There are now three large images on display at Ontario Square (on Queens Quay near the foot of York Street). Collectively, they are “Double Pendulum” by Maggie Groat who has constructed them as wheatpaste collages. They are part of this year’s CONTACT Photography Festival.
below: Butterflies constructed from other shapes and objects. Does this show the interconnectedness of all things, as in the “Butterfly Effect”?
notes here
There’s a new provincial park in Toronto!
… but sadly it’s just a vacant lot
The city has owned the land for a few years and has already torn down the LCBO that used to be here. The plan is to build supportive housing for those in need. So far nothing else has happened – has the project stalled?
“We are in a housing crisis.
Parkdale needs permanent supportive housing.
Three years ago in December 2019, the City of Toronto purchased 11 Brock (this site) from the Province, with a purpose to redevelop it as affordable rental homes for some of Toronto’s most vulnerable people.
In December 2022, Municipal Councillor Gord Perks’s office shared that it will be funded by the Rapid Housing Initiative, a Federal program. But bids for a non-profit haven’t started and plans aren’t yet made. Why? NP Remind Councillor Gord Perks, Federal MP Arif Virani, and each other that we remember the human right to housing.”
11 Brock Avenue LCBO
1891-2016
Construction of this edifice began in 1889 to celebrate the annexation of the Village of Parkdale into the City of Toronto. Originally a “Barber Shoppe and Purveyor of Fine Elixirs”, it was the finest destination for the procurement of alcoholic spirits and haircuts. The Shoppe fell on hard times in 1916 with the advent of prohibition and the reduction in haircuts due to the famous poorly times Toronto head lice outbreak. Ostensibly becoming Toronto’s foremost storage facility, bootlegged moonshine was sold in a hidden speakeasy carved into a 125 cubic meter block of ice. Attracting patrons from across the city for both alcohol and ice alike, this enterprise allowed the neighbourhood to prosper and directly led to the construction of Sunnyside Beach and Amusement Park. Not coincidentally, 1927 brought the first electric household refrigerator into the market, the end of prohibition in Ontario, and the creation of the LCBO. 11 Brock became one of the first 18 LCBO stores that opened on June 1, 1927.
Getting there: 11 Brock Avenue, just north of Queen St. East
Accommodation: none (or bring your own sleeping bag)
Food & Drink: Check out Sam James bakery right across the street from the park entrance (if there was one).
I came across these colourful sculptures at the Distillery District this past weekend. There are thirteen of them, all painted by different artists.
Artists:
Alex Garant,
AlfAlfA,
Caitlin Taguibao,
Clandestino Art,
David Anthony,
Fatspatrol,
Gosia Komorski,
Jacquie Comrie,
Jieun June Kim,
Michael Sparaco,
Natasha Kudashkina,
Peter Triantos,
Que Rock,
and Yen Linh Thai.
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.
“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.
Two exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario feature the colour blue. One is “Blue View” consisting of paintings created by Canadian artist Matthew Wong between 2017 and 2019. The other is an exhibit of Picasso paintings at the beginning of the 20th century especially his “blue period” 1901-1904.
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below: “Starry Night”
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below: Nudes painted before the Blue Period… and when Picasso was only 19 or 20 years old.
In 1901 Picasso was given access to Saint-Lazare prison-hospital in Paris where he painted many of the inmates, especially the women who were there as a result of their participation in the sex trade. They were impoverished and forgotten women living in deplorable conditions, often with young children. Picasso painted them in shades of blue and green and in his paintings sex work, motherhood and syphilis become intertwined. They can be compared to images of the Virgin Mary with an infant Jesus, a secularized Madonna.
below: “Mother and Child by Fountain”
below: “Woman and Child by the Sea”, 1902
below: “The Soup”, 1902
below: “The Blue Room”, 1901
below: “The Frugal Repast”. Not in blue but still with the theme of the working poor. This was an etching that Picasso first made in 1904. Later, in 1913, he printed 250 copies of it.
With thanks to Alice and Arlene for spending a couple of hours looking at paintings with me.
“Picasso, painting the blue period” continues until 16 Jan 2022.
Matthew Wong paintings are on display until 18 April 2022
…isn’t where you think it is, nor is it what you’re expecting!
Bloordale Beach was created about a year ago at a vacant lot behind Bloor Collegiate Institute. There is no water and there are no lifeguards but there is sand; apparently it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. Nude sunbathing seems to be allowed.
More photos can be found on the Bloordale Beach instagram page.
The Art Gallery of Ontario has re-opened after several months of COVID lockdown. They have created an all new Andy Warhol exhibit in celebration.
This is some of what can be seen:
below: Elvis Presley
below: Part of a series of images of an electric chair in different colours
below: Debbie Harry
below: Karen Kain
The exhibit is on until October 2021.
Oakwood Village BIA is centered on Oakwood Avenue, south of Eglinton West.
below: “Celebrating Queer Black Lives (2021) by Curtia Wright. This is also part of a STEPS project, I HeART Main Street, which features 26 murals on “Main Streets” in Ontario this year.
below: We are all Canadians, and with a big heart too
below: Sidewalk games
below: Sidewalk vowels
below: Shiny palm tree about 5 metres tall – an art installation from 2010 on the traffic island where Oakwood meets Vaughan Road. It serves as homage to the neighbourhood’s Caribbean community.
below: Rusty the Snowman!
below: La Cubana, Supermercado Latina.
below: Recently sold, Open Bible Baptist Church, just south of Eglinton.
below: Old gate in front of new (or being renovated) house
below: Where WTF = Wear The Facemask!
below: Reggae Lane, just south of Eglinton. The mural in the background was painted by Adrian Hayles in 2015. Better pictures of it are on a previous blog post about Reggae Lane
below: Waiting…..
below: Never Give Up!
below: Looking north up Oakwood to Eglinton West. The construction of Oakwood station still has a long way to go! The previous blog post (‘Eglinton and Oakwood’) looked at this intersection/construction.
Because of COVID, the annual ‘Winter Stations’ art installation at Woodbine beach was cancelled. Instead, there is ‘Spring Stations’ now showing at two locations including at the Distillery District.
below: “The Epitonium’ by Iranian design team of Mojtaba Anoosha, as well as M., Shahed, Elaheh, and Alemeh Yenglabad. It looks like a large sea snail has landed in the Distillery District.
below: ‘ARc de Blob’ created by Austrian and UK team Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum.
below: ‘From Small Beginnings’ by Jack and Charlie Leather behind the red heart. The original design called for small spruce seedlings growing on the timbers.
Back in May 2020, 14 benches in public places throughout Liberty Village were designed/decorated by different artists.
below: ‘Gathering’ by Patrick Li
below: “Home of Innovation” by Jieun June Kim
below: Red pigeons in front of a new condo – by Los Angeles-based artist Nathan Mabry. If you step back and look at it from the right angle, the large red parts look like a pigeon as well.
below: ‘Perpetual Motion’ by Francisco Gazitua
below: “In Memory of Omi and Opa” by Thelia Shelton
below: “Love Conquers Our Differences” designed by Christiano De Araujo and produced by David Ogilvie Engineering
below: Brightly carpeted stairs behind one of the old brick buildings typical of Liberty Village
below: mural by Jarus
below: One smart mural.
below: Grominator watches the dancers
below: It’s not easy these days but “smile, enjoy now”.
below: “Can” by Michelle Cieloszczyk, 2017
Time for coffee!
as I walk Toronto 