Posts Tagged ‘mural routes’

Lansdowne underpass project

Posted: December 28, 2022 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There is a railway bridge that crosses Lansdowne Ave just south of Dundas West.  Along the concrete wall on the east side of the underpass is a long stretch of murals painted last year by a group of muralists and street artists.  This is “Community Built”.

below: At the south end of paintings…. Ducks and loons in the water; ducks in flight by Nick Sweetman. Most people will recognize the green-headed mallard; the duck with the big black and white head is a male hooded merganser.  A female merganser has a similar crest on her head except that it is brown.

Next to the ducks there are people fishing and wading in a creek.  This portion was painted by Elicser Elliott.

part of a mural on the walls of an underpass, Nick Sweetman painted ducks and Elicser Elliott painted people in a creek

part of a mural, painted by elicser elliott, woman in yellow jacket and hat, standing in creek, hands in water,

below: Under the tracks, abstract flowers in yellows and oranges by Chris Perez

painting of abstract flowers in a mural by underpass, painted by Chris Perez, yellows and oranges on a blue background

below: Black hands and white hands reaching out, by Rowell Soller

street art mural underpass, calligraphy in red and yellow surrounding a black person, face and many black and white hands,

below: Kedre Brown (left) and Artchild (right)

mural under a railway bridge, two diferent scenes by two different artists, a black panther on the left, a person's portrait on the right, person is wearing a blue hat with little wings on it

below: Scenes on light green by Andrea Manica – a dog, a bee, and a couple of strawberries – walking in heels with coat and hat – sitting on a yellow blanket – a tent, mushrooms, and playing ball.

stylized people on light green background, scenes, in a mural under a railway bridge,

below: As the years go by we’ll be able to date the artworks of 2020 to 2022 by the presence of masks.  That’s assuming that we won’t be wearing them again…..

part of mural, a brown person wearing an olive coloured wide brim hat and a pink covid mask,

below: Under a rainbow where nature thrives in a collaboration between Shawn Howe and Mo Thunder.

mural by shawn howe and mo thunder, an wall of an underpass. under a pink sky, a semi circular rainbow. under the rainbow a sleeping fawn, a loon, and many flowers and plants

a sleeping fawn in a street art mural

below:  Que Rock

two murals on an underpass wall, on the right, by que rock, first nations theme and symbols

from a street art mural, a face painted with lines in blues, red, and yellow,

below:  A few artists from Red Urban Nation Artists Collective had a section of the wall to paint

houses above, a stair case to a lower level sidewalk and street, with a mural on the wall and stairwell between the two levels

below:  Part of the RUN Collective, is Ren Lonechild who painted the mother sasquatch with her little ones at the bottom of the stairs.  Swooping and swirling around the apes and the stairs are ghostly creatures that are the work of Cedar Eve Peters

murals by an outdoor staircase, by red urban nation artists collective, apes walking in the blue night time, northern lights, ghost like figures

close up of part of a mural with large monkey or ape hand reaching for a smaller monkey or ape

below: The view from the top of the stairs from Shirley Avenue

looking down an outdoor stairwell beside Lansdowne Ave., into an underpass, murals on the left wall, street on the right

below: by Danielle Hyde

close up of part of mural painted by Danielle Hyde, a member of Red Urban Nation Artists Collective, on a wall beside a staircase, pink and brown faces swirled together,some hands too

long stretch of concrete wall alongside a railway underpass on Lansdowne Ave., covered with many different murals,

below: A mural with a message that the willow tree is nature’s aspirin.  Willow bark contains salicin which is chemically similar to aspirin which also known as acetylsalicylic acid.  The salicin chemical structure is shown in this mural by Keitha Keeshing-Tobias.

mural on a wall, willow as nature's aspirin, chemical structure of aspirin, evening sunset scene

below: This project incorporated a previous public art installation on this site.  Back in 1989 a number of small sculptures, or forms, by Dyan Marie were embedded into the wall of the underpass.

shiny round sculpture embedded in concrete wall that has been incorporated into a street art mural

below: This is Leone McComas’s contribution to the ‘Community Built’ project

mural on concrete wall of underpass, different coloured silhouettes in long flowing clothes walking to a picnic in the park

below: Alex Bacon painted dancers in hazy flowing shades of pink and orange.

mural on exterior concrete wall, in shades of pink and orange, 3 human figures dancing, females, long flowing hair,

below: Two murals.

two murals on a concrete wall. on the right is a cyclist painted by Curtia Wright and on the left is a scene with two brown figures, a male and a female, standing above a yellow and orange sun

below: Close up of the cyclist painted by Curtia Wright

close up of cyclist head and shoulders, part of a mural, long brown hair, orange bike helmet,

below: Two brown figures by kaya joan

two brown figures facing each other, pink flowers on chest, hands up, white flowers in hands, dark sky behind them

below: On the right – a  blue woman reclines by a cluster of colourful houses.  She’s got one hand on a pink lawn and her feet on a red lawn under a white-leafed tree.  This mural was painted by Yasaman Mehrsa.

two murals, one by june kim of a gold tiger, and one by yasaman of a blue reclining woman

below: Close up view of the big regal cat by Planta Muisca as it sits on a blue mat by a bowl of papaya and a slice of lemon.

part of a mural by Planta Muisca, yellow and gold tiger, with green necklace, a bowl of papaya, other animals in pastel colours

below: Welcome to Little Tibet … standing beside a white chicken by Caitlin Taguibao

two murals on Lansdowne Ave., on the left is tribute to little tibet, on the right is a white chicken with wings stretched out

below: People from the Little Tibet mural, by Kalsang Wangyal,

part of a mural, multi generational group of people, little tibet, mother holding baby, father with son on his shoulders, grandparents too

  below: A mural by Tenzin Tsering on the right – a bonfire where “the flames of the bonfire represent the tradition of oral storytelling and act as a homage to the diverse and unique stories/voices of the people in Tkaronto.” (from her instagram page)

two murals with tops of houses behind,

below: And what’s a Toronto mural if it doesn’t have a raccoon?

light blue silhouette of a raccoon with a light blue and dark blue striped tail, in a mural on Lansdowne Ave

In the mural two pictures above, the painting on the left is the work of Jordan McKie (aka trip2thetop)  The next few images are from that mural.

part of mural by trip 2 the top, butterfly with smiley face, other abstract shapes and figures

trip 2 the top mural, face of a person, black and white crosswalk, a yellow duck, a purple cat,

a smiley face worm by some leaves in orange and red, abstract shapes mural

below: A dragon’s head at the north end of the underpass by June Kim.

part of a June Jiuen Kim mural of a green gragon head with white teeth, blue spots, blue nose, and blue eyes

below: Looking south

graffiti on concrete supports at the end of a railway underpass, winter time, some snow on the ground, trees, a truck driving past,

city of toronto brass plaque on Lansdowne underpass bridge

A Mural Routes project from 2021

 

June, Jordan McKie, Tenzin Tsering, Kalsang Wangyal (waz_graphics), Caitlin Taguibao, Planta Muisca, Yasaman Mehrsa, kaya joan, Curtia Wright, Alex Bacon, Leone McComas, Keitha Keeshig-Tobias Biizindam,  Red Urban Nation Artists Collective (Drew Rickard, Danielle Hyde, Cedar Eve Peters, Ren Lonechild and Que Rock), Mo Thunder and Shawn Howe, Andrea Manica, Kedre Brown, ARTCHILD, Rowell Soller, Chris Perez, Elicser Elliott, Nick Sweetman.

Curator and community engagement facilitator: Bareket Kezwer

looking through the top of a TTC bus shelter with blue sign for Dundas, Lansdowne Ave in the backgound

Almonds and Wine on Bathurst

Posted: November 25, 2022 in graffiti and street art, public art
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“Almonds and Wine” was a short (5 minute) animated film by Arnie Lipsey.  It is the retelling of a Yiddish folk song about a wedding of a couple from Eastern Europe.   In the film the newlyweds emigrate to Canada and become part of Toronto’s Jewish community.  In turn their children grow up, marry, and have their own children.

Using scenes from the film, a mosaic mural was created that now lines a section of sidewalk on Bathurst Street.  It was designed to look like a strip of film with black lines between the frames as well as the sprockets along the edges.

Almonds and wine mosaic title panel, based on the animated film by Arnie Lipsey

scene from a Jewish wedding, bride and groom held up in the air on chairs

scene from a mosaic mural like a film, with sections and sprockets, a group is heading to a synagogue for a wedding

section on Bathurst Street with mosaic by Cristina Delago,

three men dancing, with their backs together supporting each other as they kick their legs out with arms folded

mosaic, Mural Routes, Almond and wine, passover dinner scene, in a film with sprockets

a scene from almonds and wine animated film, turned into a mosaic picture by Cristina Delago, two men protest, carrying placards,

mosaic of a man dancing with a bottle on top of his head

Mosaic Artist: Cristina Delago.  The mural was completed in 2010.

ending credits for mosaic mural almonds and wine, mosaic artist cristina delago

Birch Cliff, Kingston Road

Posted: February 14, 2021 in graffiti and street art, history, locations, old buildings, stores
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poster on the outside of a store, blue wall, picture of a tree and words that say Love your hood, Birchcliff village

Birch Cliff, where one of the predominant themes is birch trees.

mural of birch tree trunks

Such as this mural on the side of the public school.

Birch cliff public school, a two storey red brick building, with a large mural of birch trees on one exterior wall

The other theme in this stretch of Kingston Road seems to be the blue and white Toronto notice of development signs and the consequent empty buildings.

Lenmore Court, an older brick apartment complex, with a blue and white Toronto notice of development sign on it

banner, density has to make sense, protest agains Atlree developers and their plan to redevelop Lenmore Court

two posters on a wood utility pole, protesting redevelopments in the neighbourhood

small mural of birch trees beside Scarborough bluffs, on outside wall beside a window with a protest sign in it. Poretesting redevelopment of parts of Kingston Road with buildings that are too big, too tall, too wide

three empty storefronts at 1557, 1559 Kingston Road, two storey buildings in shades of grey

three old two storey brick storefronts, one is Cheers restaurant painted bright red, the other is Barbers by Nature

beside a new condo building, older smaller buildings on Kingston Road, Lakeview Tavern,

looking across the street to Majestic Auto service and Fallingbrook garage, two businesses that share a building

side entrance and car door of Fallingbrook garage, mechanic, service entrance, now with a development notice sign on it

The old….

three storey red brick apartment buildings with large trees in front, one apartment has red curtains

… and the new. This is the only building that is close to being finished.   If the drawings on the development signs are to be believed, there will be several more in the neighbourhood just like it in a couple of years time.

six or 7 storey new condo development in birch cliff

below: Kingston Road is quite close to Lake Ontario. At this point the only thing between the road and the water is the grounds and golf course of The Toronto Hunt Club, a private members only club.

trees, in winter time, with snow on the ground, with Lake Ontario in the distance, Scarboruogh Hunt Club grounds

below: On the side of Legion 13 on Kingston Road is this large mural.  Painted in memory of Max Silverstein, by John Hood with help from Alexandra Hood and Asif Khan, 1991. Restored in 2010 by Blinc Studios.  It’s also part of the Heritage Trail murals, a Mural Routes project.

large mural on the side of Legion 13 building on Kingston Road, parade of soldiers

Plaque beside the mural says: “Scarborough Rifle Company marching to the Niagara Frontier, June 1, 1866. In 1862 the Scarborough Rifle Company was organized with headquarters in a school at Eglinton Avenue near Markham Road. It was the first of several militia companies formed in York County. The company was rushed to the Niagara frontier three times in 1865 and 1866 to defend Canada against the Fenians. The Scarborough Rifle Company later became No. 1 Company in the 12th Battalion of Infantry, the forerunner of Queen’s York Rangers.”

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below: A smaller mural on the right hand side of the above one features portraits of two men, Captain Norris and Lieutenant Taber, soldiers in the Fenian Raids of 1866.

mural on side of Legion 13 building, two portraits in oval frames, Norris and Taber, Fenian Raids history

below: Another Heritage Trail  mural – “Mitchells General Store” by Phil Irish, 1998.  Mitchells store was one of the first businesses established in the Birch Cliff area.  The same store is mentioned in another Scarborough history mural just a bit north on Warden Avenue (see Scarborough Bells)

a mural on the side of a building, inside an old fashioned store with a man behind the counter and a woman shopper

yellow metal bucket hanging from a tree with evergreens and a red ribbon, also three gold christmas balls hanging with the bucket

below: An elaborate home for the birds with a tiny outpost below.

a large white bird house with a red windmill on it, behind a wrought iron fence, and a for rent sign on the fence

below: Ready for social distancing when you’re feeling down in the dumps.

an old beige arm chair, with snow it, outside beside industrial garbage bins

Molson Canadian flag outside a bar, also muskoka chairs and a carved wood bear, a Canadian flag too.

below: Buster’s ready to play

carved wooden bear, Buster, with Canada flag hockey shirt on, holding a hockey stick,

below: This guy needs a beer

posters and signs on the door of a bar

below: Looking in a window – framed pictures, old records, a trunk and a tripod.

looking in the window of a junk vintage store, framed pictures on the wall, a shelf of old records, a trunk, and other stuff

windows and entrance of Sharons Variety store on Kingston Road

below: A Beckers store, you don’t have to be that old to remember Beckers do you?  The original Beckers Milk Company was founded in 1957; they had five convenience stores that were open 7 days a week, 14 hours a day.  By 2006 when the company was sold to Alimentation Couche-Tard, there were 500 stores.  Most were converted to Macs convenience stores stores.  In 2013 the Beckers label was brought back and apparently there are now 45 Beckers stores.

row of two storey brick storefronts including a Beckers store with a birch tree mural on it

an old gas station that is now a used car dealership, with many cars parked outside in the snow

cars parked outside in the snow at a used car lot

below: St. Nicholas Anglican church, opened 1917.

St Nicholas church, red brick, no steeple, but a pointed roof

old two story brown brick building on Kingston Road

red wall, exterior of Fashion Sushi

below: An idea for a future walk!

Warden street sign, with traffic signals, also a sign pointing south to the Waterfront Trail

Finch and Morningside

Posted: November 7, 2020 in graffiti and street art, intersections, locations
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I heard that there was a new mural near Finch and Morningside which of course means that I have to try and find it.  In doing so, I found three murals.  This is their story.

Blue and white Toronto street sign for Staines Rd, top part is sign for Morningside Heights, naturally beautiful

This is Morningside Heights at the far eastern side of Scarborough.  The Rouge River, the border between Scarborough and Pickering, is not far away.  The Toronto Zoo is also nearby.

below: Bus 133, Neilson Road, waits at a stop on Finch just west of Morningside.  The houses that you see in the background are on Morningside.

TTC bus parked on Finch just west of Morningside, route 133 Neilson. A row of houses in the background, on Morningside

The Canadian Pacific railway tracks run on a diagonal at this intersection.  They cross Morningside south of Finch and they also cross Finch just west of Morningside.  The bridges, and underpasses, are very close to each other.   In this photo, the train is on the bridge over Finch.  Do people often stand outside the front of a train?

Canadian Pacific railway engines pass over bridge over Finch Ave. A TTC bus is waiting in the foreground, as well as a man standing at the bbus shelter.

In the above picture, the wall of the underpass on the left is unpainted.  The wall on the right, the one that you can’t see has a mural by Mediah.

under the bridge, part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

It is called “Interoh Gale” and Mural Routes was a partner in its development last year.

part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

maple leaf and stripes, under the bridge, part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

below: west end

west end, part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

orange maple leaf

below: east end

part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

below:  Construction has begun on the southwest corner of this intersection. The site plan, approved last year, shows a Shell gas station with retail on three sides of it.  Leases are available! (you’ll have to google it).

construction site

dump truck leaving a construction site

below: There is a pond with a walking trail around it almost directly across Morningside from the above construction site.

pond with Canada geese, backs of houses on the far shore,

below: Two people, after being on the trail around the pond, walk south on Morningside via an underpass that has murals on both sides.  This is mural on the east side.  It is older than the others but it is in reasonably good shape.

two people walk past a mural on a railway underpass

below: A boy on a skate board and a girl doing what?  The two green signs say Love and Malvern.  I don’t know Scarborough well enough to know if the buildings in the mural represent real ones.   Malvern is just to the west.

end of a mural underpass, sloped concrete with railing on top

mural, picture of a growling bear's head

below: MFRC is Malvern Family Resource Centre and there is a picture on their website of the unveiling of this mural in September 2015.

old mural on concrete wall, of a person on a bike on a path, someone playing basketball, in the mural,

below: This is the newest mural.  It is called “Colour Outside the Lines” and it is the work of Lacey and Layla Art (aka Lacey Jane and Layla Folkmann)

a mural with three large kids faces in purples, pinks, and blues,

part of a mural by Lacey and Layla called Colour Outside the Lines, a young girl looking upward, a child's drawing of a girl in with a curly yellow line around it

mural, two large girls faces, under a railway bridge, on Morningside, by Lacey and Layla

part of a mural, a large face of a boy in pinks and blues, with a yellow crown drawn on top of his head

below: Looking north on Morningside from Finch.

looking north up Morningside Ave fr4 land road with a wide boulevard in the middle, small trees have been planted on the boulevard. Row of houses on the righ, east, side of Morningside. om Finch,

On the northwest corner of this intersection, there is a large piece of vacant land.  The railway tracks run along the west side of it.   I can’t find any information about it online.  There isn’t the usual blue and white Notice of Development sign.   The website on the billboard shows some of the houses that they have built/remodeled but there is nothing about this particular project.

billboard advertisement for development property on vacant land, rovillage coming soon it says

Once it was fenced in by the looks of it. Not much of the black cloth remains.  It looks a bit creepy, as nature undoes man’s work.

remnants of a black cloth fence that has rotted, outdoors, hanging off of posts, vacant, land, weedy,

But now it’s for sale maybe?  LOL. A cliff hanger ending for this post!

a for sale sign half hidden in the overgrown weeds

 

Multipli’city in progress

Posted: August 18, 2017 in graffiti and street art, locations
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More of the bents holding up the road that passes over Underpass Park in Corktown are in the process of being painted.  Back in 2015, the bents and pillars on the west side of Lower River Street were painted as part of the Pan Am games preparations.   The latest mural project involves the bents closer to St. Lawrence Street.

below: Looking east towards Lower River Street, skateboarders in the park behind a mural by Chief Ladybird and Aura. In the background is a pink elephant by Christopher Ross.

people at Underpass Park, under the expressway, with pillars painted in murals, guys on skateboards,

Thirteen bents by seventeen artists have just been completed, or are in the process of being painted for this project.  The artists are:  Al Runt, Andrew Dexel, Annie Hamel, Aura, Chief Lady Bird, Carlos Delgado, FONKi, GAWD, Jill Stanton, Kalkidan Assefa (aka Drippin_soul), Lacey & Layla Art, Meaghan Claire Kehoe, OMEN,  Ness Lee,  Rob Matejka  Anya Mielniczek

a large blue face mural, horizontal, looking down at the park below

below: As Al Runt works on his mural, he is reflected in the mirrors above him.

a man is painting a mural on a concrete bent at Underpass park, up on a lift, he is reflected in the mirrors on the ceiling of the park, Al Runt

below: Some faces by Carlos Delgado

conrete pillar in Underpass park that has been painted with large orangish toned faces, by Carlos Delgado

below: A social gathering around the mural painted by Annie Hamel… although the youngest one seems to want to join the skateboarders instead.

a group of people is having a small party in Underpass park, standing around a concrete bent that has recently been painted with a mural by Annie Hamel

below: I’m not sure why they would choose this location for their photo shoot when they are covering the mural with a grey screen.

a photo shoot in underpass park, grey screen in front of a mural covered bent, a woman in workout clothes, men behind the camera

below:   A face in orange and purple tones by @drippin_soul aka Kalkidan Assefa

a mural of a woman's face in orange and purple tones, large, purple lips, on a concrete pillar, with young woman sitting in the park in the background

below: One side of the bent painted by Lacey & Layla Art

cars parked under a bent that has been painted with a wrinkly brown man's face wearing glasses

below: And the other.  The mural is accompanied by a Robert Browning quote: “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.”

urban open space under a bent that has been painted with a wrinkly brown man's face

below: At the far west end, a gruesome spike being plunged into a heart.

A concrete bent in an underpass that is a hand holding a large spike that is being plunged into a bleeding heart. Cars are parked underneath

The project is managed by Mural Routes and is part of the StreetARToronto Partnership Program in collaboration with the Corktown Residents and Business Association, the City of Toronto Parks Department, and Relay 2017 – Friends of the PanAm Path.

below: Just starting, background figures in white

a person stands on an elevated platform and looks at the white outline that they have made in preparation for painting the bent white, the beginnings of a mural

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This is the fourth blog post about the murals at Underpass Park.  Others are:

First stage of the project (Pan Am games),  in two posts:
Underpass Park  July 2015
People Overhead  July 2015

The next stage were the pillars along the sidewalk on the west side of Lower River Street
New neighbours at Underpass Park, Oct 2016

 

 

mural across the doors – Port Union

Posted: July 13, 2017 in doors, graffiti and street art, history, locations
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Across the back of a row of stores in Port Union there are some doors that have been painted over with a mural.  These are some of them:

a maural painted on a wall and door, historic scene, women in period costume (early 1900s?) sitting on the grass with some baskets, old fashioned car behind them.

door at back of store covered with mural, grass, people on bikes, looks like bikes are headed to the door

swan swimming in the lake, a mural on the back door of a KFC restaurant

They are all part of the same mural.  The mural is so big that I couldn’t get a picture of the whole thing unless I made a very long skinny panorama – which I decided against.   I think that you should get a good idea of what the whole mural looks like from the following set of photos.

below: The mural tells the story of Port Union starting with a First Nations settlement in the area.

part of a larger mural showing the story of Port Union - First Nations people in canoes on the river with teepees and people on the shore

part of a larger mural showing the story of Port Union - two brick buildings, houses, a group of women sitting outside with baskets on the ground, a vintage car

part of a larger mural showing the story of Port Union -

below: North end of the Port Union mural.  The mural faces the parking lot of a complex consisting of the Port Union Community Centre plus a library and Charlottetown park.

left side of a large mural showing the history of Port Union, first nations, first white settlers, up to the early 1900s

below: The railway comes to town.

part of a larger mural showing the story of Port Union - a steam engine pulls a train into the station

a woman pushing a stroller with a toddler in it, with 2 dogs on leashes walking in the park, a group is having a picnic in the background

part of a larger mural showing the story of Port Union - this time, the Port Union waterfront park is featured, cyclists on the bike path, a skateboarder, people enjoying the park, 3 entrances to the backs of stores, including Audreys flowers and Councillor Ron Moeser's office. a

below: And that brings us back to the swan and KFC at the south end of the mural.

two doors at the back of a KFC restaurant, lake side scene, a large white swan on one of the doors

two doors at the back of a KFC restaurant, lake side scene, a large white swan on one of the doors

This mural was painted by Blinc Studios and was part of Mural Routes.  Artists are: Allan Bender, John Nobrega, Azadeh Pirazimian, Jesse McCuaig, Chris Brown, Frances Potts, and Melissa Bessey.

Other blogs that feature doors can be found at Thursday Doors, courtesy of Norm 2.0.  (see the little blue link between the end of the blog post and the comments section).

 

the painting of a mural

Posted: July 15, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public art
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Piliriqatigiingniq

This mural is on the south wall of Hosteling International on Church St.,
and in a parking lot on Court St.,
just north of King St. East and across from St. James Cathedral.

Painted July 2015

The beginnings of the mural on Court St. in Toronto. The picture is drawn in blue on the wall, and the bottom part is painted. Scaffolding is in place but no one is there at that moment.

This project was a collaboration between Mural Routes and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.  Artists were youth from Cape Dorset as well as graduates from Toronto’s Oasis Skateboard Factory: Latch Akesuk, Audi Qinnuayuaq, Cie Taqiasuq, Parr Etidloie, Julieta Arias and Moises Frank.

Two people sitting on scaffolding while they paint a mural

A man wearing a hard hat who is sitting on scaffolding and painting a mural on the side of a building.

Completed mural of stylized and symbolic bird and snimal shapes in many bright colours. It is at least two storeys high.
Close up picture of the mural's bottom center part showing a man in winter clothing with a snowmobile strapped to his back. He is hunched over as he walks. On the snowmobile of a very large bird shaped crature with faces covering its body.

 

at Warden station

Posted: November 28, 2014 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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Another new pair of murals painted under a bridge.
This time, they’re close to Warden subway station.

Beside a four lane road, a sign pointing to Warden station passenger drop off. In the background is a bridge over the road.

Warden subway station is on the southeast corner of Warden and St. Clair. Just east of that intersection the subway passes over St. Clair.

 

The north side of the underpass

The north side of the underpass is dedicated to the woman who worked filling fuses for the General Engineering Company (Canada) Ltd., a  WW2 munitions plant that was located nearby.   More about the history of GECO.

full length of a mural on the side of an underpass. Historical picture of women who worked in a munitions factory during the second world war. From the shoulders up. They are in white clothing and their heads are covered in white hats.

mural under subway bridge, showing woman munitions workers from the era of world war 2. They are wearing white tops and white hair coverings.

The south side of the underpass

The south side portrays the establishment of Scarborough Junction in 1873.  This was when a second rail line and commercial hub was built in the area.

street art mural showing two large heads, a man and a woman, in black and white. Very realistic looking.

part of mural under subway bridge, large red cursive letters that say Scarborough Junction. A picture of an old Scarborough post office as well as a wood building that was a general store.

Scarborough post office and Everest & Sons’ General store. The latter was built in 1873 in Scarborough Junction.

a woman is walking past part of mural under subway bridge, large red cursive letters that say Scarborough Junction. A picture of an old Scarborough post office and two very much larger than life people (man and woman) looking east.

blog_warden_end

The murals were painted by Montreal-based street artist Omen.    They are also the result of a collaboration between the city-led art program StreetARToronto, not-for-profit arts organization Mural Routes,  local historians and city councillor Michelle Berardinetti.

heritage murals – Kingston Road

Posted: November 14, 2014 in history, locations
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The Heritage Trail murals are a series of murals depicting the history of Scarborough.  The project began in 1990 and consists of 12 murals at different locations along Kingston Road (old hwy 2).

Just west of Midland Ave are two of the murals.

Half Way House painted in 1990 by John Hood at 2052 Kingston Road, the NW corner of Midland & Kingston Rd.  It is a picture of the Half Way House inn (and stage coach stop) that stood at this corner.   It’s name comes from the fact that it was halfway between the village of Dunbarton (now a part of Pickering) and the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.   In 1965 the building was moved to Black Creek Pioneer village.

A mural that takes up the side of a building. It is a picture of an old two storey inn. It is a street scene as well, with people wearing clothes from the late 1800s.

Just farther to the west is another mural.  ‘The Bluffs as Viewed by Elizabeth Simcoe c. 1793’ was painted by Risto Turunen in 1992.  It is on the side of the building located at 2384 Kingston Rd, now Wong’s Martial Arts.  Elizabeth Simcoe was the wife of wife of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
mural on the side of building depicting an early scene from Canadian history - a small rowboat with a couple of people in it is passing by the cliffs that are now known as the Scarborough bluffs.

The property beside this mural is now vacant and is enclosed by the type of blue temporary fencing that you see around many construction sites all around Toronto.  If there was a building there, it has been demolished, otherwise there is no work being done there at the moment.

mural on the side of building depicting an early scene from Canadian history - a small rowboat with a couple of people in it is passing by the cliffs that are now known as the Scarborough bluffs.

Wongs Martial Arts building, a nondescript two storey brick building.