As you walk down Augusta Ave., you may spot this familiar face:
It, like all the others in this blog post, is signed P.S (& this is the signature of Phillip Saunders). The background in the one above looks very much like the work of J. Chiale.
below: A very red face and the traces of a moustache.
below: More stylized and almost abstract, very purple too. The door with its circuit board and honeycomb patterns says no entry.
below: A couple at the end of the alley. Love is golden.
I happened across this mural on Church Street the other day.
It is called ‘The Dream Chaser’ and it was painted in 2016 as a Wallnoize project.
below: Be creative….
below: With a big thanks to…..
If you stand with your back to the Dream Chaser mural, you can see this one on the other side of the parking lot. It was also painted in 2016. I think that the text/tag on the right is Vista but I am not sure about the one on the left.
As the year draws to a close many people like to look back and remember the year that was. Me, I go through files and although I find memories, I also find partially finished blog posts. I find ideas that I started to explore but there’s never enough time in a day to do everything you want. If only I could stop the clocks for a while and catch up!
This is one of the blog posts that didn’t see the light of day earlier in the year. These pictures were taken back in June, back when the leaves were green and people were wearing shorts. This is the street art on the garage doors of Perly Family Lane.
below: … as well as one little stencil black bird high on a pole.
below: An intricate stenciled painting of deer among the trees, plants, and flowers with a humming bird hovering overhead and three swallows flying past.
below: A colourful door by Manik I think.
below: The rest of the photos are paintings by Pascal Paquette.
They are abstract swirls and blobs of colour.
I suspect that there will be a few more posts like this as I try to clear out the backlog that has accumulated over the year. Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog…. and please come back and see what happens as we move into a new year!
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
There is a new collection of street art in Little India. It can be found if you go behind the stores on the south side of Gerrard Street between Rhodes Avenue and Craven Road. The art is easily seen because there is not only an alley behind the stores but also a parking lot.
below: Udlaakut Alysia. Udlaakut is Inuit for good morning.
below: Above the stairs painted by timmydrift and below the stairs by thepasystem
below: A marine creature (alligator) by Nick Sweetman and a woman’s face by Kairo.
below: The metal fittings on the back of the building were spray painted shiny gold and incorporated into the design of the mural.
below: behind 1465 Gerrard Street East
below: Lean back!
below: behind Siddhartha vegetarian restaurant
below: On the back of the Flying Pony cafe is this colourful mural painted by Tim Skynz, lead artist of the group Eskape Reality
below: tropical paradise?!
below: Side of the Flying Pony cafe
Diagonally across the corner (of Gerrard and Rhodes) from the Flying Pony is another store that has been covered with street art recently. This mural was painted by Runt. 1600 Gerrard East is the home of Lenswork, a photo and art studio gallery.
If you go back to Craven Road there are two murals.
First, there is the one by Monica on the Moon on a small building behind the Gujran Wala Tikka House restaurant.
Beside it, on the side of the Gujran Wala Tikka House, is a larger mural titled “The Rickshaw” by Monica Wickeler
(note: Monica Wickeler is Monica on the Moon)
below: And last, seen on a pole in the parking lot:
The alley project was coordinated by Tammy Rogers
with assistance from Monica Wickeler and the Gerrard India Bazaar BIA.
The 43rd Annual Festival of India started with a parade down Yonge Street from Bloor to Queens Quay on Saturday afternoon.
The parade is similar to an annual procession that has occurred for centuries in the city of Puri, India as part of a Hindu festival associated with the god Jagannath. Here in Toronto, as in Puri, three chariots constructed to look like temples are pulled through the streets in a procession from one temple to another. Each chariot carries a richly decorated representation of a god, first is Jagannatha (another name for Krishna or God) and then his brother Baladeva and his sister Subhadra. The chariots are pulled by people and the procession symbolizes the pulling of the Lord into our hearts.
In Puri, this Ratha-Yatra procession continues to attract over a million people every year.
In Toronto, the numbers aren’t quite that high!
below: Many people used ropes to pull the floats down Yonge Street.
below: Other people danced, walked, sang and chanted Hare Krishna mantras.
The festivities continued on Centre Island for the remainder of the weekend.
Happy belated Chinese New Year!
19 Feb 2015 was the Lunar New Year, the start of the Year of the Sheep (or Ram or Goat).
Sheep are considered auspicious animals, and the Year of the Sheep, therefore, heralds a year of promise and prosperity. This year will be the year for contemplating and appreciating what has already been accomplished and to think about bringing goodness to others.
Are you a sheep (or a ram or goat if you prefer)?
If you were born in one of the following time frames, then you are a sheep:
17 Feb 1931- 5 Feb 1932
5 Feb 1943- 24 Jan 1944
24 Jan 1955- 11 Feb 1956
9 Feb 1967- 29 Jan 1968
28 Jan 1979- 15 Feb 1980
15 Feb 1991- 3 Feb 1992
1 Feb 2003- 21 Jan 2004
The Sheep is thought to be the most feminine sign of the zodiac, perhaps because this is a very creative sign. The Sheep is artistically talented, and has a great sense of fashion.
Sheep are wise, gentle and compassionate and can cope with business cautiously and circumspectly. In their daily life, they try to be economical. They are willing to take good care of others, but they should avoid pessimism and hesitation.
They are very romantic, sensitive, sweet and darling. Empathy comes natural to sheeps. In relationship, they could be sometimes a little bit bossy and lazy, but with their gentle and caring nature, it will be hard to resist them.
Sheeps avoid confrontation and are not born leaders.
They can be indecisive, timid, vain, pessimistic, moody, and weak-willed.
On the 8th of February 2016 it will be the Year of the Monkey.
In the meantime, enjoy your Year of the Sheep!
Photos taken in the Dragon City shops at Dundas and Spadina.
Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything
Royal Ontario Museum
until April 26, 2015
The 21st Century Condition
“I want to explore how it feels to be inside the 21st century brain as opposed to the 20th century brain”
Painted with dots. When they are hanging on the wall, they look abstract.
When they are shrunk down and viewed on a smartphone, the picture comes into focus.
update: Here is an interesting article that appeared in the Torontoist on 24th Feb about this exhibit.
Irene Ave. is a short street that runs behind the north side of Bloor Street West between Carling and Shaw streets, just east of Ossington Avenue. Irene Avenue Parkette takes up most of the south side of Irene Avenue. There is an alley that runs between the park and the back of the stores on Bloor West.
The Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, through the Graffiti Arts portion of their LOFT program, has sponsored a number of murals in this alley.
This is what it looked like on a cold afternoon last week.
The next picture was taken in June of 2012.
The mural is still there but I couldn’t take a proper photo of it last week as there was a car parked too close.
When I walked around the block to check out the fronts of these buildings, this is what I found
A mural by Elicser and to the right the LOFT Youth Centre for Social Enterprise and Innovation.
David Crombie Park runs along the south side of the Esplanade between Lower Jarvis and Berkeley Street.
At the east end is a basketball court and playground. One of the back walls of the basketball court has been repainted with a mural by Shalak, Smoky and J. Periquet.
one end of the wall
the other side of the wall
as I walk Toronto 