beaver | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘beaver’

Along the Riverbank

Posted: January 25, 2024 in general Toronto
Tags: Along the River Bank, beaver, bullrushes, catfih, coyote, damselfly, DOn River, egret, fox, frog, Luv, mink, Moises Frank, mural, Nick Sweetman, painted turtle, rabbit, raccoon, tensoe2, toad, white-tailed deer

There is a new mural (2022) in Toronto by Nick Sweetman featuring animals and plant life commonly found along Ontario’s rivers, especially the Don River that flows nearby. It adorns a wall/fence that runs the length of a new park, Riverside Square, which is southeast of Queen and the Don Valley Parkway.

below: The east end of the mural

part of mural by Nick Sweetman, Along the Riverbank

below: A blue-fronted dancer damselfly (A very long name for a very small creature!)

below: Mink, toad, and a water insect called a water strider.

below: Catfish

below: A raccoon eyes the fish swimming past

below: A happy dog among friends, a raccoon and a cotton tail rabbit. If you look closely, there is a bridge in the background by the fox – Torontonians might recognize this bridge as one of the many that cross the Don River.

below: Red fox, coyote

below: In the middle

below: Egret diving for fish

below: White-tailed Deer

below: North American beaver

below: Painted turtle

below: Northern Leopard Frog

Tensoe2 and Moises (Luvs) also contributed to ‘Along the Riverbank’

This post also appears in Eyes on the Streets

ice

Posted: February 27, 2017 in events
Tags: #blooryorkville, #icefest17, beaver, camera, carve, chainsaw, couples, families, ice, ice sculptures, kids, lights, maple leaf, men, mountie, people, photos, pose, RCMP, sculpture, street, toys, women, words, Yorkville

This past weekend was the 5th annual Bloor Yorkville Icefest.
It’s an event that features ice sculptures in the park at Cumberland and Bellair.

The theme this year was Canada 150, as 2017 is Canada’s 150th birthday.

below: Sculptures in an enclosure (i.e. no one gets close enough to touch). The Parliament building in Ottawa is on the left with a very tall RCMP Mountie standing beside it. I’m not sure who the sculpture in the middle is supposed to represent. On the right, a large 1867, the year of Confederation, on top of a large 2017.

below: A number of artists worked on their sculptures as part of the festival. This mountie and beaver had just been completed before I arrived.

below: A large chunk of ice gets cut into smaller cubes. Each cube contains a small toy that had been frozen in the ice. For $2 you could buy an ice cube and smash it to liberate the toy.

a man is using a chainsaw to cut a chunk of ice into smaller cubes. Small toys have been frozen into the ice. Other people are watching, especially two kids.

Don’t miss the sign in the background!

below: Complete with spelling mistake. Charlottetown is spelled wrong.
Also, the term Newfie is included? Apparently it’s no longer an insult to call someone a Newfie.

below: The warm temperatures were making some of the thinner pieces more fragile than usual. The little ‘knobs’ on this replica of the Taj Mahal were barely hanging on. Luckily the temperatures dropped enough that most of the sculptures survived.

#blooryorkville | #icefest17

Coxwell tiles

Posted: November 11, 2016 in locations, public art
Tags: abstract, animals, art, beaver, bee, colorful, colourful, Coxwell, designs, mosaics, mural, public art, reflective, seed pod, seeds, shiny, sreetARToronto, StART, subway station, tile, TTC, yellow

Coxwell subway station is still in the midst of its renovations and upgrades. As part of the project, the wall on the west and south sides of the station have been painted a bright yellow. This yellow was then the canvas for a large number of mosaic creations.

below: The new mosaic mural covers the wall alongside the pathway that leads from Coxwell station to the Danforth. The murals painted on the side of the Sunset Grill restaurant, on the opposite wall of the path, were there previously.

below: A beaver made from bits and pieces – with round eye and two large teeth.

below: At the corners of the mural are seed pods that have released their seeds to the wind.

below: The south side of the subway station is adjacent to a Green P parking lot on Danforth. Along this wall, a quote by Agnes MacPhail has been added below the mural. “We meet all life’s greatest tests alone”. Agnes MacPhail (1890-1954) was the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons where she served from 1921 to 1940. After her time in federal politics, she represented the provincial riding of York East in the Ontario Legislature. In 1951 she was responsible for Ontario’s first equal pay legislation.

below: West side of the wall, looking towards Strathmore Blvd.

below: A mosiac bee amongst the flowers…

below: … and a real bee sitting beside a mosaic red rose.

below: Two mosaic pieces, a circle with the names of the artists and a semi-circle rainbow with the names of those who contributed to the creation of the mural. The transcription of the words is given below.

Lead Artist: Cristina Delago,
With Boloebi Charles Okah, Bronwen Parker, Holly-Jo Horner, Jing Tian, Karen Roberts, Melanie Billark, Robin Hesse, Sarvenaz Rayati, Shae Stamp, Shashann Miguel-Tash, Skyy Marriot, Somayeh Nasiri, Victor Fraser, Will Spratley.

Special Thanks: Woodgreen Community Services, Dulux Painter, Tomasz Majcherczyn, Cathy & Barry Joslin, Cercan Tile, Jacqui Strachan, City Councillor Janet Davis, Jeff Billiard, John & Ed at Danforth Brewery, Mark Wrogemann, Clara Lou, Eleanor Ryan, James & Cooper, John Kenneth & Cherie Daly, Lowe’s, Maisie Fuss, Melanie Morris, Michelle Yeung, S. Dimitrakpoulos, The Vogls, The Zeelie-Varga Family, Wyatt & Teagan, as well as Laurie, Chantal and Gavin

Allan Garden hoardings

Posted: April 19, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public art
Tags: Allan Gardens, animals, Anishnawbe, beaver, community, deer, First Nations, graffiti, heads, indigenous communities, long hair, men, moon, mural, rocks, stars, street art, turtle, woman

UPDATED: Construction here has finished and the hoardings have been removed. These murals no longer exist.

A couple of years ago, the city started a project to replace the water mains that run under Gerrard Street. As part of that project, a section of Allan Gardens was dug up to provide access to the underground mains. The site was barricaded by wood hoardings. These hoardings have since been covered by a large mural titled ‘Nindinawemaaganidok / All My Relations’. Twenty one artists contributed to the painting of the mural.

The north side of the wall:

Four themes appear in this mural, Community, Water, Anishnawbe Teachings and History of the Land. Animals such as buffalo, deer, wolves, turtles, and beaver are common motifs.

The east side of the wall:

below: Sky Woman

South side (along Gerrard Street):

West side:

If construction goes according to plan, the hoardings should come down by the end of May 2015. As to whether or not this deadline will be met is anyone’s guess.

The artists: Tannis Nielsen, Phil Cote, Natasha Naveau, Rosary Spence, Gwen Lane, Angela Malley, Judy Rheume, Gary M. Johnston, Amanda Murray, Rebecca Baird, Cotee Harper, Graham Curry, Briana Stone, Lyndsey Lickers-Nyle Johnston, Isaac Weber, Honey Smith, Shelby Rain McDonald, Paula Gonzalez-Ossa, Kalmplex, Adrion Corey Charles, Ron Razor and Steven Henderson.

Link to more information (as well as a video) about this project

around the bakery

Posted: January 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: abandoned, alley, anti Ford graffiti, art, bakery, beaver, bittersweet symphony, brick, buzzard, crack pipe, Dundas, empty, girl, graffiti, graffiti animals, lane, lost doggy, lovebot, mailbox, murals, old brick, Ontario Bread Co., Ossington, paper, pink, Rob Ford, spud, street art, tags, wheatpaste, windows

The Ontario Bread Company is located near Dundas and Ossington.
It had an Ossington Ave address but it is surrounded by lanes.
In September of 2013 it went out of business. The building is still there but it is empty.

Lovebot is now on their mailbox!

The bakery was founded in 1935 by Polish immigrants and they specialized in Polish, and other Eastern European, breads. BlogTO did an interesting piece about the bakery in August 2013.

There is a lumber yard adjacent to the bakery on the same lane.
What follows are some of the photos that I took as I walked the “block” of lanes around the bakery and the lumber yard. Some of the graffiti has been there for a few years.