival, photos, photoshop, pubic art, refugees, Scotiabank CONTACT, sidewalk, state apartment

Refugees in a State Apartment, Jens Ullrich,
Photo exhibit, on a fence outside the Italian Consulate, Dundas West at Beverley.

Part of Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival

Ullrich has taken found black and white photographs of the interior of a large home near Bremen Germany. The photos were taken in the late 1920’s. Each photograph is of a different room in the villa and to each picture Ullrich has added one person. If you knew nothing about the series, you wouldn’t know that the subjects were refugees.

In each photomontage, singular individuals are depicted—usually with their faces hidden from the camera—within empty yet elaborately fashioned spaces that emphasize their solitude and unstable status. “

One of the concepts behind this series of images was the desire to

respectfully capture the disparate emotions of these individuals and their precarious situations.”

#CONTACT16

weaving a trail

Posted: May 4, 2016 in general Toronto, locations, old buildings
Tags: construction, hospital, Inner City Gate, Jimmy Mount Rushmore, Jimmys Coffee, Kosso Eloul, outdoors, Princess Margaret Hospital, redevelopment, sculpture, sidewalk, spring, streets, trees, University Ave., Womens College Hospital

There is no theme to this blog post. I never really had a purpose in mind as I walked yesterday. I walked to enjoy the spring day. I walked wherever my feet took me… and they took me on a route that wove between Bay Street and University Avenue and from Grenville south to Dundas.

below: “Jimmy Mount Rushmore” mural on the side of Jimmy’s Coffee featuring four famous musical Jimmys: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Buffet and Jim Morrison.

below: ‘Inner City Gate’ by Kosso Eloul. 1978. A balancing act of stainless steel boxes on the lawn of the R. Fraser Elliott building (part of the old Toronto General Hospital), Elizabeth Street.

below: A blight on the sidewalk, so-called information pillars that are really just a sell-out to Astral Media. They needlessly obstruct the sidewalk and obstruct the view of cyclists and motorists. Unfortunately they are part of a 20 year contract that the city has with Astral Media which doesn’t expire until 2027.

below: Incised into limestone blocks on the Edward Street side of McClelland House (originally the McLean Hunter building) is half of an artwork by Elizabeth Wynn Wood (1903 – 1966) called “Communication”. The woman is sending a message to a man who is apparently shown on the other side of the building. Sadly, I missed the man so there is no photograph of him here. When the work was completed in 1958, the incised lines were inlayed with gold colour.

below: Across the street from the ‘floating woman’, 480 University Avenue is getting a facelift.

below: This picture shows most of the front of 480 University and you can see the different stages of the recladding process. At the top of the building, the precast concrete grille that was part of the original 1968 Global House office tower is still in place while new glass panels have already been installed on the lower floors. It is interesting to watch the metamorphosis of an 18 storey office building into a 55 storey condo tower. Four levels of underground parking have also been added to the site and a new indoor entrance to St. Patrick subway station is in the works.

below: Abstract in blues and greys

There is a lot of building and redevelopment in the area where I walked.

below: Womens College Hospital is totally new.

below: The corner of College and Bay, looking southeast, is now a wall of glass.

below: The new wing of Sick Kids Hospital dwarfs the older buildings on Elm Street.

below: The old and the new integrated into one building, Princess Margaret Hospital.

below: Even the street is being redone. The center of Bay Street from Dundas to Elm is torn up because of TTC streetcar track replacement.

below: Little quirky details: First, the cross shapes made of contrasting brick on the back of the Red Cross building. Second, the workings (or barrier?) of the compressed gas tanks that have been made to look like ice.

below: Another piece of public art, ‘Liquid Echo’ by Catherine Widgery, 1999, is in front of 750 Bay Street. They look like stiff and lifeless frozen metallic fountains… or maybe just 12 pencils 🙂 . Circular vent shafts for the underground parking have been incorporated into the artwork.

below: A lovebot watches over the people passing through the bus station, unaware that he is there.

below: And last, a colourful collection of squares and rectangles. Blue and green. Red and white.

Alexander’s scandal

Posted: May 4, 2016 in history
Tags: Alexander Wood, bronze, Church St., gay, history, Molly Wood's Bush, plaque, scandal, Scotland, statue, village, York

The dapper, larger than life Alexander Wood has stood on his corner at Church and Alexander streets for 11years now. The bronze statue by Del Newbigging was unveiled in May 2005.

Wood came to Upper Canada from Scotland and settled in Toronto (known as York at the time) in 1797. He was a successful merchant, magistrate, and lieutenant in the York militia. The plaque on the granite pedestal tells his story.

“Militia Officer, Businessman, Public Servant, Justice of the Peace, Gay Pioneer

Alexander Wood came to Canada in 1793, settled in York in 1797 and started a mercantile business, one of only three stores in York at that time. Within a year he was a lieutenant in the York Militia; he was appointed magistrate in 1800 and by 1805 was a Commissioner for the Court of Requests (a senior planning officer). He was involved in a homophobic scandal in 1810 and fled to Scotland, but in two years he was back in Canada and resumed his duties. In spite of ridicule and discrimination he had a successful career in public service: he was on the executive of nearly every society in York, often as treasurer; he was manager of several businesses and acted for clients in land transactions. Wood died in 1844 at the age of seventy-two while in Scotland. The British Colonist paper called him one of Toronto’s ‘most respected inhabitants’.”

***

There is another bronze plaque on the back of the pedestal, complete with shiny bits. This plaque adds more details to the story of the 1810 scandal that Wood got himself into.

“1810 The Scandal
In 1810 a woman reporting a rape to Magistrate Wood said she had scratched her rapist. Wood inspected several suspects privately, requiring them to undress. To avoid the scandal caused by his unconventional behaviour, Wood fled to Scotland. After two years he returned to Canada but suffered ridicule and discrimination for the rest of his life.

Alexander Wood 1772-1844
Militia Officer, Businessman, Public Servant, Justice of the Peace, Gay Pioneer”

***

In 1810, word had spread quickly around the town (of 700) and Wood had become known as the “Inspector General of Private Accounts”. The worst of the scandal blew over while Wood was in Scotland; he was back in York in 1812 and resumed all his previous occupations, including magistrate. At that time, “molly’ was a derogatory word for a gay man and he was nicknamed Molly Wood.

In 1826 he purchased 50 acres of land east of Yonge St. and north of Carlton St. in the neighbourhood where his statue now stands. It is also the “Village”. In Wood’s time it was referred to as ‘Molly Wood’s Bush’. Wood remained in Toronto until 1842 at which time he returned again to Scotland where he died two years later.

Current Studies, Paper Planes

Posted: May 3, 2016 in events, galleries
Tags: allan lambert galleria, Brookfield Place, colour, CONTACT, current study, images, paper airplanes, photography festival, photos, Scotiabank CONTACT, Sjoerd Knibbeler

‘Current Studies’ and ‘Paper Planes’
Two different series of photographs by Sjoerd Knibbeler
Allan Lambert Galleria, Brookfield Place

At ground level there are six large freestanding ‘walls” arranged in line, three at each end of the atrium. Each ‘wall’ is covered by two images, one on either side. They are photographs that are the result of Knibbeler’s experiments to “ shape, encompass, and capture air currents.” This is the ‘Current Studies’ part of the installation.

Suspended from the ceiling are a set of photographs of paper airplanes, the ‘Paper Planes’ part of the installation. Knibbeler photographed paper airplanes that he made using information that he found online. He chose military planes that were never produced.

#CONTACT16

May day

Posted: May 2, 2016 in events, people
Tags: banners, Capitalism, Communists, Dundas Square, International Workers Day, May 1, May day, rally, signs, socialism, Socialists, Yonge Dundas Square

May 1, May Day, International Workers Day
To mark the day, there was a rally at Yonge Dundas Square.
The wet afternoon didn’t dampen the spirits of those who were there with their placards and banners.