Posts Tagged ‘Chief Ladybird’

Proudly Parkdale

Posted: July 11, 2024 in abstract, construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings, stores, windows and walls
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… a little bit of Queen Street West

sticker on the window of a restaurant that says proudly parkdale

no parking sign, and parkdale village street sign for Queen st w, on a pole

parkdale architecture, old bay windows, oval glass,

below: These late-19th and early 20th century commercial buildings along Queen Street West with their display windows are part of the Parkdale Village Heritage District.  The 2022 draft plan for this district describes this row as  Edwardian Classicism style.  The plan is more than 160 pages long but in case you are interested in the history (and politics?) of it, here’s the link: Parkdale HDC plan (a pdf )

row of brick apartments and store fronts at ground level.

below: South side of Queen West, looking west from Jameson

queen street west, south side of street, west of jameson, row of three storey brick buildings, stores,

below:  A broom for $8.99.  $7.99 will buy you a pair of crocs or six tall glasses.  Chili sauce, lights shaped like lotus flowers or Buddha, wicker baskets, espresso makers, mixing bowls, and frying pans also available!

looking in a store window with many items on shelves, boxes of things, shoes, crocs, a broom,

below: Lightning alert! It’s a potato, no, it’s a cloud!  Or maybe a lightning bug!  Small metal street art by Rocky Zenyk

small metal street art by rocky zenyk screwed onto a wood utility pole, blue background, orange cloud and 5 streaks of lightning emanating from the cloud

sign in a restaurant window that says we're all in this together

people walking past an empty store front in parkdale

on a corner, TTC streetcar approaches a stop, with TD bank in background and people waiting for the streetcar

orange lilies growing in a planter on the sidewalk on queen west, street car in the background

a young woman and her phone, waiting in a bus shelter in parkdale

below: Where the aliens hang out on a hot July day!

exterior of small building painted made to look like an ice cream store with big window and awning, aliens are buying and eating ice cream, also an alien dog on a leash

below: Scaffolding in front of the church – Epiphany and St. Mark Anglican church.   The octagonal belfry is being repaired and restored with the help of a 2024 Toronto Heritage Grant.  It is considered to be Gothic Revival style.  The cornerstone laid October 1880 and the first service in the church was held in January 1881.  The gateway was added much later.

Church of the epiphany, St. Marks, with scaffolding over the entrance

below: Hope over the entrance to the community garden at Masaryk Park

community garden in a park, with sign made of wood that says hope, over the entrance

below: Arty metal panels line the south wall of Masaryk-Cowan community center.  Bonar-Parkdale Presbyterian Church is in the background.

metal 2 d sculptural shapes on brick wall, exterior, presbyterian church in the background, highrise on the left

below: Notice for redevelopment of Parkdale Library and Masaryk-Cowan community centre site.

blue and white city of toronto development notice for queen west and cowan, redevelopment of parkdale library and masaryk cowan community centre

part of mural celebrating 136 years of sunnyside beach

below: Queen Fresh Market

Queen Fresh Market on Queen West, with fruits and veggies and plants for sale, displayed on sidewalk

below: A unique building topper – North side of Queen, at Dunn.

Queen West, old buildings in Parkdale

below: $25,000 winning ticket sold here! Hopes and aspirations… and Canada Dry.

window of a convenience store in parkdale, atm machine, coke and sprite ads,

below: More details on brick buildings on Queen West.

three storey red brick buildings in parkdale, on queen street west

below: Standing alone

3 storey red brick building in parkdale, standing on its own, now Daol Korean restaurant on the ground floor

people standing on sidewalk waiting for a green light, older brick apartment building behind them

below: Tiny Cafe

tiny cafe, a small yellow building with a red and white sign, large window in front, beside an alley in parkdale

upper part of a house with a large canadian flag as well as some paintings on display

balcony on a high rise apartment building that has a large Canadian flag

below: Murals and street art in an alley.  Butterflies and monochrome daisies

street art mural in a parkdale alley

below: Emily May Rose mural in an alley – women, we come in many shapes and sizes.

street art mural in a parkdale alley

below: Hello Kirsten on the far left

street art mural in a parkdale alley, hello kirsten

below: A mural painted by Chief Ladybird.  Mother and child finding peace in the city.

street art mural in a parkdale alley, seated woman holding baby, by chief ladybird

street art mural in a parkdale alley

mural on a garage door in an alley, curvy line drawings of women faces and heads

street art mural in a parkdale alley

below: Face in the alley

below: And more faces, Picasso like faces and body parts.

mural on brick wall in laneway, parkdale, round characters, faces mostly, in many colours

below: Muisca

street art mural in a parkdale alley

below: Elicser – so many faces merging into one.

street art mural in a parkdale alley, multiple faces in one, by elicser lliott

below: Monica on the moon – “Over the mountains; Under the stars”

street art mural in a parkdale alley, person on a motorcycle with text over the mountains and under the stars

street art mural in a parkdale alley

graffiti on a door in an alley, shape of a large blue bird in profile

below: A few reminders of Parkdale’s grander past on the quieter side streets – lots of old trees and some houses that remain as they once were.

pale yellow brick parkdale house with picket fence, gravel driveway, large front yard, and old garages in the back

maroon brick house with white gingerbread trim, attached to another brick house, orange colour, and beside a larger white brick house

beige brick house with red front door, between two other houses that re obscured by trees and large shrubs

two storey house behind a metal gate

brick house with curved porch with white trim and white railing

brown metal gate in front of a walkway to the front of a house

below: A little bit of religion and a little bit of social justice at the end.

build social housing poster

man in white clothes, standing on sidewalk, by dollarama store

art walk – outside and in

Posted: April 3, 2024 in galleries, graffiti and street art
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… As seen on Gerrard Street East and the alleys that run behind it.

mural that says you are here in 3 d looking letters, on side of brown brick building

below: Paintings in a little outdoor gallery space – along the fence on Craven.

few paintings in blues, purples, and teals, abstracts, mounted on wood fence on Craven Rd.,

below: Swirls in black and red

street art on side of white brick building, red and black swirls

below: Monstrous creatures and flowers on the stairs.

below: In a parking lot behind Gerrard, south side.

trailer parked in font of walls covered with street art murals including a woman's portrait by jarus

below: More laneway art

murals in alley

murals in alley

below: Close up view of a woman’s portrait painted by Anya Mielniczek

close up of face in woman portrait street art mural by anya mielniczek

below: Part of a mural by Chief Ladybird and Auralas

woman with feather in her hair, by chief lady bird, mural street art

below: It looks like the Venus Flytrap is trying to hide…

below: More illustrations of his work at SOWL, Art of Sowl

below: Tommy Drift characters on two sides.

tommy drift street art on two sides of a building in an alley behind gerrard street

below: The life of a mural isn’t always nice – the bottom part was tagged over and then painted.

an old mural with orange umbrellas that has had the bottom painted over in blue

below: Part of mural on the side of Whole Foods store

mural on the side of whole foods store

purple and blue banner attached to lamp post

below: Large yellow flowers on Kohinoor Foods store.

store front, Kohinoor Foods, building painted blue with large flowers

below: More flowers, bright bold coloured flowers

mural of white line drawings of flowers, on bright coloured backgrounds so it looks like bold coloured flowers, reds, blues, oranges, all on a royal blue background, mural

below: And a red rose in Blazeworks mural

mural by blazeworks, a young woman lifting hand weights, a red rose, other white leaves

below: Woman in a pink head scarf overlooks the street

store fronts on gerrard street east, mural on the side of one building that is taller than the others, woman in a head scarf in mural, car parked on street,

The Riverdale Hub and Gallery is on Gerrard Street.  It is now home to three floors of gallery space.  The remaining images in this post is a sampling of what I saw there when I visited back in March.

below: Poonam Khanna, Rainy Day series

two paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, both are rainy day scenes, one has two people walking on a sidewwalk, with a black backpack, the other is looking out onto an intersection

below: Robyn Asquini

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, by Robyn Asquini, realistic painting of two women on steps of a stone building, one with very red hair who is standing, the other woman is sitting with a large brown hand bag

below: Detail, close up, of a Steve McDonald artwork.

part of an artwork by Steve McDonald, digital art, tall yellow flower like plants

below: Kyla Yager, “Looking for Words”

painting by Kyla Yager hanging on a gallery wall, abstract, a green flower, some eyes, a mouth full of teeth, a red arrow, other shapes and colours

below: Three little pieces by Natalie Plociennik

three paintings by Natalie Plociennik, one round one, one vertical rectangle, and one square, abstracts, curvy shapes

below: Karen Couillard, part of a series, “ Beautiful Chaos : Nature’s Resilience”

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, by Karen Couillard, pink abstract flowers in a vase, a greenish yellow bird sits on one of them,

below: Marina Doukas, “Performance by Bob the Drag Queen”.

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, blad black man in drag, painted by Marina Doukas, green lipstick, holding a smoking gun (not real), pink stripe down middle of face,

below:  Miyakah Emon, part of the “Invisible Playground” exhibit.

two artworks on a gallery wall by Miyakah Emon

below: Mimmo (Domenico) Baronello, owls, the story tellers.

paintings on gallery wall, riverdale Hub, both feature owls, realistic paintings,

trim on a green awning on a store in little india, tassels and shiny bits

 

women in the walls

Posted: September 4, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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Women in the Walls was/is a mural project where most of the painting was done on the last weekend in August. Twenty women participated to create murals in the alley behind the north side of Gerrard Street East near Craven, Rhodes and Woodfield. One van and one car were also painted.

below: Courtney Binns and Kerry Marie (kairo) work on their murals.

two women painting a mural, one mural each, one on the back of a building in an alley and the other on the side of the same building.

a woman sprays paint, light blue, onto the background of a mural that she's painting, blue, green and pinks that merge together with no defined lines or edges

street art painting of a fuzzy orange fox, lying on the ground by C V Binns

a woman is in the beginning stages of painting a mural portrait of a woman outside

below: Princess Nokia

portrait of a woman on a wall, a mural by kairo, long dark hair, a blue bow on the top of her head, some blocks of the concrete block wall are painted in shades of pink

below: Caitlin Taguiboa paints her mural starting with the black and white background that will turn into ripples and reflections on water.

woman spraing black on a black and white mural, standing beside a ladder, on a garage door in an alleyy paint

pink white and orange flowers by a black pool with with and pink reflections and ripples

below: Kim adds some blue to the background of her mural.

a woman is painting a street art mural

on a garage door, a painting by Kim, blue background, close up of two yellow women pilots in a green airplane

below: The deer mural was preserved (it’s been on this wall for a number of years).  You can just see the faint outlines of a salamander that @mmnador is creating.  That’s Kim working on her pilots (astronauts?) in the background.

two women painting murals, Kim is in the background painting on a garage door while another woman is outlining a picture of a chameleon on a wall

a dark purple salamander in a street art painting on a background of orange, yellow, and light blue polygonal shapes with 3 to 5 straight sides on a wall with a tree to the left

below: Rolling on the pink, background that is.  Anya Mielniczek’s latest mural is a woman’s face in shades of pink and green.

woman rolling paint to make pink background on a mural

street art mural of a woman's face in greens and blues on one side, moving to pink on the other, lots of black hair. red lips, yellow eyes

partially finished mural on black background in an alley, green stripes near the bottom, blue circles beside brown squiggles, milk x weed

below: Painting a tribute to Smokey the cat, by Stacey Kinder.

a woman is crouching beside a wall where she is painting a picture of a blue cat, on the wall beside her is a large black section that has just been painted in preparation for another mural

a woman with long blond hair, Stacey Kinder, is painting a picture of a blue cat on a wall,

finished mural of Smokey the blue cat, with a sunflower behind his head,

below: Up close to the central portion of a mural painted by Chief Ladybird and Auralast.

detail of center of mural of an indigenous woman with long braided hair and feathers

below:  The words in the stripes are “One Voice”.  There is a blue and a pink stripe that didn’t make it into the photo, on them is written “Powerful”.

part of a mural by chief ladybird and aura of an indigenous woman with a feather in her hair, in front of the sun and circles of colour, red and blue flowers on the outer layer of colour (light blue)

below: A shout out to Debbie who lent her car, Lightning, to the cause.  Here, a black stenciled dog adorns the back door panel – in memory of Harley.

side of a car that has been prepped, for painting partially painted with turquoise section and pink splotches, also a black stenciled dog, called Harley, by the back wheel,

below: Lightning is now fueled with flower power!

back of painted car, large flower and many colours in the background, a bumper sticker that says Honor Diversity

below: And the last, a van.  It was parked behind the Flying Pony while one side was painted by Erika James….

a woman is taping stencils onto the side of van. The stencils are of words, Don't worry you haven't hit your stride yet

below:  … and the other by Jieun June Kim.   When I went back later in the week to take pictures of the completed murals, the van wasn’t around.  If you see it, let me know!

a woman spray paints on the side of a van that is being covered with street art, masking tape to keep the spray paint in straight lines.

below: Hands and stylized florals

black background mural with stylized floral in bright colours, also a hand in the middle in many colours

part of a mural with magenta background, green arms reaching up from foliage and weeds at the bottom, hands open, revealing a large blue eye on each hand

This project was supported by StART program at StreetARToronto as well as Cultural Hotspot 2017.  The latter is a summer-long initiative whose aim is to encourage art, community, and culture in the east end of the city.

below: Monstawall by Monica Wickeler (aka monicaonthemoon), one of the principal organizers of the weekend.

small street art mural of many stylized abstract goofy faces in bright colours, on a wall. a car is parked in front of it and some is reflected in the windshield

Multipli’city in progress

Posted: August 18, 2017 in graffiti and street art, locations
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More of the bents holding up the road that passes over Underpass Park in Corktown are in the process of being painted.  Back in 2015, the bents and pillars on the west side of Lower River Street were painted as part of the Pan Am games preparations.   The latest mural project involves the bents closer to St. Lawrence Street.

below: Looking east towards Lower River Street, skateboarders in the park behind a mural by Chief Ladybird and Aura. In the background is a pink elephant by Christopher Ross.

people at Underpass Park, under the expressway, with pillars painted in murals, guys on skateboards,

Thirteen bents by seventeen artists have just been completed, or are in the process of being painted for this project.  The artists are:  Al Runt, Andrew Dexel, Annie Hamel, Aura, Chief Lady Bird, Carlos Delgado, FONKi, GAWD, Jill Stanton, Kalkidan Assefa (aka Drippin_soul), Lacey & Layla Art, Meaghan Claire Kehoe, OMEN,  Ness Lee,  Rob Matejka  Anya Mielniczek

a large blue face mural, horizontal, looking down at the park below

below: As Al Runt works on his mural, he is reflected in the mirrors above him.

a man is painting a mural on a concrete bent at Underpass park, up on a lift, he is reflected in the mirrors on the ceiling of the park, Al Runt

below: Some faces by Carlos Delgado

conrete pillar in Underpass park that has been painted with large orangish toned faces, by Carlos Delgado

below: A social gathering around the mural painted by Annie Hamel… although the youngest one seems to want to join the skateboarders instead.

a group of people is having a small party in Underpass park, standing around a concrete bent that has recently been painted with a mural by Annie Hamel

below: I’m not sure why they would choose this location for their photo shoot when they are covering the mural with a grey screen.

a photo shoot in underpass park, grey screen in front of a mural covered bent, a woman in workout clothes, men behind the camera

below:   A face in orange and purple tones by @drippin_soul aka Kalkidan Assefa

a mural of a woman's face in orange and purple tones, large, purple lips, on a concrete pillar, with young woman sitting in the park in the background

below: One side of the bent painted by Lacey & Layla Art

cars parked under a bent that has been painted with a wrinkly brown man's face wearing glasses

below: And the other.  The mural is accompanied by a Robert Browning quote: “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.”

urban open space under a bent that has been painted with a wrinkly brown man's face

below: At the far west end, a gruesome spike being plunged into a heart.

A concrete bent in an underpass that is a hand holding a large spike that is being plunged into a bleeding heart. Cars are parked underneath

The project is managed by Mural Routes and is part of the StreetARToronto Partnership Program in collaboration with the Corktown Residents and Business Association, the City of Toronto Parks Department, and Relay 2017 – Friends of the PanAm Path.

below: Just starting, background figures in white

a person stands on an elevated platform and looks at the white outline that they have made in preparation for painting the bent white, the beginnings of a mural

***

This is the fourth blog post about the murals at Underpass Park.  Others are:

First stage of the project (Pan Am games),  in two posts:
Underpass Park  July 2015
People Overhead  July 2015

The next stage were the pillars along the sidewalk on the west side of Lower River Street
New neighbours at Underpass Park, Oct 2016