Posts Tagged ‘inflatables’

looking for art on a Saturday morning

Posted: September 16, 2026 in construction, galleries, graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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A Saturday morning walk through Yorkville.

spherical shaped street lights with a tall condo building behind

below: Southwest corner of Yonge and Yorkville where the original brick buildings lining Yonge Street have been saved (or at least the facades have been).

southwest corner of Yonge and Yorkville, older brick buildings at street level, tall glass and steel condos rising behind them

Once upon a time Yorkville, and its neighbour, Cumberland, were quirky little streets.  Joseph Bloor and William B. Jarvis started development here about 200 years ago as a place to escape the city.  Yorkville as suburbia.  It was able to hold back the developers for a while, but even Yorkville has to succumbed; glass and steel towers have arrived.

sign on condo at 1 Yorkville

below: Looking east on Yorkville, back towards Yonge Street where the Toronto Reference Library is.

looking east on Yorkville Ave towards Yonge Street with the Toronto Reference Library at the end of the street

below: Redevelopment along Yorkville isn’t finished yet…..

looking into a construction site

below: Yorkville Fire Hall, Station 312, is the oldest active fire station in the city.  The original station was built in 1876 back when Yorkville was a village and not part of the City of Toronto.  The building has been rebuilt and updated since then but the five storey clock tower remains as it was originally built.

Yorkville fire hall

below: There is a large reddish fountain beside the Four Seasons Hotel (the building to the left of the fountain

large fountain public art beside hotel

below: Part of Yorkville Avenue was closed to traffic for the third Yorkville Murals event.  YorkvilleMurals was presented by Taglialatella Galleries and INK Entertainment, and held in partnership with the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area

street signs at the corner of Yorkville and Bellair

open top tourist bus, hop on hop off, in Yorkville with people on the sidewalk beside it

woman holding a small dog and looking at her phone as she walks with a group of people

two woman in Yorkville, both wearing black blouses

man painting a large section of temporary wall in maroon colour in prep for a mural painting

children helping to paint a mural

below: Typing, and creating, poetry

a person with shaved head, and many tattoos on arm, dangling earrings, and a couple of necklaces, at an old fashioned typewriter, typing poetry, outdoors,

below: Sewing on the street, part of an exhibition of design and fashion.

mother and daughter watching a woman at a sewing machine, outdoors, Yorkville

outdoors, sitting at a table a woman with a prada purse is talking to a psychic

below: She is posing in front of a large inflatable heart designed by Michelle Hoogveld

asian woman posing for a picture beside a large multi coloured inflatable heart, public art display

below: “Every day is a new beginning” and a new chance for selfies and Instagram photos.

a young man stands in front of an orange door with writing on it that says every day is a new beginning, posing for a photograph, door is part of interactive art display

below: “The Oxley – Adult daycare done right”

outdoor restaurant patio with sign that says The Oxley adult daycare done right, pigeon in sidewalk, other people walking on sidewalk too, policeman watching

two women, both dressed in pink walking together down the street

below: This Toilet Paper Magazine creation was an interactive art installation.  The exterior of this shipping container structure had a mirror to encourage selfies and other photos.  One could also walk through the center of it.

below: The main attraction was a large mural covering many walls that was painted by Ola Volo. It surrounded the courtyard where other art installations or activities were on display.

below: A bouquet of balloons from Ballooms,

balloon bouquet, large,
man taking picture of woman who is leaning standing beside wall with large mural by Ola Volo

below:  That same courtyard is home to the Taglialatella Gallery where artworks by The Connor Brothers (aka James Golding and Mike Snelle), “The Story You Tell Yourself” were hanging on the walls.  This “I drink to make other people more interesting” is one of them.

below:  On the far right is “Fugetaboutit,”  a marble sculpture of a Star Wars Stormtrooper wearing a suit and tie by Montreal-based street artist Stikki Peaches (it was one of a few of his sculptures there that day).  On the wall behind him is “If you haven’t got anything nice to say come sit next to me” which is another Connor Brothers creation.

below: The other exhibit at the Taglialatella Gallery was Stefan Sagmeister’s  “Before We Forgot Things Were Worse”.

below: “La Misma” 2023, Stefan Sagmeister

painting on a gallery wall, La Misma 2023, by Stefan Sagmeister

below: “Purple, Then Green, Then Red”, 2023, another by Stefan Sagmeister

painting by Stefan Sagmeister, Purple then green then red, diamond shapes on black background, one diamond has old fashioned portrait of a man in it

below: Close up of part of an artwork by Zhuang Hong-Yi at Galerie LeRoyer.  It is make with painted pieces of rice paper

artwork by Zhuang Hong_yi made with pieces of rice paper, painted, in curls, looks 3 D,

below: “A Gentle Gesture – Thread Series 237”, 2026, by Lu Luo at Galerie LeRoyer

artwork by Lu Luo made of threads in mostly reds with some yellow and orange, 180 cm by 160 cm, looks like two cupped hands holding two swirls of threads and colours.

below: Bronze sculpture, “Figure Catching a Fly”, 2019, by David Altmejd on Avenue Road

large Bronze sculpture, Figure Catching a Fly, 2019, by David Altmejd on Avenue Road

below: Glass and sky merge and blend together.

below: ‘North Rustico, Tied to the Tide. ‘ part of the exhibit “What’s Next” by Ailene Vrana MacDougall at the Ruth Upjohn Gallery, Women’s Art Association of Canada

painting by Ailene Vrana Macdougall, title North Rustico, a boat is moored along a pier with small buildings behind it

below: “Edinburgh – Hidden Courtyard” also by Ailene Vrana Macdougall.

painting by Ailene Vrana Macdougall, title is Edinburgh - Hidden Courtyard

below: On Prince Arthur Street, across the street from the gallery mentioned above is this mid-century apartment building. One of the architects was Estonian-born Canadian  Uno Prii (1924-2000).  He designed a number of buildings in the city back in the 1960s.  Out of curiosity I went looking for a list of them but so far the closest that I’ve come is this article in Spacing magazine from 2013 (Mod Toronto)

apartment building designed by architect Uno Prii, mid century, sweeping vertical supports curved at the bottom,

below: “Austerity kills”

graffiti on the back of a construction sign that says austerity kills

below: They almost had it right….

danger due to sign that has the word construction spelled incorrectly

below: Ending this with a little silliness, a TTC temporary stop.  A pit stop for the TTC?

two blue porta potties beside a TTC bus stop sign with a temporary stop sign on it. At entrance to museum subway station

love, peace, and creativity

Posted: July 11, 2019 in landmarks, locations
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…along with coloured doors,  very big aliens, and a photography exhibit, all outside at the Distillery District.

below: “What’s That?” by Parer Studios. One of three ginormous inflatable aliens that have taken over the Distillery District but apparently they come with messages of peace, love, and creativity. Together they form the “fantastic Planet” series.

large white inflatable alien creature that appears to be getting from a crawling position, distillery district

below: “Over”.  At night they are illuminated from within.

large white inflatable alien creature, leaning over the rooftop of a building and looking down at a blue door

In the recent past, all of the doors in the Distillery were dark green (like most of the door and window frames still are).  A while ago, they were transformed with colour.  Many different colours in fact, and perhaps you could say a rainbow of doors.

a purple door on a grey limestone wall, distillery district

below: One of many photographs that adorn the brick walls of the Distillery District that showcase the works of photographers from around the world.  Collectively they are, “Pride at the Distillery, More than Just Rainbows”.

a large picture pasted to a brick wall, the backs of 6 drag queens each in a different colour outfit, making a rainbow when seen from the back

a large fake sunflower

pictures on a brick wall, above a table with empty chairs, outdoors,

below: I am not sure of the title of this one.  What I do know is that the alien’s hand is the perfect height to pat people on the head as they take selfies.  Check instagram for examples?  I noticed on instagram that there were photos of the aliens without the barricades.  My timing was wrong?

large white inflatable alien creature, lying down

below: Yellow doors (at least on the outside)

open double doors, yellow on the exterior and white on the interior

bright lime green window with dark green window frame, brick wall

a father and daughter playing a piano, outside, piano is painted bright yellow and the words Once you choose hope anything is possible

distillery district, brick building with doors painted in light green and light blue

large peace symbol outside as public art, with bright coloured artificial flowers attached to it

below: “Gay Pride Parade Participant in Costume, 1983”, New York City.  Available on Getty Images, where the large resolution image will set you back $575 (at least it’s in Canadian dollars).   All the Pride theme photos on display at the Distillery were purchased through Getty Images.

a large picture attached to a brick exterior wall, a person in lavender coloured dress and big grey wig holds a sign that says God save American queens

double doors, painted pink, with planters full of bright colour flowers outside the doors.

I will fudge it a bit and claim that this is a “Thursday Door” blog post.  It’s Thursday and there are a few doors included, right?  If you’ve been following this blog, you might know that I am but one of many bloggers who share door photos and stories.  For more door posts, see Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors (with more door posts linked in his comments section).

pride parade 2017

Posted: June 26, 2017 in events, people
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The usual cast of characters, plus or minus a few.

Floats, marchers, and crowds.
Flags, banners, and signs.
Flamboyance, body paint, and tutus.
Unicorns, fruit, and super soakers.

a group of boys and young men at the start of the pride parade

a woman in a white t shirt with rainbow on the front, and a straw hat is passing out rainbow flags to the crowd. others in the parade behind her are doing the same, others are waving the flags.

two men in black t shirts, one has t shirt that says love is (repeated five times) and is waving a small rainbow flag. THe other man is holding a sign up over his head with a picture of a crowd on it as well as some words (many words) that say At the local level, Get REAL is made up of university campus teams across Canada helping high school students unlearn LGBT discrimination and bullying

two men with a lot of bodypaint of rainbows and flowers as well some sparkly bits

men holding super soakers on top of a pride parade float

a police men watches an intersection of streets as the parade passes, he justs fits under the wing of a large inflatable westjet plane

two men in fruit costumes as well as large oversized glasses

a black man wearing just green tight shorts and green sunglasses is standing on the TD float, a woman is in the background (she is looking after the music).

a young man holds an orange sign .. on the sign is a picture of a raccoon holding a rainbow flag with the words happy pride 2017

bud light float at pride, picture of 4 large cans - a blue, green, red, and yellow can with a person in front of each in a tight body suit the same colour as the can. crowd in front of the float.

three women walking in the pride parade with a turquoise, blue and pink banner, and unicorn horns on their head, stop to talk to a young girl who also has a unicorn horn on her head

lots of people with arms up in the air waving small rainbow flags

crowd watching the pride parade on Bloor Street

a man waiting for the pride parade to start holding a sign that says yup I am a gay. Person inlong frilly pink gown and massive pink feather head dress, posing for pictures

a young Asian man, photographer, smiles as he gets ready to take pictures of mostly nude man with long leather gloves on

the back of a decorated t-shirt, glitter lips with tongue stuck out.

pflag member in purple, holding up a placard that say being LGBTQ2S is not abnormal or unnatural but turning against your own child is s

woemn smiling for the camera, dressed up in colourful clothes and holding rainbow flags.

man with bushy beard, a black cap and a top made out of yellow police caution tape

two women walk together holding hands. one has a white shirt that says gay as fuck in pink letters and the other is wearing a sleeveless body suit in rainbow stripes

a young black girl is sitting on her father's shoulders. She is holding a pink sign with purple hand written letters that say vote against hate

up on the TD float in the pride parade, a person is a long wavy yellow wig and wearing a striped top and short green shiny skirt, is blowing kisses to the crowd.

two young kids, a boy and a girl, are standing within a white cut out square (instagram thing) that says alll aboard on the bottom

a girl holds up a sign from the East Enders Everyone belongs, that has the expression everyone belongs, written in an indigenous language as well as arabic and chinese (or other Asian language)

the bums and hands of a few men wearing red swim suits with the words trigger fish on them

two kids stand behind metal barricades while waiting for the parade to begin

an older man is standing on the sidewalk, wearing a police cap and a patchwork vest in rainbow colours with all kinds of different fabrics, busy, bright,

a woman wearing a t shirt that says free hugs is carrying a pink sign that says you do you

a person in a blond wig and magenta shiny top and matching hat, an Asian woman is having her picture taken as well.

a woman wearing blue rimmed sunglasses and rainbow paper flowers in her hair is looking directly at the camera and shouting. She has a t shirt on that says Positive Space toroto

a man naked except for a pink fuzzy vest and a pink cowboy hat is standing on the sidewalk. There is a string tied around his penis. A man is pushing an empty wheelchair in the background