Sackville Street, just south of Dundas, is right in the midst of the Regent Park renewal project. It is also the site of two murals. First, there is bright and colourful mural which is painted on the side of a new apartment building.
The other mural is a painting by elicser on hoardings around a building under construction.
below: With the ubiquitous Timmie’s cup on the ground.
April showers bring May flowers, or so they say.
BUT, wait just a minute! You know it always snows in Toronto in April. Always.
And this year is no exception.
It’s cold enough that even the poles are wearing scarves.
But why should that stop us? There’s always a silver lining and there’s always lemonade to be made.
In this case, it is the opportunity for one last look at the city in winter (we hope!)
Pillow Fight at Nathan Phillips Square
in celebration of International Pillow Fight Day 2016
#pillowfight | #pillowfighttoronto
Faces in the alley, Graffiti Alley
As March turns into April and winter sort of turns into spring.
below: Looks like someone has already started his spring cleaning.
below: He says, “See you in hell”.
She thinks, “I’m already there. You should try living beside this smelly thing.”
below: Jarus has painted a young man
below: It seems that even Lovebot needs to eat… Not sure about the purple hamburger bun though!
I took a short walk through the graffiti alleys behind Queen St. West yesterday. I found four new face/skull paintings by artist P.K. (which is short for?) all close together on Rush Lane, and all near 530 Richmond St. West.
below: A turtlecaps paste-up from last year is still on the wall.
Wisdom of the Poor: Communal Courtyard,
an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong,
Art Gallery of Ontario
This installation is made from parts of 100 old wardrobes collected from traditional Beijing neighbourhoods, or hutongs, like the one in which Song Dong grew up in. These neighbourhoods, and their communal way of life, are disappearing.
The pieces of the wardrobes are arranged with the backside towards the viewer. The arrangement is such that you can not see the front side of most of the wardrobes.
There are two circles of wardrobes that you can enter – where you can now stand in the courtyard so to speak. The wardrobes become stand-ins for the fronts of houses that once faced onto courtyards in the old hutongs of Beijing.
A wardrobe was one of the items that the Chinese government provide to all families. They are all similar yet different. All have mirrors. Most are made of the same colour wood and most have green curtains. They all have little legs and they are all about the same height.
Wardrobes are personal articles and former owners have left their marks on many of them…. a different fabric in the window or a picture glued onto the wood.
This installation also appeared in the Venice biennale in 2011 although the wardrobes were arranged differently. For the exhibit at the AGO, there are a number of items that appear within the ‘courtyards’ created by the wardrobes. For the viewer, these items can only be viewed through the windows of the wardrobes. One of the items, below, is a series of three paintings of the Canadian ballerina Karen Kain.
In another, bikes
This installation remains at the AGO until 17 July 2016
Rob Ford
City councillor and former Mayor of Toronto
May 1969 – March 2016,
Funeral procession from City Hall to St. James Cathedral, 30 March
below: For two days Rob Ford lay in repose at City Hall where people could pay their respects. And many did. Yesterday, the line up wound around the corner of City Hall as people waited their turn. Some people loved him; some people hated him. Possibly there were those who were indifferent.
This morning there was a short procession from City Hall to the noontime funeral at St. James Cathedral.
below: After arriving at City Hall, Doug Ford greets the crowd.
Although the procession was scheduled to begin at 10:30, it didn’t start until close to 11:30. A group of people waited at Nathan Phillips Square including some of Rob Ford’s supporters. I overheard a conversation between two men who were discussing what they thought of politics and politicians, most of it negative. At one point they declared that all career politicians should be kicked out of office. I thought to myself, you mean guys like Rob Ford? Wasn’t he a career politician?
About 20 or so people were holding a large flag made of a couple of Canadian flags and all the provincial flags stitched together. It was a very diverse group of people, diverse in age as well as in ethnic background. They were joking about whether or not they were going to be on the front page of the ‘Sun’. We shall see!
below: A woman finds a quiet place to sit and wait.
below: The police were in position, ready to start, long before the procession began. So was the media and it was a very large media presence indeed.
below: The Toronto Fire Department had a large Canadian flag on display at Queen and Bay streets, near the beginning of the procession route.
below: Trying to keep the people, most with cameras, off the streets.
below: This guy may have been filming the crowd (and me) but he didn’t look away from his phone.
below: The crowd in front of St. James cathedral
As I was walking away from the cathedral, a woman approached me.
She pointed towards the church asked me if I knew what was going on there.
added later: I was going to discard this photo but then I noticed the man in the mask.
Who wears a mask to a funeral procession?
2016, a new year just begun, and with it a new country and a new blog.
I’ll be taking a break from blogging about Toronto as I do a bit of traveling once again. I have started another blog as a home for the street art that I see. It will include the pages of non-Toronto street art that I have on some pages in this blog (some have already been moved) as well as any street art that I see on this trip.
New blog: Eyes on the streets
Marys in Toronto
It has become one of the things I do – I look for ‘Marys’ when I travel. For one reason or another, I started seeing Marys in Toronto too. Perhaps it was because I spent more time in galleries and museums on those really cold days that we had last winter. There aren’t nearly as many Marys here as there are in Lima Peru or in Malta. Hence, finding them was a bit more difficult but that just made the hunt more interesting.
below: In the window of Sonic Boom on Spadina
below: a sculpture of Mary and Jesus, from the Gardiner Museum
below: ‘The Dormition of the Virgin’ by Esteban Marquez De Velasco (c.1655 – 1720, Spain).
This painting is in the Art Gallery of Ontario. It depicts the moment before Mary falls asleep and her soul leaves her body to join Him in heaven. The apostles surround Mary and kneel in prayer.
below: ‘Madonna and Child’ by Andrea Della Robbia (1435-1525, Florence Italy).
Glazed terracotta. On loan to the AGO from the family of Murray Frum.
below: In front of St. Clare Roman Catholic church on St. Clair Ave. West
below: In the window of Crows Nest barber shop, Kensington Market
below: Figurines for sale at Honest Ed’s
below: Holographic cards with images of Mary Jesus in a red plastic tub.
You can buy a card at Honest Ed’s for 69 cents.
below: Sagrada Familia, by the front door of a house in Little Portugal
below: Hiding amongst the drapery sits Mary and her child.
below: Another from the AGO, Virgin and Child from circa 1750, once in a chapel of a Montreal church.
Wood with traces of pigment.
below: Mount Pleasant cemetery
below: On an ofrenda at a Dia de Muertos celebration
below: Radio Maria, una voce cristiana nella tua casa, part of the Holy Mother World Networks.
below: With other members of the Nativity scene, for sale in a vintage store on Queen West.
I think that $20 buys you the contents of the box.
below: In a front yard in the Junction
I’ve put her at the end because I am not 100% sure that she is a Mary. The Virgin Mary is usually depicted with a light blue shawl draped over her shoulder or else holding a baby Jesus.
And here ends that game. This post represents almost a year’s worth of looking and while the hunt was interesting in the beginning it’s charm is starting to wear thin. I could probably find more Marys in churches and cemeteries but I think I will listen to words of wisdom and let it be.
Playing hookey, spray paint cans in hand, under the bridge.
![graffiti on concrete bridge supports - creature in yellow and orange with the words: One love to [heart] and for my best friend Gracie](https://mcfcrandall.blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/blog_orange_yellow_graffiti.jpg)
below: On two sides, back and front, of the same post.
transcription of the plaque:
The Prince Edward Viaduct
Designed by Edmund Burke architect, and Thomas Taylor, construction engineer, the Price Edward Viaduct was opened on 18 October 1918. The Viaduct joined Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue from Sherbourne Street to Broadview Avenue, to provide easy access to the rapidly expanding suburbs east of the Do River. The Bloor section, carried on an earthen embankment, stretched eastward from Sherbourne to Parliament Streets. The Don section supported by a bridge 494 metres long, extends westward from Broadview Avenue. The Rosedale section, with a bridge span of 177 metres, forms a connecting link between them. On the recommendation of Jacob and Davies, consulting engineers, provision for a lower second deck was incorporated into the viaduct to carry subway trains. This foresight proved to be of inestimable value in building the Bloor-Danforth subway line 50 years later.
Toronto Historical Board, Toronto Transit Commission, 1981
as I walk Toronto 