…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.
As part of a larger mural project in David French and Barbara Barrett Lanes (near Bloor and Bathurst), elicser has painted another mural with more of the kinds of people that he is known for painting. Every day people doing every day things – with some emphasis on musicians and the people who listen to them.
For this post I’ve combined photos that were taken back in mid-September on the weekend that the ‘Wall Expressions’ project was started with those that I took a few weeks later. ‘Wall Expressions’ was a StreetARToronto project to paint/repaint garages in David French Lane.
below: Elicser works on a face
below: The finished face.
below: More of the mural in progress.
below: The complete mural
Thousands of people (50,000?), men, women and children, rallied at Queens Park and then marched down University Avenue past the American Embassy this afternoon. This was the Womens March in Toronto, a march in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. It coincided with similar events in Washington, most major cities in North America, and other cities around the world. The Toronto marchers ended their walk at Nathan Phillips Square. It was a peaceful, positive event.
It was also a family event. There were a lot of kids walking with their parents (or being pushed in strollers). Many of the kids had made their own signs to carry.
There were also many people that came as groups, whether as groups of friends or groups united in a cause.
There were a few signs using the “We The People” designs by Shepard Fairey.
Donald Trump swings happily on a wrecking ball.
I march for equality and peace.
I’d rather have a queen than a trump.
There were lots of references to nasty women!
Many people wore pink hats. These mysterious two took it a step further, pink balaclavas.
Love not fear, and a pink hard hat too!
Free Melania | #freemelania
girls are strong
Women have rights and we’re gonna use them! … with rainbows.
A loud hear us roar!
Donald Trump was at the march too, even if only in effigy.
The march stopped for a few minutes when it reached Queen Street. There was much traffic confusion and chaos (and honking of horns) at the intersection of Queen and University until the police closed all traffic on Queen Street.
Orange? No. I’m peach. Great play on words.
Make America gay again!!
And that’s only part of the crowd at Nathan Phillips Square!
“Babies against Trump. We don’t like it when people call Trump a baby – we act better than him.”
Women’s rights are human rights.
#whyImarch | #womensmarch | #nastywoman | #lovetrumpshate | #noh8
A few weeks ago I posted some pictures of the fence along Craven Road that has been decorated with artwork and old artifacts. I was south of Gerrard Street when I took the photos. I didn’t realize at the time that I missed another outdoor gallery on the other side of Gerrard. Today I took some pictures of those on display on the north side. Here they are in no particular order:
below: Looking north up Craven Road along the fence.
That tropical sunset on the left looks very inviting!
below: Some of the paintings are small words in another language and another alphabet. Can anyone translate for me?
By now I’m very curious about this street and this fence. I found a long, detailed, and interesting history written by local historian Joanne Doucette that you can read here.
I had heard about a mural at Lawrence and Orton Park so this morning I thought I’d check it out. I ventured out Lawrence Avenue to just east of Markham Road. As I drove I was reminded of how big this city really is.
below: This is the community mural that started my adventure this morning. It was painted in nine sections and then assembled on the wall. It is the work of Ted Hamer, Rowell Soller and Skratch Wonder.
below: As I left Orton Park, I saw this mural from a distance. Of course I had to stop and take a picture. I got some strange looks. Tourists are probably not too common in this part of the city.
below: While I was looking for the best angle from which to take the above photo, I noticed some markings beside the road.
below: As it turns out, these are from the summer of 2011. Lawrence Avenue is 6 lanes wide and at this point it crosses Highland Creek and Morningside Park – a long bridge, a rather barren stretch of concrete and pavement.
below: Bridges were meant for going under, right? Luckily there was an entrance to Morningside Park right there, and luckily I left my toboggan at home 🙂 Morningside Park is part of a network of parks that follow the Highland Creek. It starts near Markham Road and the 401 and runs south to Kingston Road near Guildwood station. A search for an answer to the question, “How many ravine parks does Toronto have?” has yielded no results yet. I’ll keep looking.
below: The answer to another question, “Is there graffiti under the bridge?” was more easily found.
below: The bottom of the pillars were painted back in 2010 and 2011.
below: Hope takes flight over the city. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see but the word hope is written on the city at the bottom of this small mural but it is behind the weeds.
below: Personified Hope, from the picture above, wraps around to another side of the pillar as he/she moves upward. Also seen here is one of the feet from the upside down man.
below: Another pillar has a painting by elicser.
below: There were also a couple of paintings on the other side of the creek. There was water in the creek. Too much to cross safely.
Or at least, too much for me to cross safely!
It was a very quiet place to be this morning. I saw a couple of people on the path, including Batman, but they were silent.
One last photo, taken as I was driving home across Lawrence. I guess it’s somewhat appropriate for the time. Not sure why one would be sporting such a sticker in Ontario though. C’est la vie. To each their own.
I saw many people at bus stops waiting for the 34 Lawrence bus and I wondered how long it took them to get to the subway. Lawrence is 6 lanes wide and I tried to picture it with an LRT running down the center. (but that’s a whole other blog post, perhaps another day).
Toronto’s first “street” art – a mural on the pavement, painted on the street itself. It’s located on Baldwin Street in the Kensington market area.
below: The mural was painted on Pedestrian Sunday (28 Aug) when the streets were closed anyhow.
Murals on the street aren’t legal in this city. In 2015 City council voted against making them legit. Instead, they allowed this one to go ahead as part of the StART Road Mural Pilot Project. Plans are afoot for a few more to be painted in the next couple of months. The city has imposed some restrictions as to where they can be painted, rules such as the murals need to be away from intersections and be on streets with a low volume of traffic. It is rumoured that future road murals will be on Condor Avenue (west of Greenwood subway yard), Lauder Avenue (near Dufferin and St. Clair), Hiawatha Road (Little India), and lastly, somewhere in North York
below: The next two pictures were taken from the upper level of the adjacent parking structure (where I had a chat with a security guard, private property and all that).
The pilot murals are all the result of work by community groups – people within a community working together to produce something representative of that community.
below: Painting a raspberry. The shapes were drawn by artist Victor Fraser and then painted by a number of artists and volunteers. It is an acrylic based paint that will wear off in 6 to 9 months.
below: From street level – peas in a pod, a clove of garlic, a bunch of spring onions, an artichoke, a banana, and in the distance a lot more!
This project was organized by Stas Ukhanov and supported by the Kensington Market BIA.
Well, not really Camden Street, but an alley that runs perpendicular to the street…. If the lane has a name I don’t know what it is. Google maps doesn’t even include it. It’s a very short alley that runs both north and south from Camden street and it doesn’t go anywhere. Both sections were painted with murals 9 or 10 years ago. Amazingly, they have survived.
Let’s start with the south side of Camden Street.
below: Mural Project, “The walls won’t know what hit them”. The mural was painted in 2006 youth from the Harbourfront and Cecil Community Centres as part of the City of Toronto’s Graffiti Transformation Project.
below: The mural is painted in a quasi cartoon style.
below: She’s upset and she’s expressing her hurt and anger with spray paint seems to be the start of the story.
below: My knowledge of slang is limited, and this is 10 years old but this sheezy is cool. It’s probably as simple as “this sure is cool”, i.e. spray painting graffiti is cool.
below: Oh no! I always laugh when I hear this expression these days… is there anywhere in Toronto where property values are going down? Okay, okay, so it’s part of the story – she’s complaining that someone has sprayed graffiti somewhere nearby, the vandalism part of the story. The angry young woman or the “sheezy heezy” guy above have been busy in her neighbourhood.
below: As you can see, a couple of things were in the way as I was taking pictures. I am not sure exactly how the plot of the mural progresses from here because I couldn’t see the whole thing. There are gaps in the story line. A few missing pages so to speak.
below: Flesh tones as dots in the face of woman who plays an unknown role in this story – the mystery woman?
below: I suspect that this is the “We’ve got to get rid of the graffiti” part of the story. Is it improper to make comments about Rob Ford and his anti-graffiti program here? I don’t want to insult the mural or the project behind it because I think that the Graffiti Transformation Project is an excellent program.
below: If there was a mural on the other side of the alley, it’s long gone.
A short walk across Camden Street to the other half of the alley….
below: You can see the taller buildings on Richmond Street West but you can’t get there from here.
And like most downtown alleys, garbage bins are a dominant feature.
below: At the entrance to the alley. There are words under the window by the sunflowers that say that this painting is also the work of the Harbourfront/Cecil Community Centre’s Graffiti Transformation Project, 2007.
below: A very low window with green arrows
below: And last, I’ll end with a weather comment because we’ve all been talking (complaining?) about it these days – someone’s a bit overdressed for this August weather although it doesn’t seem to bother him. Maybe he knows something we don’t. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking.
Stay cool!
Or rather, pre-Pride parade. The parade route is usually very crowded and this year I decided not walk it. Instead, I mingled with the parade participants who gathered on Bloor Street in preparation for the event. What you’ll find in this blog posts are a lot of pictures of people, people laughing and smiling and enjoying the day. I hope I have captured some of the energy and spirit of the occasion.
below: A temporary rainbow LOVE sign
below: The orange guy from the fruit group!
below: One of the floats parked on Rosedale Valley Road. Toronto in balloons, ready and waiting for the parade to start. The calm before the storm.
below: When I first approached this group, the man in the middle had a rainbow flag in front of him. As I took the picture he flung the flag to his back and hammed it up for the camera. Thanks!
below: These boots are made for walking, but that bike sure looks great!
below: Apparently, wearing large amounts of feathers on your back is quite warm. Not so good on a hot day!
below: The solution – water of course. Super soakers and the spraying of water is a big part of the pride parade.
below: The three coloured Transgender Pride flag – the stereotype colours of light blue for baby boys and light pink for baby girls with a white stripe in the middle for those who identify as neither.
below: #ShareLove wash the hashtag used by Telus and the people on their float. I love the glitter and the purple hearts!
below: Puppets from Kids Help Phone Line make an appearance at the parade with a little help from some friends. The one T-shirt reads “Tell us about your #firstpride”
below: Well, what can I say? It’s Pride.
below: Nonchalantly blowing bubbles. Someone looks unimpressed.
below: I managed to find the saddest person on Bloor Street.
below: Thanks to these two women who showed off their T-shirts for the camera. #ProudBecause was Fido’s campaign for Pride. Each person on the team had a T-shirt like this, and each person had filled in the white rectangles with their personal messages.
below: Spectators waiting. One is keeping cool.
below: The Liberals had a large presence, most of them in red T-shirts. They congregated on Asquith Green early on and there were many in the staging area on Bloor Street. As the world knows, Justin Trudeau walked in the parade with Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. As an aside, I may be the only person who didn’t get a photo of Trudeau!
When the parade started, I left Bloor Street, heading south on Ted Rogers Way then back towards the Hayden Street entrance to Bloor subway station. Somewhere along that route (and I can’t remember exactly where) I saw a small group of PC/Tories with their signs walking towards the parade.
below: Tomodachi is Japanese for ‘friends’.
below: The Federation of Canadian Naturists were also walking in the parade.
Yesterday the Portuguese community in Toronto held their 29th annual Portugal Day parade. It was a lively, happy occasion. Hundreds of people lined Dundas Street West between Lansdowne and Trinity Bellwoods Park to watch the parade. They showed their Portuguese colours with flags, banners, hats, soccer shirts, and lots of red clothes! Young soccer players demonstrated their skills. People of all ages wore traditional dress from different parts of Portugal as they walked and danced along the parade route. There was music too – bagpipes, marching bands, and music to dance to.
Frank Kovac Lane is a short alley just south of Christie subway station. Some of the garage doors were painted with murals in past years and, as usual, there were plenty of tags. Recently, the lane was the scene of a community mural painting session thanks to the 4th Toronto Rangers (Girl Guides), StreetARToronto, artist Nick Sweetman, and some local residents. Now some of the tags are gone and more importantly, some more garage doors are home to bright and cheerful murals. A few of them are included here.
below: At the north end of the lane is this large, colourful mural by Nick Sweetman.
Two large blue bears have found a plethora of honey. Will the bees share?
below: The new murals continue the animal theme, “Urban Wildlife”, starting with this fox.
below: A common Toronto animal, a raccoon, beside a red fire hydrant.
below: A blue jay eyes some blueberries.
below: Several monster faces have lived in this alley for a while and they still remain.
This one looks like he needs a hair cut.
below: This graffiti is actually on Harbord Street but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it
– a camera and an “oh snap”
as I walk Toronto 