Posts Tagged ‘mural’

Graffiti and street art, sometimes it stays around a while and other times it disappears, hidden by someone else’s work.   Tags and words also appear where they often shouldn’t.  When I walk an alley that I’ve seen before, I never know what to expect but there is always something to discover to make it worth a repeat visit.   So it was this morning when I found myself back at Scarfo Lane.  Back in Nov 2014 (a year and a half ago!  … time flies by!) I posted about some of the street art and murals that I saw there.   Most of it is still there.

Today’s contributions follow – at least one is new and the others I’m not sure about, I might have omitted them last time.  The whims of the day and of the photographer.

below: Blue cool nature meets red hot city, friends, joined together & working together. Mural by ‘Insect Cabaret’ which is the name that artists Aisha Ali and Andalah Ali have given to themselves and their work.

a mural on a garage door, a blue figure on the left and an orange figure on the right. Blue represents nature and red represents the urban city

below: Swimming in the lane.

marine scene street art on a garage door in a lane, a red octopus, a green turtle swimming and a ship in the distance

The next two are from the same garage door.

colourful mural on a laneway garage door

colourful mural on a laneway garage door

And in case you’re curious  –

below: The blue bird and bird houses are still as bright as they were before…

blue faced animal wearing clothes and walking upright, with pole over shoulder, 3 bird houses hanging from the pole. A bluebird is sitting on the front of the pole, mural on a garage door in a lane

below: … and the little red birds are still floating along on their logs

part of a mural on a garage door in a laneway, a purple headed animal creature wearing a blue top and holding onto strings attached to floating logs with little red birds on them.

 

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?

large mural by Nick Sweetman on a wall in Frank Kovac Lane, two very large blue bears are eating honey from honeycombs while a few large bees buzz around.

part of a large mural by Nick Sweetman on a wall in Frank Kovac Lane, two very large blue bears are eating honey from honeycombs while a few large bees buzz around - close up of one bear's face

below: The new murals continue the animal theme, “Urban Wildlife”, starting with this fox.

garage door in an alley painted with a mural of a fox head beside a bicycle wheel with trilliums growing up in front of it.

below: A common Toronto animal, a raccoon, beside a red fire hydrant.

view in an alley, a lavendar coloured door. to the left of the door is a garage door painted with a mural of a raccoon and a red fire hydrant.

below: A blue jay eyes some blueberries.

mural on a pale yellow garage door of a blue jay sitting on hydro wires, also a bunch of wild blueberries is in the image

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.

garage door painted with a monster face, big mouth and teeth, orange nose, in tones of blue, grey and orange, ivy is growing over the top of the garage and it looks like green hair.

three garages in a row in an alley, all painted with a large monster face

a skinny blue graffiti figure on the edge of a garage, between two garage doors with stylized and abstract faces painted on them. One is black and green and the other is black and white

An old garage and concrete fence with a door in it. The fence is cracked above the door. The door is painted black with bright colour scribbles, the garage door has a black and white mural on it

a painting in grey tones of a young boy in old fashioned shorts and long sleeved top, standing.

below: This graffiti is actually on Harbord Street but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it
– a camera and an “oh snap”

Above Guan's auto service shop, a graffiti on an upper storey wall, a small camera and turquoise lettering and words in pink that say Oh snap. Above that is a red billboard for Bud and Burger

The eastern end of the Kay Gardner Belt Line Park crosses over Yonge St and the subway just south of Davisville station.  It then runs across the north side of Mt. Pleasant cemetery.  It comes to an end at Mt. Pleasant Road where the trail merges into the roads that run through the cemetery.

In 2014 students from Greenwood School painted a mural at this location.  The mural has three main elements.  A train to represent the Belt Line, the name of the community that it is located in (Mt Pleasant Village), and the words ‘use Dominion Coal and Wood’.    The last part is because not long ago, on this site, stood the large concrete silos that the Dominion Coal and Wood company used to store coal and wood.   The shape of the black background is very similar to the shape of the silos if viewed from above.

below: Mural, with Mt. Pleasant Road above it.

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mural celebrating mt pleasant village and the old dominion coal and wood silos that used to be at that location. At the end of the belt line trail where it merges into mt pleasant cemetery

below: Plaque located on the site of the old silos (now in the bushes beside a condo)

City of Toronto historical plaque describing the history of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos that used to be on Mt. Pleasant Ave near the old Belt Line Railway tracks.

transcription of the Heritage Toronto plaque:

“Dominion Coal and Wood

Originally located on Danforth Avenue, the Dominion Coal and Wood Company was founded in 1912 by William H. Smith.  In 1929, the company opened a landmark facility on this site.  Its nine adjoining concrete silos were designed by E.P. Muntz Engineering Company.  Coal and wood were transported here by rail car along the former Belt Line Railway and then sold as heating fuel to local businesses and home owners.

Originally just one among many similar suppliers in the city, Dominion Coal and Wood outlasted most of its competitors.  The company expanded into building supplies as coal sales dwindled, but continued to sell coal here until the site was closed in 1999.  Although recognized as an increasingly rare type of industrial architecture, the historic silos were demolished in 2001. “

 

below: The nine silos, about 1972.  The photo is from City of Toronto Archives and was found online at JB’s Warehouse (a good source if you are interested in more information at Dominion Coal and Wood)

picture of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos on Mt. Pleasant, from city of Toronto Archives, taken about 1972. With an old Mt. Pleasant streetcar on the street by the silos.

below: I tried to replicate the above photo, about 42 years later.  The Mt. Pleasant streetcars are long gone as is the gas station on the NW corner of Merton and Mt. Pleasant.  A corner of the tall white apartment building on the right can be seen peaking from behind newer condo buildings.  Of course, the dominant part of the picture is the condo development that was built on the site of the Dominion silos in 2002.

condo building across the street, about 12 storeys high, made of brick and glass, a couple of cars are on the street

Recipe for Community

Amnesty International Toronto Organization is a group that works in the to raise public awareness of human rights issues. One of the projects that it supports is  Urban Canvas.  Thirty murals were planned, each based on one of the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The mural for Article 26 is on Sherbourne Street at St. James Town West Park.
It is on the wall of a Shoppers Drug Mart.

mural on article 26 of amnesty international declaration of human rights

Article 26 pertains to education.

words of article 26 of Amnesty International declaration of human rights, painted on a poster and mounted on a wall.

“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages…. and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and it shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups” is written on the accompanying poster.  That is a condensed version of article 26.

part of a mural celebrating education, a group of people are sitting around in a circle outside while one man is talking

a group of an indigenous peoples are sitting and listening to a woman who is holding a drum. two teepees are in the picture as well

education mural, stairwell with fountain in front of it, stained glass windows on either side

Project partners: Toronto Culture, Toronto Community Foundation, Amnesty International, UforChange, Art City in St. James Town, and the City of Toronto.

Previous blog posts with other murals from this project:

In the world of graffiti and street art, change is usually inevitable and sometimes interesting.  One exception seems to be the alley that you can see from subway between Keele and Dundas West stations.  The building on the corner of Bloor West and Indian Road is new, but otherwise little is changed.  Even though most of the street art is the same as before, I don’t think that I have posted it in the past.  Here is documentation of most of it.

below: King Midas still looks over the TTC parking lot at Keele station.  Well, I’ve always assumed that it was King Midas although he was the guy whose touch turned everything to gold, not grey.

mural of older man in grey tones, with open book on his lap, beside him is the Midas logo (auto repair).

below: And this monkey is still asking what the noise is all about.

mural on an exterior wall, a monkey in old fashioned aviator's helmet and pink scarf is shouting "What's all the noise about"

below: ‘Sink or Swim’ by elicser

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by elicser called sink or swim. A large man with a red toque and a red plaid shirt.

below: A lovebot shares wall space with an Uber5000 birdie….

graffiti street art in an alley - a lovebot wheatpaste on a wll beside a Uber5000 yellow bird holding a Canadian flag

below: … because Everybody’s a Winner

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by Uber5000 titled Everyone's a WInner. Yellow birdies sitting around a table. There is also a lovebot wheatpaste on the wall.

below: Laser, not loser.   Now with laser vision.

graffiti street art in an alley - a Uber5000 mural of a man with reg glasses and red flashes coming from his eyes. A little birdie is sitting on top of a ghetto blaster

graffiti street art in an alley - a large salt shaker with the words Salt o' the Earth written below it. A garbage bin is beside it.

  below:  Ghostbusters in a hard to reach place

A ghostbuster logo painted on the side of a building in an alley

below:  Zooks is still on her wall.

street art on a wall in a laneway. Blue background, naked woman with long brown hair, standing between two tags

below: This turtle has seen better days

A green turtle character painted on a wall in a lane. Wearing glasses, standing up. The paint in the lower part of the piece is peeling badly.

grey and light blue tag street art on a multi coloured background, two butterflies as well, one pink butterfly and one blue butterfly

mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway, with another building in the foreground
mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway,

below:  Guard dog at the bottom of the stairs

painting of a large black dog on a door at the bottom of an exterior stair case. Graffiti dog, street art dog. It looks like he is sitting in front of the door looking at people as they walk towards the door.

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below: She seems to turn when the door opens, a mural by EGR art

 

a large mural of a woman with wings that takes up the entire back of a two storey building in a laneway. There is also a metal staircase with a small porch. The door at the top is open so part of the woman in the mural opens up too. The mural is by EGR art.

large mural of a young man's face in grey tones. Small moustache, head only,

below:  He (she?) still keeps goal on the back porch.

painting of a hockey goalie in full pads and helmet painted on a blue door by a small porch in a laneway.

looking down a laneway towards a large brick apartment building. The side of a truck has some graffiti on it - the truck is backed into a parking spot in the lane. The buildings in the lane have graffiti on them.

part of a mural with a lot of heads, a man, a green character, amongst others, high on a wall

rabid raccoon in blues, street art

street art in an alley, a white skull with a black baseball cap. Cap says Big Dirt on it. Words above the skull are Mary Recka Pantilo (could be Mozy not Mary)

below:  This mural also has a painting of Marilyn Monroe in it along with Bruce Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.  There were too many cars parked in front of it when I walked past the other day.

part of a larger mural, Alfred Hitchcock holding a sign for the filming of Psycho, Bruce Lee is also in the picture, a car is parked in front of the wall, in an alley

below: King Kong dominates this wall.

Grey toned mural of King Kong holding a woman over a tall building as he walks through a large city, and towers over it.

street art painting of a grimacing big fat yellow male face with eyes closed and big white teeth showing

below: We Rise Up

large mural of upreached open hands releasing a red butterfly
below: War and Peace

mural of police in riot gear confronting a person with both hands giving a peace sign

A green four eyed blov with a peace sign shaped nostrils, and a necklace with a gold H on it.

Someone has scrawled Your life is a lie in black over a piece of street art. Someone else has changed lie to life by adding an f

graffiti street art in an alley - an angry bird bird with the words Rainy Days

graffiti street art in an alley - Two black and white hearts, one with a face drawn on it. The words cloud + glare = [heart]

There’s another new mural in town.

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street, looking north on Keele Street
This one is on Keele street, just north of Bloor.

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street, south corner
It is under the subway bridge, directly across the street from the Keele subway station.

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street

It was painted by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka.

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street

The mural was a collaboration between StreetARToronto, Bloor by the Park BIA, and the City of Toronto.

part of a mural showing two houses, with two real houses in the background

 

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street, north end of mural

part of a mural by Rob Matejka and Tommy Matejka on the wall on a TTC subway underpass at Keele, a mural of houses on a street

If you are driving or walking west on Sheppard Avenue, just past Midland Avenue, you will notice a new mural on one corner of a railway underpass.   This mural was recently painted by street artist Elicser.

a mural by elicser showing different people, on an underpass on Sheppard Ave East. An older couple, a woman in a pink head scarf, some students, some men and women.

part of a mural by street artist elicser, an older couple. The man has a white beard and is bald.

part of a mural by elicser, a woman in a pink head scarf, with a younger woman walking down a road behind her

part of a mural by elicser, students with backpacks walking, a boy with a Blue Jays baseball cap.

part of a mural by elicser, a group of 4 people, 2 men and 2 women. One of the women is on the shoulders of one of the men.

A short walk earlier this month along the laneways  south of the Danforth near Woodbine Ave.

below: A mural by Monica on the Moon, styled after Katsushika Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave off Kanagawa’ picture.   This is only part of it – the mural wraps around the back of the building.

wave mural by Monica on the Moon in a laneway, the mural is styled after Katsushika Hokusai

below: Just throwing a little bit of fun into the mix.  The ‘Great Wave’ has inspired many other great works of art over the years including this Cookie Monster one:

picture of Great Wave off by K Hir, with Cookie Monster eyes photoshopped onto the largest wave, a cookie added under the crest of the wave to make it looki like cookie monster (from Sesame Street) is eating the cookie.

below: Leaving the Danforth area briefly, there is also this mural by skam near Bloor and Bathurst.  You can find it in Loretto Lane on the side wall of Kinka Restaurant.

mural based on a Japanese picture called the Great Wave.  In it there is a fish jumping with the wave.  Mural on the side of a restaurant in a lane.

below: A little path leads onto a mural on Amroth Ave just south of the Danforth that was painted by Airways Airbrushing and Sign Co.    It was funded by the City of Toronto and the Danforth Mosaic BIA.

mural of a park scene, grass, garden, trees in spring, mural on the side of brick building.

below: Historical mural on a Bell box, ‘Danforth’ 1912 by Emilia Jajus 2012.

mural painted on a metal box on a sidewalk. Historical picture of the Danforth in 1912 painted by Emilia Jajus. A horse drawn wagon is going down a dirt road, a couple of buildings in the background.

below: Another Monica on the Moon mural

panorama picture of mural by Monica on the Moon, white line drawings on brown background, across the back of a building in a laneway

part of a mural by Monica on the Moon, white line drawings on brown background, across the back of a building in a laneway - jumping fish, a tree

a mural on the back of a building in a laneway. Brown background, white line drawing of different animals and shapes, two geese or ducks flying to the right, a tree painted beside a doorway.

mural by Monica on the Moon, white line drawings on brown background, across the back of a building in a laneway - a deer behind a metal gate, spirals and swirls

below: Alley ratz and company

On a white wall, a black line graffiti drawing of a rat with a long tail.

black line drawing on white fence with a hole in it. A face, and a lot of spirals

black line drawing on white fence with a hole in it. On a plywood fence, a face, and a lot of spirals

  below: A red fish swimming in bright blue by an unknown artist.

bright red fish with it's mouth open painted on a bright blue wood fence

mural painting on a wall, bright blue background, a person in silhouette, a red flower, a yellow and green butterfly, and a red tulip

sticker on a pole. The sticker covers part of a metal sign that says Attention across the top

A walk down Brock Ave, well sort of.  I don’t think I’m capable of walking in a straight line.

 

Brock Avenue, just north of Bloor, the Haven Espresso Bar, a tiny little place with good coffee. I don’t usually start my walk with a cup of coffee but I was intrigued by the smallness of the space.

below:  This is the mural on the wall beside the coffee bar.  It’s just the word Haven but there are some interesting details in the letters.

two chairs and a small table in front of a wall with a mural on it. The mural is the word Haven. Each letter is decorated in a different way.

Close up of the letter V in blue on a larger mural that spells haven. Different shapes and colours of jewel stones are painted in the point of the V.
White ducks or geese in silhouette flying on a bright blue sky, a close up of a mural. Amongst the birds are some buttons with the word Joy on them.

 

below: The local park is called Susan Tibaldi Parkette, named for a woman who was active in the community. This cheerful toucan overlooks the park.

street art mural of a toucan on the side of a garage that faces a park

There are a few painted walls and garages in the area around the park.

  below: Including this spud bomb covered garage door.

Garage door covered with spud bombs street art

garage door, half greed and half red, with black letters diagonally across it

mural on a garage door, of two hands reaching for each other, in the style of Michaelangelo, with the word Chase written below on a brown banner.

below: On a wall, ‘Building with the Gods, James Massey R.I.P’

Blue curvy lines on the bottom, a pair of blank white eyes in the middle and a scarab like creature in the middle of the top section.

part of a garage door mural woman in pink walking, green man's head talking

garage door mural of red poppies by bright blue sky.

part of a mural high on a bright wall painted black. An ice cream cone and other sweet things.

blog_tibaldi_parkette_streetart

blog_streetart_rock_rishi_le

light blue geometric lettering graffiti on a background of two toned pink triangles.
below: I spotted this on a pole just before I headed south.  A little bit of sparkle to brighten the day.

Small graffiti piece of a paper cut out dragonfly with sequins glued onto it's body and a small part of the wing.

The area south of Bloor was once the village of Brockton.  Back in 1812, one hundred acres of land from what is now Queen Street, north to Bloor Street, and west of Dufferin Avenue was granted to James Brock (yes, a relative of Sir Isaac).  After James died, his widow Lucy had a road built that run down the center of the property.  This road was Brock Avenue.  She subdivided the property and sold the lots to smaller land holders.  This settlement became Brockton.  In 1884 it was annexed by the city of Toronto.

below: Colourful cat and mouse games on a wall just south of Dundas.  I couldn’t find any ‘signature’ on the wall and I haven’t been able to find out who painted this.  I’d love to know.

large mural of a cat chasing a mouse done in bright colours.

below: Malabar Ltd.  It looks unkempt and I thought it was abandoned.  The gate to the parking lot was open and there were a couple of cars parked behind the wall.  A quick search online and I discovered that this site is still operational, but only serves the professional opera and theaters industry.

box like brick building with square awnings over the windows, large empty parking lit beside it, white and blue fence behind the parking lot, taller apartment building beyond the fence.

Two stickers on a metal pole beside a railway bridge. The top sticker says Love Skateboards and it has picture of a skateboard on it. The lower sticker says Bunk Bed has a Posse and a black and white drawing of a man's head is also on it.

After passing under one of the greyest, dingiest railway bridges, I came to a street – not sure what it was!

A Toronto street sign in blue and white that is covered with a vine

I checked a map – it’s Cunningham Ave.

.
But it afforded me an unobstructed view.
A view of the CN TOwer and the Toronto skyline from north west of downtown. Railway tracks are in the foreground.
I looked around a bit but there wasn’t much of interest on my side of the tracks and I wasn’t about to cross over!  I did notice that there is graffiti on the track side of the wall around the Malabar parking lot.  Something to explore another time… when I don’t have to dodge trains!

Short Union Pearson express train as it passes by

As the leaves fall off the trees, the houses are hidden less.  I like looking for older and/or unique architectural details that are now easier to spot (and take pictures of!)

below: The first time I saw one of these “half houses” I was quite surprised (it’s behind the large tree).  I now realize that there are a number of them in the city but it was still a fun find.

looking up an alley towards a street with some old houses. There is a large tree and behind the tree is a house that looks like it was cut in half vertically

below:  Brick and wood trim details being preserved and restored on an old house.

An old square two storey brick house undergoing restoration.

details of the carved wooden trim on a brick house being restored.

below: There are a number of old square houses in the neighbourhood.

an older square brick house on a corner of a residential street in Toronto.

below: A house with an old second storey wooden structure.  I don’t think it can be called an oriel window but I don’t know any other architectural term to describe it.

second storey wood structure protruding from house, almost the width of the house, with three vertical windows in it. A small balcony is above it.

blog_wood_porch

below: Although it’s not as easy to see in this picture, this house also has an old window and wood structure.  The fence around the neighbour’s yard is probably not as old as the porch, but it to is from a bygone era.  Is it from the 1960’s?  I suspect that they were very trendy at one time although I have seen this sort of design more as balcony railings than as fences.

a large brick semi-detached house with trees around it in fall foilage. The side of the house closest to the camera has a glassed in porch. To the left is a small house with a black metal fence around the front yeard. The fence has diamond shaped black metal pieces joined together in squares.

below:  Symmetrical but not symmetrical

A group of row houses. In the middle are two semis that share a peaked roof but the semis are totally different. One has a pink roof the other has a brown roof. One is white and the other is green. One has a front porch but the other doesn't

below: The back of Bike Pirates, a DIY bike workshop on Queen West, has a mural by Jonny Cakes.

In a laneway, painted by Jonny Cakes @thehalfdecent, the wall of a workshop, shed or garage, is painted with a big skull wearing a red bike hat. Two white cats, one on a unicycle and one on a bicycle, and the words BIKE PIRATE written over the door.

below: Someone’s got a leg up!

A fake leg, bent at the knee, with fake blood along the top of the thigh, attached to a wall over a door, the leg protrudes from the wall.
Up over a door that is…. this door in fact.

A red door with some items attached to it - a squished ping pong ball, an old dirty grey glove with a clip attached to the end of one finger

 

below:  And there were a few other little amusements along the way.

Someone hsa taken a red marker to a no dumping sign so now it reads grnoom dumping. The sign is nailed onto a post and there is an old blue truck parked behind the post.
scrawled in cursive writing with black spray paint on a white garage door are the words love yourself

close up of two stickers on a blue and white bike route sign. One sticker is a brown one with the words Vote Spud and a picture of skull wearing a floppy hat. The other is a red cartoon character

part of an old wood door, plywood wall beside the door with a black line drawing of a worm like creature with a big head with four eyes and a smiling mouth

small paper taped to a hydro pole on a residential street. On the paper are typed the words: WHy doesn't Harper want a parliamentary oversight of his security and police forces? Could it be because Hitler didn't want it either? Why do young people run away from Canada to join ISIS?

A car with a Virginia state licence plate that says Chil Out

“Terra Strat’aa” is a new mural by IAH Digital (Mediah) that now covers both sides of a railway overpass on Eglinton, just east of Leslie Street.  I have been meaning to take pictures of it for a few weeks now.  One of my excuses for not getting there sooner is that it is not convenient to get to by foot and once there, it’s in a photographic wasteland.

I hadn’t planned to drive past it today but I did….and I had my camera in the front seat with me….and believe it or not, the traffic on Eglinton was extremely slow, even slower than usual!   I think that these photos were meant to be.   🙂

geometric shapes, dynamic shapes, mural on three toned green background on a railway underpass, painted by a group led by IAH Digital (Mediah) on Eglinton Ave

geometric shapes, dynamic shapes, mural on three toned green background on a railway underpass, painted by a group led by IAH Digital (Mediah) on Eglinton Ave

geometric shapes, dynamic shapes, mural on three toned green background on a railway underpass, painted by a group led by IAH Digital (Mediah) on Eglinton Ave

geometric shapes, dynamic shapes, mural on three toned green background on a railway underpass, painted by a group led by IAH Digital (Mediah) on Eglinton Ave