DOn River | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘DOn River’

Hands, Florests, and Minds

Posted: October 8, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: #monicaonthemoon, Boradview Hotel, DOn River, Don Valley, map, maps, Monica on the moon, Monica Wickeler, paste up, Water is Life, wheatpaste, Women Paint Riverside

The crest has been altered to read “Department of Hands, Florests, and Minds”. It comes from an old map that has been used to create a street art installation on the back alley side of the Broadview Hotel at Broadview and Queen Street East. The artist is monicaonthemoon aka Monica Wickeler.

Most of the people were printed on the maps such that the Don River was somewhere on the body. The photos of the people are interesting but so is the history that the maps tell us. The map dates from before the creation of the Port Lands at the mouth of the river. If you look at the body on the right, you can probably find the intersection of Queen Street and King Street just before they cross the river (look for the word ‘Don’). There are no streets south of King Street at the time. Front Street ends at Church. I suspect that all the red dots on the map mean swampy wetlands.

below: This woman stands more to the west. Roncesvalles on one leg and Dufferin on the other.

below: The woman on the right has one foot in Ashbridge’s Bay.

The wall is part of the recent Women Paint Riverside project that was the subject of my last blog post – Water is Life.

Commissioners to the Gardiner

Posted: September 24, 2021 in construction, locations
Tags: bridge, Commissioners Road, construction, cranes, DOn River, fence, Gardiner, Gardiner Expressway, Port Lands, skyline, trucks

more changes, more demolition

From Leslie to Cherry, Commissioners Street runs through the middle of the Port Lands, or at least it used to. The re-making of the mouth of the Don River involves a new waterway that cuts Commissioners into two sections. This blog post is a quick look at the east side.

below: TTC streetcar leaving Leslie Barns at Leslie and Commissioners- celebrating 100 years.

below: There are a lot of cement mixers in the area!

below: Canada Post has a large presence in the area too. A series of images of stamps featuring Canadian birds, such as this black-capped chickadee, decorate the exterior wall of one of their buildings.

below: Portlands Energy Center on the other side of the Shipping Channel. This is natural gas powered electricity generating facility. It also has a steam turbine generator that allows it to make electricity using steam from waste heat.

below: Commissioners Street now ends at Saulter

below: The new bridge has been delivered and sits at the western end of Commissioners, on the other side of the gap. Soon(?) that gap will be part of the new route of the Don River.

below: Looking north on Saulter Street towards Villiers Street. Metal beams from the Gardiner are being lowered to the ground.

below: New utility poles on Saulter, with another view of the Gardiner demolition.

below: Saturday traffic on Villiers. The Lakeshore is closed on the weekends to facilitate the dismantling of the Gardiner. Yes, it does cause traffic issues and confusion!

below: Looking north on Don Roadway from Villiers

below: Some of the concrete bents from the Gardiner still stand as does the curved elevated ramp from the Gardiner to the DVP.

below: An abrupt end

below: Crane demolishing a concrete bent beside the Keating Channel.

below: An older photo from 2015 showing the Gardiner Expressway on the north shore of the Keating Channel with the Lakeshore below. The yellow crane in the image above is close to where the blue barge is in this picture (but on the shore side!). The supports for the Gardiner over the mouth of the Don River are metal (the greenish coloured two on the right side of this photo), not concrete like the others. These metal supports is at the right edge of the photo above.

from 2015, photo of Gardiner along the north shore of the Keating channel

photo taken in 2015

below: When the steel beams are removed, they are first trimmed and cut in half.

below: They are then hauled away to another site where they are cut down even more.

below: Standing in the middle of Lakeshore Blvd and looking west. Remains of the Gardiner.

below: Side view, Lakeshore with remnants of the Gardiner rising up beside. Soon to be gone.

paths to ruin and a course

Posted: April 18, 2021 in locations, nature
Tags: Betty Sutherland trail, DOn River, Duncan Mills, fungus, graffiti, mallard, mask, Moatfield, path, pussy willows, ravine, ruins, trail, water

As you probably know, Toronto is full of creeks, ravines, and trails. Most of the creeks are tributaries of the Humber, Don, or Rouge River. This week’s adventure was along the Don River starting at the south end of the Betty Sutherland Trail. The north part of this trail begins at Leslie and Sheppard, just behind North York General Hospital (where parking is difficult). Even though early April is still brown and grey, there is always something to see.

below: Don River

below: Pussy willows – One of the first signs of spring

below: As I walked along the trail, I encountered this guy. He started getting agitated as I got close to the the river, but there was a photo that I was after…..

below: I had spotted colours through the browns and greys of the trees… graffiti covered ruins on the other side of the river.

Of course I found my way across the river to explore them in more detail!

below: When I went looking online for information about this structure, I came across a blog post in Scenes from a City from 2013. It’s hard to see, but some of the graffiti remains unchanged 8 years later.

below: And right behind me I discovered a tunnel entrance built into the hillside

below: It was very dark inside so the quality of these photos is questionable, but I thought that the old rusty control boxes looked fascinating. How long have they been here?

The Betty Sutherland trail ends at Duncan Mill Road. I was trying to get as far south as possible, so rather than go up to street level, I went under Duncan Mill Road where my map showed that there was more green space.

below: Wishes were written on pieces of paper, folded, and tied to a tree with pink yarn.

below: The tangled roots of a dead tree lie beside the Don River just south of Duncan Mill Road.

below: Blue and yellow rocks

below: It wouldn’t be a walk without a (or several!) used mask lying around but this one is cuter than most.

below: Oh Oh

below: Bracket, or shelf, fungi on a dead tree trunk

below: Playing fields alongside Moatfield

below: Looking east towards Graydon Hall

below: Now we are off the beaten track. That’s Don Mills Road with some graffiti on a pillar that beckons me forward. A few trees have been planted here but maintenance may be sporadic.

below: under the bridge

below: There was no problem getting under the bridge, but around the corner was an unexpected surprise – This appears to be the end of the line. Yes, it was green space but my map didn’t warn me that it was private! I didn’t have golf clubs with me so I wasn’t sure if I could sneak or bluff my way through – plus my car was behind me so it wasn’t worth the trouble to try.

“Betty Sutherland served thirteen years as an elected representative on North York Council until her retirement from politics in 1985. From 1979 to 1985, Mrs. Sutherland was a member of Metropolitan Toronto Council and the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Devoted to the improvement of recreational opportunities for citizens and visitors, Mrs. Sutherland was Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto Parks, Recreation, and Property Committee from 1982 to 1985 and a member of the Authority’s Don Valley Advisory Board from 1981 to 1984. The naming of this trail is a symbol of the significant contribution she made to Metropolitan Toronto’s regional parks.

Bayview & Lawrence, Glendon College

Posted: January 21, 2021 in history, locations, nature, public art
Tags: Bayview Ave., Chedington, DOn River, E.R. Wood, Glendon College, Glendon Hall, Lionel Thomas, Ray Spiers, sculpture, snow, snowman, trails, trees, Watson's bridge, winter, woods

The main entrance to Glendon College is via Lawrence Avenue on the west side of Bayview; here Lawrence becomes the driveway for the college. The first building that you see is glass with the word welcome in several languages etched into it. On the left is “boozhoo” which is Ojibwe, “she:kon” is Mohawk, and “tansi” is a greeting in Cree.

In 1924, Edward Rogers Wood (1866-1941) and Agnes Euphemia Smart (1868-1950) moved into the house that they had built on 84 acres of ravine land at the north end of Bayview Avenue, in what was then suburban Toronto.

below: Glendon Hall now, on a grey winter day.

When Agnes Eupemia (Phemie) died in 1950, she left the estate to the University of Toronto to be used for a university botanical garden. Ten years later U of T gave the site to the newly formed York University to use as their main campus.

below: Another of the older buildings at Glendon

below: Residence building being renovated. They were built in the late 1960s. Glendon College has just under 3000 students but the campus was very quiet (on a Sunday in January 2021).

below: Lionel Thomas (Canadian,1915-2005), The Whole Person, 1961 metal mounted on the exterior of one of the buildings on the College campus.

below: Metal sculpture by Ray Spiers (b. Canada 1934), Untitled 1, 1975

below: Sculpture of a more temporary nature.

The main part of the campus is up high, above the ravine formed by the west branch of the Don River. At the bottom of the hill is the pool and tennis courts as well as access to trails along the river.

below: Athletic Center and bridge over the Don River

below: The end of Lawrence Avenue on the east side of Bayview.

below: Under the Bayview bridge which was originally built in 1929 with financing help from E.R. Wood, and expanded in the early 1960s.

below: Before 1929 this is where traffic crossed the Don River. The bridge, Watson’s Bridge, was built in 1895. In the distance, you can see the Chedington condos; they sit where a house for Muriel Wood once stood. E.R. Wood built the house (also called Chedington) for his daughter in 1927-28 but it was destroyed by fire in 2009.

below: Watson bridge, built 1895

below: Beyond Bayview the paths were very icy so we didn’t venture much farther that day.

More details about the history of the Bayview bridge can be found on a City of Toronto website. They have lots of pictures!

Port Lands update

Posted: September 6, 2019 in construction, landmarks, locations, old buildings
Tags: abandoned buildings, cement trucks, Cherry Street, Commissioners Street, construction, demolition, DOn River, Don ROadway, flood protection, Keating channel, Lake Ontario, Port Lands, skyline, T and T, Toronto Harbour, Villiers Street

Work on the Port Land redevelopment continues. The area is changing fast enough that I thought another visit would be a good idea.

below: Cherry Lifeguard Station, calm and peaceful in the early morning. On a weekday in September all is quiet here.

below: A new red lifeguard chair sits on a freshly raked beach. In the distance, a tug pushes a barge out of the harbour and onto Lake Ontario.

below: A family of Canada geese rest on the embankment of the Keating Channel. The white concrete supports of the Gardiner Expressway are reflected in the water.

below: Looking west along the Keating Channel. The Don River empties to the bottom right, just out of the picture. At the moment, the Keating Channel is the only route to Lake Ontario but this is about to change.

below: The Cherry Street bridge, a lift bridge, was broken in the open position for about a month at the end of the summer. It was fixed in time for Labour Day weekend so it is down now (can it go back up? It will soon be demolished so maybe that doesn’t matter)

below: From above, the Keating Channel is in the foreground and it is here that construction on a new Cherry Street bridge is just beginning. This is west of the present bridge because Cherry Street is going to be straightened as it passes under the Gardiner. There is another small channel behind the Keating Channel but it ends at the T&T store… for now. Cherry Beach and Lake Ontario are in the background.

below: Reflections of the T&T sign. Soon this store will be gone. The path of one of the new waterways for the Don River goes right through the middle of their property to join with the channel that is already there (picture above).

below: Villiers Street, looking west from the Don Roadway. The new path of the Don River is going to make an island of this part of the Port Lands as it runs parallel to, and immediately west of, the Don Roadway.

below: Villiers Street is actually two streets running parallel, both of which have two-way traffic. This is left over from the days when the railway ran down the middle of the street.

below: Remaining fragments of railway track can be found all over the Port Lands. This is Villiers Street at the Don Roadway. The Gardiner Expressway is in the background.

below: Old gas pump on Villiers.

below: The northwest corner of Commissioners and the Don Roadway. The green mound is the beginnings of the flood protection work there. Flood protection means work on the re-routing of the mouth of the Don River.

below: Looking west on Commissioners Street from east of the Don Roadway (at the traffic lights). This is one of several large hydro structures that run from the Portlands Energy Centre (a natural gas burning electrical plant). Hydro infrastructure changes are part of the Port Lands redevelopment.

below: Work on the south side of Commissioners.

Soon Commissioners Street will be closed between the Don Roadway and Cherry Street. All of the buildings there will be demolished. At the moment, most of them are empty.

below: Old abandoned buildings on Commissioners

below: United Rentals on Commissioners Street, now empty. Soon gone.

below: Chained and locked.

below: North side of Commissioners, east of the Don Roadway. You can see the Gardiner Expressway and the old Lever Brothers factory.

below: South end of the Don Roadway.

below: Looking west towards downtown from the Don Roadway

below: Back in July the demolition of the GFL (Green For life) buildings was well underway.

below: This is the GFL recycling transfer station during the demolition process. At the same time, the shoreline was being reconfigured and “naturalized”. The trees in the water in the foreground have since died but this is part of the plan – they are to become part of a new fish and wildlife habitat.

below: Access to the northwestern part of the Port Lands has been very limited. Cherry Street and the T&T parking lot are as far as you can go … if you obey all the signs. (photo from July)

below: September

below: The sea gulls have the parking lot to themselves, between Lafarge and the lake at the west end of the Port Lands. There are no plans (that I can find) to remove or relocate Lafarge.

below: If you stand looking at the view above, and then turn around, you get the image below. Polson Pier view of the Toronto skyline.

below: Map of the area. As you can see, I have only covered a small part of the Port Lands. There is so much more to explore!

Dundas, Jones and a bit of Gerrard

Posted: April 19, 2019 in general Toronto
Tags: #ShootForPeace, bike, DOn River, doors, Dundas Street, family, Filmores Hotel, garage, graffiti, house, photos, porch, Regent Park, row houses, St. Batholomew, stained glass, street art, True Love Cafe, window, Yasin Osman

This blog post is a result of a walk from last week, from Dundas and Jarvis to Jones and Gerrard – from downtown into Leslieville/Riverdale on a beautiful day for a walk. As usual, I strayed onto a few alleys along the way. The pictures below may or may not be in sequential order but it doesn’t matter, does it?

below: Although many of the buildings around it have been demolished, Filmores Hotel remains. I’m not sure if that’s a comment on the ownership of the building, or its use.

Once upon a time, e.g. in 1916, Dundas Street only existed westward from Ossington. There was no Dundas Street downtown or in the eastern part of the city. After WW1, a collection of smaller streets were widened and joined together to form Dundas Street as far as Broadview. That is why there are these curves in the street between George and Sherbourne.

below: Maybe it was once someone’s large house? Now it’s looking a little run down but it’s still home to George’s Pizza and George’s BBQ. The one on the corner is Piassa Injera and Takeout which is Ethiopian.

below: Looking back towards downtown and the wall of glass and steel that has been erected.

below: The True Love Cafe at the corner of Sherbourne and Dundas. It’s had a fresh coat of paint and the hearts on the exterior wall have been fixed up. Only the sign needs a little TLC.

below: The redevelopment of Regent Park continues.

below: New buildings in Regent Park.

below: I stopped for a drink at Daniels Spectrum where I came across an interesting exhibit…. A sample of some of the photographs on display at Daniels Spectrum. They are part of a project, #ShootForPeace, by Yasin Osman. Each features youth from Regent Park with the theme of the exhibit being family and how family can be defined.

below: One of the stained glass windows from St. Bartholomews church, in memory of Sister Theresa, 1891-1988. I’ve walked past this church many times but this was the first time that I went inside. It is a small, quiet church with some nice stained glass.

below: Graffiti on a wall.

below: Walking her dog on the Don River trail.

below: Looking north towards the Gerrard Street bridge.

below: Looking south along the Bayview Extension to the new development in the East Don Lands.

below: Just east of the DVP a truck was offloading new cars including this black Rolls Royce.

below: Same car, looking east towards Dons Milk store

below: Waiting for summer

In the early 1950s, the City of Toronto began a new road project to extend Dundas eastwards from Broadview to Kingston Road to serve as a new four-lane traffic arterial, intended as an alternative to Gerrard and Queen. Nine streets were widened to form the new Dundas street and in some cases, alleyways were used to connect these streets, and this is clearly visible as garages and backyards continue to front on to Dundas near Jones Avenue.

Dundas Street is a major thoroughfare in the city – there aren’t many family homes that front onto it. Jones, other hand, is a residential street. The houses are an eclectic mix, most of which are fairly modest – or less.

below: Flat roofs on small, narrow rowhouses with tiny front yards.

below: Half white and half yellow.

below: Once upon a time, Toronto street signs were these blue and white metal signs that were attached to the buildings on the corners. They are hard to read from the street! Beginning in the 1950’s they were replaced with the signs that we are more accustomed to seeing. There are still quite a few of these old ones spread out around the city in older neighbourhoods. It is rare to find a house with two signs.

below: An ad for W.N. McEachern & Sons Ltd. that appeared in the Toronto Star on 26 April 1912 (online source). They developed a few areas in the east part of Toronto including Eastmount Park which was between Danforth and Gerrard on the east side of Jones.

below: Near the corner of Jones and Gerrard, surprise, surprise, a hole in the ground.

below: Before I end this post, one last cute little white house tucked in between two larger brick residences.

Safe walking everyone!

below: Sometimes I love fences!

Moccasin Trail to the rainbow

Posted: March 18, 2019 in locations, nature
Tags: bird house, DOn River, ducks, East Don Trail, grass, ice, mural, people, plants, rainbow bridge, red tail hawk, scenes, snow, snowman, winter

Moccasin Trail is a street in Don Mills that provides access to the East Don Trail. Starting a walk there looked like a good idea when I checked the map.

I decided that it was worth a try. Going downhill is harder than going uphill on snow and ice so I figured that if I got stuck all I had to do was turn around and go back to my car. In the summer you can drive down to the parking lot.

With a little slipping, a little sliding, and a lot of care, I made it. At the bottom of the hill is Moccasin Trail Park.

below: The path goes under the DVP to join the East Don Trail (where there was not as much ice!). Except for the constant rumble of traffic in the background, it was very quiet down here today. I only saw two other people (and one dog).

below: Wild grasses grow in the ditch alongside the Don Valley Parkway along with sumach trees and other shrubs.

below: A Red-tailed Hawk circles overhead. There were two of them flying above me today. They were magnificent to watch as they circled in the sky – and as I wished that they would come closer, or perhaps even find something to catch. No luck today.

below: Ducks in the water and traffic on the Don Valley Parkway

below: Someone has tied this bright and cheerful bird house to the trunk of a tree.

below: One of the biggest reasons why I chose to walk this path today – the rainbow bridge. It’s easily visible from the northbound Don Valley Parkway. Although I don’t drive the DVP on a regular basis, every time I am reminded that I haven’t walked there yet. It was originally painted in the 1970’s by B.C. Johnson, a teenager from Norway. Every time the city painted over it, the rainbow was repainted.

below: In 2013 the arch was repainted with the help of Mural Routes. The interior was also painted in the same rainbow colours.

These are some of the scenes that are painted inside.

I didn’t explore much beyond the rainbow bridge. That adventure is for another day!

UPDATE: The rest of the trail that can be access from the Moccasin Trail is now covered in a blog post, From Charles Sauriol southward

from Brickworks to Corktown

Posted: July 11, 2017 in landmarks, nature, transportation
Tags: abandoned, anser, bikes, Brickworks, bridge, cyclist, DOn River, Don Valley parkway, DVP, faces, fence, graffiti, kayak, Lever Brothers, path, people, railway, river, Sunlight Park, trail, trees, Unilever, unused, water, woods

A walk along the Don River.

The Don Valley Brick Works (or Evergreen Brickworks) is an old clay quarry and brick factory that operated between 1889 and 1984. Today the site consists of 16 heritage buildings and an adjacent 16-hectare public park known as Weston Family Quarry Garden that includes wetlands, hiking trails, and wildflower meadows.

below: Interior of the kiln building. Some of the kilns have been removed to create a larger open area and year round event space.

below: anser faces on the exterior yellow brick wall.

below: The Brickworks “living map” of Toronto is looking very healthy. It is “Watershed Consciousness” by Ferruccio Sardella and it depicts the rivers and ravines in the city. Some of the greens are looking a little tall (like they don’t belong there? a few strays?).

below: Bullrushes growing in the wetland area around the pond.

below: Ideas! I’ve been meaning to find the end of this bridge and walk at least part of it – if I do, I’ll let you know! It’s the bridge that you see beside the Brickworks. It was built in 1928 and is 335m long. It is part of the Don Branch of the CPR and it ran from Leaside Junction to the downtown core until the line was closed in 2007.

After a short visit at the Brickworks, including a quick bite to eat at the Farmers Market, we headed south. The first part of the walk was back along Bayview to Pottery Road since Brickworks is on the west side of the Don River and the trail is on the east side. I didn’t take any pictures – walking along a major road that doesn’t have a sidewalk needs all of your attention. There is a bike path that parallels Bayview on the east side but getting to it was either a long detour or a dash across the road and over a barrier. We made the decision to stay on the west side and cross with the lights at Pottery Road.

below: Although the path is through the ravine and it runs beside the Don River, it also runs adjacent to the Don Valley Parkway. There are only a few places on the trail where you can see the highway but there is a constant rumbling noise from the cars passing by.

below: This is the same railway line as the bridge shown above but farther down the valley. A very makeshift bike crossing.

below: Standing at the same spot as the above photo, but turned around 180 degrees… You can see how overgrown the old tracks are.

below: Two different railway lines run down the Don River Valley. The line shown here, the CN Bala subdivision line, is very active including use by GO trains that service the Oriole, Richmond Hill, and Newmarket route. The Bala subdivision tracks continue all the way to Sudbury.

below: A quiet spot by the abandoned tracks.

below: There are a few spots along the trail where there was damage from the high water levels in the spring. Most if the problems are with the banks od the river. The trail itself is in good shape.

below: Kayaking on the river.

below: Keeping an eye on the water level.

below: Does anyone know what the 6 drum shaped things are?

below: Standing on the old metal bridge across the Don River at Eastern Avenue, looking south. When the Don Valley Parkway was built, it cut through Eastern Avenue. Eastern was rerouted, swinging north a bit before crossing over the DVP and splitting into Richmond, Adelaide, and Eastern. (depending in which direction you’re travelling). If you stand on the bridge and look directly east, there is still a road there that dead ends at the highway. It is now Sunlight Park Road and it is provides access to the BMW dealership that you can see as you drive past on the DVP.

I couldn’t see any park in that area so I decided that if there is a Sunlight Park it’s teensy tiny. Luckily I didn’t stop there – I did some research and discovered that Sunlight Park was actually the first baseball stadium built in Toronto. It was built in 1886 and was first known as the Toronto Baseball Grounds – four storeys, wood, and the home of the Toronto baseball team from 1886 to 1897. And where is Sunlight in all this? The stadium became known as Sunlight Park after the Sunlight Soap factory that was built by the Lever Brothers in 1900/01 in the same area. The stadium was demolished in 1913.

below: The building in the background was the Lever Brothers (the Unilever) soap factory. There is now a sign on the building that says firstgulf.com – they are the development company that owns the site. NOW magazine published an interesting story about the building as it looks at the moment (with lots of great pictures!). The path through the striped underpass joins the Don River Trail to Corktown Commons.

Stay safe. Protect the plants (and the humans!)

at the mouth of the Don

Posted: July 13, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: animals, bents, DOn River, ERG, Erica Balon, faces, fish, fox, hand, Janus, Kirsten McCrea, kwest, Love Letter to the Great Lakes, MC Baldassari, mouse, PA system, paint, people, rabbit, raccoon, Rajni Perera, ramps, river, seawalls, spray paint, topless, underpass, women

Today I walked the southern part of the Lower Don River trail. It’s not the most relaxing place to walk even though the path follows the river. I have a habit of absentmindedly meandering and I didn’t want to meander right into a cyclist on the narrow shared path. There was constant background noise from the cars and trucks on the nearby Don Valley Parkway but it was the GO trains that made the most noise as they rumbled right beside me. Yes, you are correct, it’s not my favorite place to walk. But I also knew that there was a reward near the end of the trail.

Near the ‘mouth of the Don River’ (in reality, where the Don River turns into the Keating Channel), there are some new murals on the bents supporting the ramps between the DVP and the Gardiner Expressway. They are part of the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project. A previous blog post, love letters in paint, concerned the murals from this project that were painted near Ossington and Queen West.

below: If you approach the area from the north, this is the first bent that you see. All sides of it have been painted by Kirsten McCrea. If you are driving south on the Don Valley Parkway and you exit to the Gardiner westbound, you drive right over this, and the next few, bents. In case you haven’t guessed, a bent is that concrete support thingy holding up the road.

below: The other side of the McCrea mural is in the background, behind the bent that has been painted by PA System (Patrick Thompson and Alexa Hatanaka). Amongst the swirly watery shapes there is a face near the top. Extra bit: The guy on the bike stopped to take a photo too.

below: The other side of the PA System bent. A large fish fits perfectly in the upper portion while a hand reaches up from the vertical part.

below: The work of MC Baldassari who is currently from Montreal.

below: The other side of the above bent. It looks like the woman has come through the pillar.

below: A woman with a mouse in her hand and a flower in her hair kneels beside the foxes,
a mural painted by EGR (Erica Balon). In the background you can see a much taller bent that has been painted blue. This bent is on a different ramp, the ramp that you would find yourself on if you were driving east on the Gardiner and then exiting to the DVP. It has been painted by Jason Botkin and it includes the word Wonscotanach. Apparently that was the First Nations name for the river before John Graves Simcoe came along in 1790 and decided to call it the Don River.

below: There are more animals on the other sides, along with a city lit up in the night in the background of the mural. Raccoon, rabbit and a pink butterfly fluttering past.

below: Rajni Perera‘s mural features red and yellow women walking or standing in the water.

below: Looking back

below: A collaborative effort by Jarus and Kwest beside the Don Valley trail, just north of the other murals.

below: And one last photo before leaving the area… a quick note sprayed on a concrete support.

love letters in paint

Posted: July 11, 2016 in events, graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, birdo, boat, Cara To, caratoes, Cinzah, DOn River, En Masse, environment, lake, lebonar, love letters to the Great Lakes, mrcinzah, murals, Olivier Bonnard, Ossington, pangeaseed, peru, peru143, public art, Queen West, seawalls, sens, sermob, ship, street art, water

From June 20th to 25th, many street artists brought their talents to paint murals with the Great Lakes as their theme. It was part of Pangeaseed Foundation’s Seawalls for Oceans. Pangeaseed’s mission is to use science, art and creativity to “inspire positive change around pressing ocean environmental issues”. This campaign originally focused on oceans but they have now branched out to increase awareness of the issues involving out fresh water lakes and rivers as well. One of their methods is to support and encourage the painting of murals – Seawalls have been painted in Miami, San Diego, Napier New Zealand, Cozumel Mexico and many other cities around the world… and now in Toronto too.

One of the locations chosen for the murals was around Ossington and Queen where they join a number of murals that were already there.

below: The S.S. One Love sails high above an alley, painted by Peru143

below: Painted in mostly shades of grey, a mural by Caratoes (aka Cara To), a street artist based in Hong Kong.

below: A large water bird swims along the surface and watches the people passing by.
Painted by Jon Todd.

As you can see from the above photo, there are three round images painted on the south wall of the old Self Storage building.

below: Closest to the street, a mural by Sermob

below: In the middle and tying the three circles together is a mural of entwined fish by Miguel Valinas from Mexico.

below: A sleepy baby otter in its parents’ arms, painted by Sens, also from Mexico

below: A mural on a bright yellow wall – a shark and a dinosaur amongst geometric shapes that are characteristic of birdo’s work. There is also another animal head beside it. This was a collaboration between birdo, tens2, fuel, kostyn, phil and barney and it pre-dates the Love Letters to the Great Lakes murals.

below: From bright colours, to black and white – birdo’s collaboration with En Masse. A mural with the words “RIP Don Valley River”

below: It’s a rather dark lament about the state of the Don River.

below: Standing on an island, ‘Hello’ by Chicago-born Hebru Brantley in 2015

below: Whales, lobsters, fish and other creatures swimming amongst the seaweed, painted by street artist lebonar (aka Olivier Bonnard)

below: More marine life, but in an unfortunate spot. I’ve been to see this mural twice, and both times the fence was locked. It looks like the fish has an arm that it’s using to reach for the unsuspecting crayfish – a metaphor for invasive species and their effects on marine life and their habitats. It was painted by Cinzah Seekayem from New Zealand. You can see better pictures of it on his instagram page.

as I walk Toronto

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