colours | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘colours’

Pacita Abad at the AGO

Posted: January 19, 2025 in galleries
Tags: AGO, art, Art Gallery of Ontario, buttons, colors, colours, fabric, fish, octopus, Pacita Abad, trapuntos, underwater scenes

Pacita Abad (1946-2004) was born in the Philippines. During the Marcos regime, she left Manila intending to study law in Spain. Instead, she ended up in the USA.

below: “Old Dhaka” (Bangladesh) 1978, oil on canvas

Many of the artworks that were on display were large-scale hanging trapuntos, a form of quilted painting made of stitched and stuffed canvas.

below: The central piece in this image is “LA Liberty” 1992. Here Abad recasts Lady Liberty as an “International Lady of Color” as opposed to the very white, very European, statue that exists in New York City.

below: “If My Friends Could See Me Now”, An American Dream with all the trappings of a ‘typical’ middle class life.

below: “Subali” 1983. Acrylic, oil, gold cotton, batik cloth, sequins, rick rack ribbons on stitched and padded canvas.

below: Many of the fabric pieces had marine themes like this very big octopus in “My Fear of Night Diving” 1985. It is 130 x 170 inches (or 330 x 432 cm).

below: Details, striped braiding sewn on to make the seaweed

below: Some of the pieces were hung such that the stitches on the back were visible. Also interesting.

Regrettably, this exhibit closes today.

Namaste, Merry Christmas, and more…

Posted: December 18, 2024 in locations, stores, transportation
Tags: Al Runt, Buddha, Christmas, colors, colours, Gerrard, lights, Little India, mannequins, paan, Santa, saris, stores, tree, windows

Another visit to Little India late one afternoon in December. In December darkness descends early but with darkness come lights. Some things are hidden but others are revealed. Shadows shift and details blur.

below: “Namaste! Warning, This Store is protected by Karma. Steal from here and you’ll soon find out why Karma’s a Bitch.”

below: Christmas lights on poles, and greenery with bows – it must be December in the city!

below: I doubt that it says “Merry Christmas”! … Nor does it say, “Namaste”.

below: Love wins, regardless of the season. A few of the characters on the exterior of a building painted by Al Runt.

below: A cash register on the counter and shelves crammed full of stuff – mostly household things – mugs, pots & pans, and the like.

below: Looking in gallery windows too

below: Baldev Paan – paan, ice cream, soft drinks, and bitcoin.

below: Running for the streetcar

below: Rana Gems, India Paan, and a restaurant with tacos and mariscos (seafood, en español) as well as a Christmas tree in the window.

below: Small, smaller, smallest? or Big, bigger, biggest? Biggest pencil? Yes! ….. Karma’s Kitchen is squished in between two larger buildings.

below: More on the south side of Gerrard, Karmas Kitchen again, Sultan Jewellers and, the now empty, Alesha Beauty Salon and Spa.

below: Pretty in pink

below: Looking through the window

below: Dancing among the flowers

below: Shiny beaded fringes and reflected lights, playing with windows.

below: Harry’s on the northeast corner of Gerrard and Coxwell

below: Coxwell Variety

below: Northwest corner of Gerrard and Coxwell

below: Are YOU a Communist?

Happy trails! and a Merry Christmas…. Joyeux Noël …. Feliz Natal … Feliz Navidad to all!

Good morning, Bloor west from Christie

Posted: November 2, 2024 in general Toronto
Tags: autumn, bike lanes, Bloor, Bloorcourt, Christie Pits, city, colours, construction, halloween, jode roberts, morning, October, payphones, plaques, pumpkins, stores, Toronto Sign Reimagination Unit, trees, windows

On a warmer than usual late October morning….

… when the early morning sun played with the autumn leaves in Christie Pits park

Of course, late October means Halloween with pumpkins and other spooky things.

below: This guy hasn’t had his coffee yet!

As I started putting together this post, I learned that Doug Ford wants to tear up Toronto bike lanes starting with those on Bloor, Yonge, and University Ave He has named them in his latest wannabe Toronto mayor action, namely Bill 212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024.

Ford claims that bike lanes add to the congestion on our streets (and makes his commute to work difficult). You will note the traffic chaos here this morning! The vans on the far side are (legally) parked. I suspect that Ford once sat in a traffic jam on Bloor and noticed that cyclists were moving faster than he was.

But I don’t want to get bogged down with politics and the antics of politicians, so I will leave you with a few scenes for Bloor West (approximately) between Christie and Lansdowne. There is some Halloween, some stores, some construction, some people, some architecture, some of the usual stuff! Maybe even a few things that will take your mind off politics!

below: Bloorcourt

below: A little bit of history…. small tiles in the doorway of number876

below: Banjara parking lot payphone with its own Heritage Plaque thanks to the Toronto Sign Reimagination Unit, aka Jode Roberts.

empty small telephone booth with a plaque on top

In the summer of 2015, a coin-operated telephone was installed here, replacing three long-standing Bell payphones. This payphone served hundreds of residents, offering a vital communication link. To make a call, users had to insert metal coins through a slot. However, the phone mysteriously disappeared sometime in the past year.
The coin-operated payphone was patented by American inventor William Gray in 1891. Its use peaked around 2005, with nearly half of Canadians reporting regular use and over 150,000 payphones across the country. By 2015, more than two-thirds of these payphones had been removed. As of 2021, only a few hundred functioning payphones remained in Toronto. This plaque commemorates the payphones in this parking lot and their gradual disappearance from the urban landscape.
Heritage Plaque courtesy of the Toronto Sign Reimagination Unit, 2024

below: Bloor and Brock

below: Part of a mural by Jimmy Chiale

below: Amazing! He’s a cumin being! Good things!

below: Angel Mary

below: Very large Italian flag by Vito Vesia Upholstery

below: By Dufferin station

below: Bloor & Lansdowne

below: Scrawl on a TTC bus stop pole. At first I thought that it was a biblical reference, but when I checked, I found that Daniel 5:5 is “Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote”. I doubt that has anything to do with gullible Christian hippies, right?

below: “Remember to Love! Go call your mom, say I love you and thanks!”

With thanks to Bill, Jeff, Paul, and Barry who walked with me that morning – and a shout out to the woman who said, “That’s so cute” when she learned that we were walking together. Cute?

Dyke March 2023

Posted: June 25, 2023 in events, people
Tags: colours, dyke, floags, march, mayor candidates, motorcycles, parade, people, pride, protest, rainbows, signs, Steve and Larry for mayor

The crowd was enthusiastic.

The motorcycles were noisy.

The rain stayed away.

Changes at Broadview and Eastern

Posted: May 27, 2023 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: abandoned, animals, colours, coyote, empty, houses, luvs, Moises, mural, Nick Sweetman, pigeon, raccoon, redevelopment, spray paint, street art, vacant

This row of old two storey row houses has been vacant for years. Recently the developer that owns the properties provided a couple of Toronto artists the opportunity paint the exterior. This is the result.

If you look carefully, you can see that Nick Sweetman and Luvs (aka Moises) have painted the word CHANGE across the front of the buildings. As a theme for a mural on a redevelopment site in a city bursting at the seams with such sites, change seems very appropriate.

below: I’ve played with the colours a bit to highlight some of the letters. You should be able to see C, H, and A across this image.

But the mural is more than colour and letters. There are three animals featured here – pigeon, raccoon, and coyote – all of which have adapted to changes and now thrive in urban environments.

below: A blue pigeon

below: A pinkish marroonish reddish raccoon

below: A coyote with a dead leaf and new buds.

Funding provided by Streetcar Developments

below: The houses to the north….

Photos taken 25 May 2023

Colonel Danforth colours

Posted: October 24, 2022 in locations, nature
Tags: autumn, bench, colours, creek, dog strangling vine, gold, graffiti, grass, Highland Creek, leaves, maple, October, park, pine, pine cones, Scarborough, sumac, sunlight, swallowwort, tree trunks, trees

Colonel Danforth Park is located where Kingston Road and Old Kingston Road pass over the Highland Creek in Scarborough.

This past weekend we had some amazing warm and sunny days – great days to spend some time meandering through a park, especially this year when the autumn colours seem so much brighter and plentiful than in past years. Is it just my imagination or have the colours have also lingered longer?

The north part of the park merges with the grounds of U of T Scarborough campus.

below: Seed pods of ‘dog-strangling vine’ (or swallowwort) starting to burst. This plant is an invasive species. It is quite pretty at this time of year as the seeds are released and the leaves of the plant turn a silvery colour. Unfortunately, it is a fast growing vine that quickly climbs other plants such as this young sumac tree. It will kill that plant.

below: A wasp nest high up in a tree

below: Ooops! “Off roading” taken a bit too far.

below: Under Kingston Road

***

historical society plaque for Highland Creek Mills

“Highland Creek Mills
The early settlers of Scarborough used the waters of Highland Creek to provide power for their many saw and grist mills in this valley. The first mill in the township was built here in 1804 by William Cornell who hauled his mill stone from Kingston on his sled. In 1847 William Hellewell built the first of his four mills on this site. Downstream there were saw mills operated by Jordan Post, Stephen Closson, and others. …”

There have been discussions recently about the lack of washroom facilities in Toronto parks especially once the city deems summer to be over. There were no facilities that I saw on my walk but I was thankful for the porta-potty that was provided. Not the best but I have seen worse!

The Original Peace Treaty

Posted: April 4, 2022 in graffiti and street art, public art
Tags: Anishinaabe, colours, healing, indigenous, mural, peace, Que Rock, Quentin Commanda, TO Live, Turtle Island

There is a large mural (40′ x 50′) in downtown Toronto on the west wall of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on Front Street East. It was painted by Quentin Commanda, aka Que Rock.

below: Commanda’s “Artist Statement” – see below the picture to read the transcription.

Artist Statement:

This mural is meant to be a visual healing experience. The seven rings around Grandfather Sun represent the seven Grandfather teachings of the Anishinaabe people: Wisdom, Love, Humility, Respect, Honesty, Courage, and Truth. There are many layers of sacred geometry patterns on the mural.

The skyline includes the medicine-wheel teachings, Grandmother Moon and the 13 grandmother clan systems. The turtle shell represents North America’s creation story, the 13 full moons per year, and the seven grandfather teachings.

The entire mural also represents the original Peace Treaty of the Six Nations on Turtle Island (North America). The story of the Six Nations Treaty starts with the original five Nations of Turtle Island: the Plant Nation, the Insect Nation, the Bird Nation, the Fish Nation, and the Animal Nation. All five Nations had to agree to let the Human Nation live here on Mother Earth. All five Nations agreed to be humanity’s teachers and the Human Nation was invited to share the land.

The Human Nation was given instructions on how to live on Mother Earth, walk gentle on Mother Earth, learn one new thing every day, and share with one another. These are some of the original instructions given to the Anishinaabe people. The bear represents a Medicine Clan. The Mukwa (bear) is a healer, it is the only animal who communicates with all Six Nations.

The bottom panel represents my story from the past, present, and future. The first character with the microphone is the future and present me. The second character represents my past as a native child with my dog Miangun and the path of healing I have taken to decolonize myself back to the Anishinaabe child I was born to be.

My mother is a residential school survivor and so was my father. I am no different than the 215 children found in Kamloops, B.C. I survived to tell you this story and share my experiences. My community is still here and so am I.

The Artist is from Nbiising or Nipissing First Nation, his traditional name is Manitou Nemeen (Spirit Dancing) and he is from the Miangun Dodem (Wolf Clan).

The orange background on the mural represents the missing/murdered Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island.

The mural was commissioned by TO Live

Charlie Chaplin

Posted: June 30, 2021 in public art
Tags: Chaplin cres., Charlie Chaplin, colours, Eglinton West, face, midtown, mural

Charlie Chaplin, large and in many colours

at Eglinton and…. Chaplin Cres of course

From Charles Sauriol southward

Posted: October 27, 2020 in history, nature, old buildings
Tags: arch, Arnaud Boutle, autumn, bridge, Charles Sauriol, chickadee, colours, construction, creek, East Don, fish, High Water Mark, Milne Hollow, park, path, railway bridge, ravine, river, Robert Sprachman, trees, tunnels

Back in the early spring of 2019, I wrote about accessing the East Don path from Moccasin Trail.

below: Last week, the view from the east side of the tunnel under the DVP leading to Moccasin Trail Park.

Now, in a different year and a different season, I have explored more of that trail starting at the north end, near Lawrence Avenue and the Don Valley Parkway (DVP). Originally, Lawrence Avenue curved south down the east side of the ravine before it crossed the Don River. The remains of part of that road provide access to the East Don path at Charles Sauriol Conservation Area. Sauriol (1904-1995) was a Canadian naturalist who played a leading role in conserving many natural areas in the province including the Don Valley.

Here, the Alexander Milne family first settled in 1832. Over time, a woolen mill and a sawmill were built, other families moved in, and the village of Milneford Mills was born; it thrived until the early 1900’s. The old woolen mill remained derelict until it was demolished in 1946. Between Hurricane Hazel floods in 1954, and the expropriation of land to make way for the DVP construction, most traces of the village have disappeared.

below: All that remains is one house. It’s been behind chainlink and “under renovation” for MANY years. When I went searching for any kind of story about this house, I discovered a blog post from 2011 about Charles Sauriol Park and the house was fenced in then. Apparently it was covered in graffiti back in 2008/9. I’m not sure that Mr. Sauriol would be impressed.

below: The Rainbow Bridge from the north side.

below: The trail passes underneath the Canadian Pacific (CP) tracks.

below: Footings for the CP bridge

below: As the trail crosses land owned by CP Rail, it is covered by a metal frame canopy. It’s difficult to see in this photo but there is a series of small laser-cut metal artworks between the grey railings. The whole structure is “A Walk in the Woods” and it is the creation of both Robert Sprachman and Arnaud Boutle.

below: Farther down the trail is another railway bridge. This is the same line that goes north to Oriole GO station and beyond. The scaffolding under the bridge is for the construction of another canopy similar to one under the CP bridge (above) as well as an art installation.

below: Part of art installation “High Water Mark” by Robert Sprachman that is almost complete. There are 15 rocks each with a year on them. The height of the rock on a metal pole represents the height of the flood water on the Don River that year (but is not an exact height). There are four rocks in this picture and from left to right are 1926, 1934, 1942, and obscured (the last is behind the wood. Ooops).

below: Oak leaves

below: Backs of houses overlooking the park

below: A chickadee holding onto a dead flower as it eats the seeds.

below: Fish. Yes there are fish in the Don River, about 21 species apparently. This one, salmon?, although large is unfortunately also dead. Over the past 30 years the Don River has received a lot of TLC which has helped to reduce the level of industrial pollution as well as the amount of litter and trash found along the banks.

below: We were told “It’s not the best time” when we asked if we could continue on the trail. South of here the trail is a construction zone. Eventually (soon? I may have visited a little too soon?) the path will join with those farther south so that there will be a continuous trail from Lawrence to the lake. In the meantime, this is Wynford. You can exit here, or retrace your steps back to Lawrence. Next time!

history in pieces of stone

Posted: October 1, 2020 in history, locations, nature, old buildings
Tags: autumn, berries, cliff, colours, columns, crab apple, crabapple, Dr. Healey Willan, flowers, garden, Guild Inn, history, Jacobine Jones, Lake Ontario, leaves, marble, monuments, mountain ash, Musidora, park, peacock, people, plants, sculpture, Sir Ernest MacMillan, statue, stone, Thomas Bowie

Another path through the woods. This time there was a hint of yellow in the leaves because it was late September and even in 2020, some things are the same as ever.

The path led me uphill to the newly renovated Guild Inn. It’s been five years since I have wandered around their gardens and surrounding park. In that time, the building has been renovated and expanded. I didn’t take very many pictures the other day because I knew that I had a lot from my previous visit. I was going to link to the blog post from that time but I discovered that I never actually got around to posting anything! So, I have found the old photos and have included some of them here.

below: For instance, this is the front of the inn in July 2015 with its windows covered.

below: And the back, five years ago.

below: Five years later – the back of the Guild Inn with the path leading to the gardens.

below: A statue of Saint Francis Assisi with a wolf, carved by Thomas Bowie (b.1905)

below: A stone wall with statues and carvings provides a backdrop for a garden full of black-eyed susans. Because of the efforts of a few people to salvage some of Toronto’s architectural and creative history, the gardens of the Guild Inn have become the final resting place of a number of pieces of older buildings that have been demolished to make way for modern skyscrapers.

below: Stone wall with features from the Bank of Nova Scotia building (1903)

below: The bird nest is long gone. … but it would have been a nice quiet spot to raise a family.

below: From the Royal Conservatory of Music. There are two bas-relief bronzes of men associated with the Royal Conservatory. On the right is Sir Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973), an organist, composer, and conductor who was knighted in 1935 by King George V. On the left is Dr. Healey Willan (1880-1968) another organist and composer who was associated with the Toronto Conservatory for 30 years (1920-1950).

below: Looking through one stone arch to another, the square arch from the Imperial Bank of Canada Building (1928) and underneath sits Musidora. Many artists have lent their interpretations of this woman (in sculpture and paint), the subject of a poem titled “Summer” by Scottish poet James Thomson written in 1727. The beautiful Musidora strips naked to cool down by bathing in the stream, not knowing that she is being watched by Damon. Damon is torn between watching and turning away but chooses the latter.

In 1887, a Bank of Montreal building was built at the northwest corner of King and Bay; a site now occupied by First Canadian Place. The building featured a series of sculptures representing the Canadian provinces that were created by a number of artists. When the building was demolished in 1968, these panels were brought to the Guild Inn. Not all of them are on view today possibly because some were not in good shape (held together with metal straps). Maybe they are being fixed up?

below: This is the Alberta panel in 2015; the artist was Jacobine Jones (1897-1976)

below: It has since been cleaned up.

below: One of two stone angel panels from the North American Life Assurance Company Building (1932).

below: The brick and stone entranceway from the Granite Club (1926)

below: This cabin was named for William Osterhout, a United Empire Loyalist who in 1805 was given the first Crown land grant from King George III as reward for his service with the Butler’s Rangers. Although Osterhoust briefly owned the property, he never settled in Scarborough Township. The structure was more likely built around 1850 to 1860…. that may be a contentious “fact” as some believe that it is at least 50 years older than that.