Posts Tagged ‘mural’

…murals that is.

construction fence around a building being built, also a small beige house with white trim. Between the two is an entrance to an alley, there is a mural on the wall of the house, in the alley

On Euclid Avenue just south of College there is a lane that runs towards Palmerston Avenue.   I am not sure if it has a name (Paese Lane is the extension of this lane on the other side of Euclid).   As you can see, there are now some murals in this lane.

murals in an alley,

below: Pinks and blues combined in a mural by Getso

a mural of black lines making circles and other irregular shapes filled in with pinks, purples, and blues

below: An unfinished mural by Adrian Hayles

partially finished mural by Adrian Hayles, in yellow, a face and some text

below: A portrait of Greta Thunberg by Meaghan Claire Kehoe.

mural in an alley, large portrait of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager advocating for action on climate change, painted by Meaghan Claire Kehoe

below: A dark haired woman in a blue head scarf with a purple conehead flower by drippin_soul aka Kalkidan Assefa

mural my drippin_soul of a woman in blue head scarf beside a large pinkish flower

below: Raccoons have taken over this part of the alley! A mural by Emily May Rose

raccoon mural by Mily May Rose, raccoon on top of garbage cans, climbing on roofs, spray painting, inside garbage bins

two raccoons from a mural by Emily May Rose,

below: (across the lane from the ones above) This little green guy is up to no good!  Great ready for an explosion!  Perhaps life’s a blast?

small green guy with big ears painted on a wall, orange shirt and blue pants. Hands on a trigger to start an explosion

Laneway mural project organized by KJ Bit Collective

Also referred to as the “Blues Mural”.

At Bloor and Brunswick, by the entrance to Leah Cohen Lane there is a new mural that pays homage to Brunswick House whose walls it is painted on.    The three storey brick building dates from 1907 but there was  a “Brunswick House” pub/hotel on this site from 1876 to 2016.  It is now a drug store.

whole mural part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin, with bikes in front of it, by Leah Cohen Lane

The mural was painted by @drippin_soul aka Kalkidan Assefa and @komiolaf aka Komi Olaf

part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin, female singer holding a yellow microphone

At one point in history, one of Toronto’s most popular venues for jazz and blues was Albert Hall which was upstairs at the Brunswick House.

part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin, drummer with drum set and big puffy black hair

part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin,

part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin, hand of keyboard player with yellow ring with a heart on it

I didn’t know it at the time I took the photos, but apparently the piano keys are fitted with NFC chips.  If you visit the mural,  you can use your Android phone to interact with the mural to learn more about the blues, the building, and the people who played there.

part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin, accordion player wearing a hat

part of a mural, the band of story tellers, a group of musicians all with blue skin, bass player wearing a hat

With support from the City of Toronto and the Bloor Annex BIA

A grey day. The kind of day that when it starts to rain you head to a subway station, only to have the rain stop before you get there. So you walk more. Then it rains again so you buy an umbrella and minutes later the rain stops. So you walk more.

below: Southwest corner of Yonge & Wellesley

a shoe store, a massage parlour, and a convenience store, on the southwest corner of Yonge & wellesley, old brick buildings on Yonge with newer taller condos behind

below: Northwest corner of Yonge & Wellesley

northwest corner of Yonge & wellesley, old brick buildings on Yonge with newer taller condos behind - Not Just noodles restaurant

below: Marks left behind, traces of lives once lived there.

on the side of a brick house, two storey, Victorian, the remains of marks left behind on a house that was demolished, new development going up beside it

below: Do you think that there will ever be a time when we can walk downtown without encountering construction zones?

two orange signs saying sidewalk closed, and arrows, barriers on street to form a passage for pedestrians on the street, two people walking by

below: If it’s a gaggle of geese or a parliament of owls, what’s a group of cement trucks?

five or six cement trucks parked on a side street

reflections in glass windows downtown

a sign stenciled beside a doorway that says Anything can b iced. Window beside it, with a woman sitting inside by the window

below: A new large mural by birdo at Dundas & McCaul

Dundas street, near McCaul, coffee shop and artist supply store, with a large mural by birdo above it

below: Same mural, different angle

the corner of Dundas and McCaul with a large mural by birdo looking over it

below: “Keep going” at the Children’s Healing Garden outside Sick Kids Hospital on University Avenue.

chalk writing on a low concrete wall in a small park that says keep going

below: You can do anything

chalk words on a concrete path in a park that say you can do anything

below: A large hole on University Ave

construction site, hole in the ground, a digger in the hole, one wall of the hole is a light orange colour. The Duke of Cornwall pub is on the other side of the street across from the hole

below:  There was a Dragon Festival at Nathan Phillips Square this past weekend.

arches over the pool at Nathan Phillips square with old city hall behind, and a red and gold dragon head (very large) on display for dragon festival

below: Friday was a rather quiet day at the festival, probably because of the weather.

large and colourful inflatable dragon in front of city hall, at Nathan Phillips square, for dragon festival
below: But there was lots of different food available including skewers of octopus

pieces of octopus on skewers, ready to cook

below:   There were also these fried potato spirals on sticks that are available at every festival and street function.

potato spirals, fried and on sticks, looking a pilie of them from the end

below: Hot dog vendor on Queen Street

hot dog and sausage vendor on Queen street, woman under umbrella buying something, woman working inside the booth, a man sitting behind, many signs advertising their food

view down a lane with large buildings on both sides

below: Snowmen?  This is “Born and Raised” designed by Studio How-to-See.

sculptures on sidewalk, snowmen, beside a new condo, one snowman has lost its head

below: The tallest snowman is 5 “snowballs” high, or 17 feet tall.    Oh no! The snowman in the middle has lost its head.  What would Olaf say?

tall snowman sculpture on sidewalk beside glass and steel condo, with people walking past

below:  Of course early September means TIFF.  King Street West closed and many people were walking or hanging out there trying their hand at celebrity spotting.  We are all groupies during TIFF.

two young people working in a red booth for bubly drinks, both smiling and one is giving a thumbs up

below: I wouldn’t know a famous actor or director, or anything like that, if they came up to talk to me.    My attempts to follow the crowd to get celebrity pics weren’t very successful. This is the kind of photo that I ended up with –  The eye belongs someone called Jason who is taking a selfie with a father and daughter.    I didn’t linger long on King Street.

someone is talking a selfie with a girl in a green jacket who is being held up by her father, a pro photographer is also taking their picture

below: Having King Street closed didn’t help the traffic on nearby streets.  Mind you, this is normal for Toronto especially around rush hour.  Stand at any intersection downtown and you’ll find many instances where cars block traffic when the traffic lights change.

a man walks his bike across the street, between cars who are blocking traffic, also a woman with an umbrella gets ready to start across the street too

below:  The driver knew I was there taking pictures.  It didn’t make much difference.

a woman crosses the street on a green light, traffic is jammed because a car has got stuck in the intersection on a red light

a young black woman with pink dreadlocks and a lot of rings on her fingers is on her phone as she passes by, in the background is a couple standing on the sidewalk having a conversation, the woman is holding a bouquet of flowers

below: Paste ups on Richmond Street.   I find these mesmerizing.  I love the positioning of the eye and the way that it is staring at you .

2 paper paste ups on a wall, both are the same, in grey tones, the lower part of a face with one eye beside it

below: And my last stop that day, a quiet charcoal drawing by Olexander Wlasenko at the Arbozzo Gallery at 410 Richmond Street.

a charcoal drawing of a woman by Olexander Wlasenko on the wall of an art gallery

Now, all that’s left is the pink umbrella that I bought, still unused.

There is a new mural at Dundas and Victoria.  It is a welcome addition to a building that has been boarded up for years and is a definite improvement over the dingy and dirty grey wall it was just a few weeks ago.

mural: The northeast corner of Dundas and Victoria as seen from Yonge Dundas Square.  The left side was painted by Emily May Rose

mural at the corner of Dundas and Victoria, is actually two murals in one. on the left is one by Emily May Rose, alley jams van and spray painting green raccoons. on the right is a tribute to Killy and Swagger rite, by one day creates

below: It features green raccoons running wild, some with cans of spray paint.

black and white pictures in the windows, green raccoons on the walls, looking at one of the pictures

below: On the other side, is a mural in blues and oranges by @onedaycreates (aka One Day Mural & Video Production).  It is a tribute to Killy and Swagger Rite, two Toronto born rappers.

large paintings of two men, killy and swagger rite

close up of part of mural, blue face, orange furry scarf, person wearing two rings, hat, dreadlocks,

a young man plays a violin in front of a pedestrian Sunday banner

It was a very busy (i.e. crowded) Sunday afternoon at Kensington. Last Sunday that is.

an Asian woman walks holding a white umbrella with frilly trim

below: Bubbles of joy

a young boy in yellow shhorts and blue shoes is laughing as he runs through a stream of bubbles, outside on the street

below: Honkers on their saxes performing on the sidewalk.

two saxophone players, hinkers group, at outdoors performance

below: Street performance by Hero-San, a Japanese man who has been performing around the world for 25 years.

hiro son, a Japanese performance artist stands on one hand on a box in front of a crowd, outdoors, on the street, street performance

below: His show is part comedy and part stunts involving standing or walking on his hands.

hiro son, a Japanese busker and performance artist does a hand stand on the arms of two men standing facing each other, orange sweat pants and legs open wide for balance, a crowd is watching from behind

below: The finale was Hero-San walking on his hands while going through the open legs of a young boy. Even though his body was very close to the ground, only his hands actually touched the ground.

hiro son, a Japanese performance artist is standing on his hands in front of a young boy who has his hands close to his mouth, crowd watching in the background

below: A wagon full of plants to sell. $25 each.

people around a man with a woagon full of small marijuana plants that he is selling for twenty five dollars a plant

below: Sitting in front of poser bunnies while the world walks past.

two people sitting in front of poser bunnies mural in Kensington as other people walk past

below: A dog and many tattoos

a dog on a leash being held by a person with tattoos on booth knees and shins

two black women walking down the street while looking at their phones, on in a bright pink T shirt

a woman walking in short brown dress and floppy beige hat, another woman sitting in the window of a cafe and a third woman in striped pants and grey hat

below: Paper graffiti on a utility pole

on a utility pole, a paper graffiti piece of a man's face with the eyes from a different picture

Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington are the last Sunday in each month from May to October.

Summer in Toronto.  Those days where it doesn’t matter where you walk, you will always encounter something interesting.

This weekend is the Taste of the Middle East festival at Yonge Dundas square, one of the many ethnic based festivals in the square over the summer.  As usual, there were performances, activities, and food.

woman in a pink top and sunglasses turns her head towards the camera with a big smile, behind her is a performance on a stage and a man in an orange baseball cap clapping with his hands above his head, at Yonge Dundas square Taste of the Middle East festival

Products like date syrup were also available.

a man stands behind a display of bottles of date syrup that are for sale at an outdoor event

4 women watching a performance on an outdoor stage, three are wearing head scarves, and two are laughing

below: Young artist at work at Yonge & Dundas.

a young black boy sits on a chair at Yonge and Dundas and paints small pictures while people stop to watch him

below: Adelaide Street was blocked between Yonge and Bay all weekend for a film shoot involving a large number of police cars, police officers, and dummies that look amazingly like real police officers.

part of a film set on Adelaide, a red pick up truck with propane tanks in the back, with another tank wired to the back of a white panel truck

below: When the Netflix series ‘Zeus’ comes out, you can play spot the Toronto locations!

looking through the window of a restaurant with two empty tables, to a scene where a film set is setting up to shoot a scene involving exploding buses and police cars

blurry picture of peoples' legs and feet and shoes as they walk on a sidewalk

below: In the Allan Lampert Gallery at Brookfield Place is an art installation “Into the Clouds”, four large, happy inflatable clouds created by ‘Friends with You’, a Los Angeles based group.   They bring a positive message of light, love and happiness.

art installation in Brookfield Place of 4 large white clouds, three of which have happy faces on them, suspended from the ceiling over the escalator from the lower level,

below: In front of the RBC building at the corner of Front & Bay.

three people in front of the R B C building on Front St.., with its gold coloured reflective windows, An Asian couple stopped to look up and a black woman taking a picture, reflections of other buildings nearby. All people are wearing shorts

below: Relief sculpture on an exterior wall of the Scotiabank Arena (formerly ACC).  A series of these sculptures were made by Louis Temporale Sr. in 1938-39 on what was then the Toronto Postal Delivery Building.

relief sculpture in concrete on exterior of wall, cavemen scene, with palm trees, three people dressed in animal skins. One is cooking - stirring with a stick in a large pot over a fire, one is standing and shouting with hands cupped around his mouth. A ladder made of wood pieces lashed together leans against a rock

below: At the foot of Bay Street, a TTC bus stops beside the Westin conference centre.  The top part of the concrete building is covered by a large photographic art installation – “Milky Way Smiling” by Elizabeth Zvonar.

a red and white TTC bus stops beside a concrete building with a very large photograph pubic art installation on the upper part of the building,

below: Sitting on Jack Layton’s shoulders

a boy in an orange T-shirt, grey shorts, and black crocs sits on the shoulders of Jack Layton sculpture by the ferry terminal, holding onto Layton's head, and smiling at the camera

below: Broken. A gigantic bubble.

a young boy breaks a very large bubble that a man has made, outdoors

below: An oversized picnic table

a group of people sit on an oversized picnic table painted in camo colours in a park

below: 25 figures in bright orange clasping onto black inner tubes – an art installation by Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier call SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers)

two small boats on Lake Ontario, Toronto harbour, pass by the art installation S O S or Safety Orange Swimmers

below: Ahoy matey!  We be rainbow pirates!

a pretend pirate ship, as a harbour cruise boat passes by the public art installation, SOS, or Safety Orange Swimmers

below: The spotlight seems to shine on a sleeping body.  The location is Harbour Square Park inside the large concrete sphere that is “Sundial Folly”  created by John Fung and Paul Figueiredo and installed in 1995.  Whether it’s because of high water levels, or for other reasons, access to the interior of the structure is closed to the public. 

a person is asleep, on back, under a maroon sleeping bag, inside a spherical art installation with a slit in it that lets in light such that sleeper is spotlit

waterfront beside Harbour Square Park, walkway, trees, and boats

below: Queens Quay at the foot of Yonge Street is not my favorite intersection.  It’s not uncommon for cyclists to not realize that there is a red light and for pedestrians not to realize that just because they have a walk signal doesn’t mean that there won’t be a bicycle whizzing past.

woman on a bike cycles through a red light at Yonge and Queens Quay

below:  … and that shape on the sidewalk across the street? That is “Between the Eyes” by Anita Windisman.

cars, cyclists, and pedestrians at an intersection

below: Future buskers

two young girls pretending to make music with large plastic inflatable guitars while a woman pushing a man in a wheelchair look on.

below: The public art at Pier 27 condos on Queens Quay East lies in an elevated garden between two condo buildings. This sculpture is the work of American artist Alice Aycock and it consists of a whirlwind (or tornado) form and what looks like whorls of paper.   Litter blowing from the lake?  It’s title is “A Series of Whirlpool Field Manoeuvres for Pier 27”.

a long white sculpture in a garden in front of a condo

part of a large sculpture, sheets of white material curve and join together like the shape of a rose

white sculpture that looks like a very large whirlwind or tornado in front of a condo building

below: Basketball players on the Esplanade.

a group of boys playing basketball on a court that has a mural of two hands forming a heart shape with their hands, the heart is under the basket, mural is on wall

I was driving south on Warden the other day when I spotted a large church dome.

dome of very large pale brown cathedral church, St. Marks Coptic Church, new building, against the blue sky with a few puffy white clouds

This is St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral near Warden and Steeles.  The Coptic, or Egyptian, Church is believed to have been founded by St Mark at around AD 42 in Alexandria Egypt. It split from the rest of the Christendom in 451.  In the 600s, Egypt was ruled by Islamic conquerors but it wasn’t until the 12th century that Coptics became a religious minority.

very large pale brown cathedral church, St. Marks Coptic Church, new building,

Construction of the church began around 2008/9 and was completed by 2015.  It was officially opened by Pope Tawadros II who is the 118th pope in the Coptic church.   The Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Church are the only two religions in the world led by a “pope”.

below: Seven large carved wood doors.  The colour of the exterior is reminiscent of desert sand.

large front doors of very large pale brown cathedral church, St. Marks Coptic Church, new building,

A large mosaic mural across the top of the church is almost complete.  It has been grouted and now is being cleaned.

working on mosaic mural, very large pale brown cathedral church, St. Marks Coptic Church, new building,

below: Come out of Egypt my son, Matthew 2:15

mosaic mural across the top end of very large pale brown cathedral church, St. Marks Coptic Church, new building,

below: The interior of the church is massive; under the dome, the nave is just over 29m high.   There is seating for 1800 people.

side view of very large pale brown cathedral church, St. Marks Coptic Church, new building,

As I was walking around the church, I spotted another cross just to the north – the Toronto Christian Community Church – with a different style of architecture.  The name of the church was also written in Chinese but the church functions in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.  It was built in 2001.

part of front of modern white church with skinny vertical windows and a white cross on top, two small trees in front

side view of part of front of modern white church, looks like an office building fro the side

Recently, Art Eggleton Lane, south off Harbord Street, was the site of the third annual butterfly laneway painting project organized by Nick Sweetman with help from StreetARToronto and the David Suzuki Foundation.

below: Putting the finishing touches on a mural that was a collaboration between Nick Sweetman and Christina Mazzulla

Nick Sweetman on a ladder adding the finishing touches, with spray paint, to a large mural of butterflies on the side of a garage in a lane. Another ladder leans against the same wall, boxes and can of spray paint on the ground. On the same garage, there is a colourful mural on the garage door

three butterfly murals on three garage doors in an alley

below: Bird on a branch with butterflies in the background by luvsumone, muisca, and Javid Jah.  This mural is on the same garage as theone with the three butterflies on the left in the photo above.

painted mural in a lane, butterflies behind a large bird

spray painted mural in a lane, purple butterfly,on bright green, covering two doors

below: Black line butterflies on a wood fence by Oriah Scott

spray painted mural in a lane, butterfly and circle, on wood fence, by Oriah Scott,

below: This mural gives the impression that the butterfly is as vast as the universe, flying with the stars.

a very large butterfly on a mural on a grage door, wild colours in blues and red, It looks like the butterfly is superimposed on the whole universe

below: She becomes a butterfly in orange and pink, by Anya Mielniczek

spray painted mural in a lane, woman lying on her back, orange face with pink features,

below: In the foreground, a rainbow wasp moth by @drippin_soul aka Kalkidan Assefa

butterfly murals painted on garage doors in an alley

below: Butterflies in bubbles in a futuristic world by Sadar aka blazeworks

painted mural on a garage door in a lane, butterfly,

below: Butterflies and milkweed by Mique

painted mural in a lane, butterflies and milkweed plants

below: Chris Perez working on his mural

a man on a short ladder spray painting a mural on a garage door in an alley, Chris Perez

below: Sunset mural by @roshnisart aka Roshni Wijayasinha

sunset mural in pinks and blues by Roshnisart

below: Another face, with eyes closed as the butterflies flutter around, by @curtia aka Curtia Wright

mural on a garage door with large pink face, eyes closed, butterflies flying around

below: Triangles put together to form a butterfly, by CTR (aka Christian)

two butterfly murals in an alley

below: Another butterfly mural, this one is by Pascal Paquette

butterfly mural by Pascal Paquette

below: A multitude of butterflies around another pink face by MCK Studios aka Meaghan Claire Kehoe

spray painted mural in a lane, butterflies, lots of butterflies around a pin face by M C K studio

below: An abstracted butterfly (or more?) by Jacquie Comrie

painted mural in a lane, butterfly, very abstract, by Jacquie Comrie

below: Two monarch butterflies on a bright blue background, each with a flower of its own, by Leyland Adams

a mural with two monarch butterflys by a flower, bright blue background, garage door

below: A butterfly amongst small red flowers, by Phillip Saunders

small red flowers growing in bunches, in a mural, along with a butterfly, on a garge door

below: A stylized and very angular butterfly by Andre Kan

monarch butterfly, mural in alley

below: A gnarly yellow creature by Braes

braes butterfly mural on garage door

gigantic butterfly head and antenae

stylized butterfly with lots of colours and spots, on a garage door

below: An orange tiger lily flower with both a butterfly and a hummingbird interested in it, a mural by c_mack2.0 aka toner2

mural on a garage door in an alley, large purple and black butterfly, an orange tiger lily flower and a hummingbird

painted mural in a lane, butterfly in pale blue behind a man's head. Man in oranges and blues, wearing sunglasses

below: Large yellow butterfly

spray painted mural in a lane, large yellow butterfly,

The previous two butterfly laneway projects are
2018, Felstead Lane
2017, Butterflyways, by Garrison Creek Park

a mother and daughter walking down an alley

Three Sisters – both literal and allegorical. Three women, each with a vegetable, and these three vegetables, corn, squash, and beans, are the three sisters of indigenous agriculture. These were the main crops of most North American native groups and they were usually planted together; together they thrived for thousands of years.

large mural by street artists tikay and aner on Dundas West, 3 indigenous women in traditional clothes with symbols, corn, squash, medicine wheel, flowers,

This is one of two murals by Paula Tikay and Aner Urra (aka tikay & aner) in the Dundas West area.   They are two indigenous Mapuche artists from Chile who were invited to come to Toronto to paint the murals.

close up of woman with long black braided hair, standing in the midst of a squash plant, with yellow flower, a squash, and many leaves, in mural

close up of two women in mural with cobs of corn and alarge green bean growing on a bean plant, lots of leaves

looking down a short narrow alley with a large colourful mural on the left side, blue background with leaves and vines in the foreground

a window in a brick wall, Raptors flag inside but shows backwards outside, mural painted around the window in blues with green leaves and vines

The project was organized by Rodrigo Ardiles (of the Dundas West Museum).  This neighbourhood was chosen because of its ties to the many immigrants from Chile who have found a home here as early as the 1970s.   Children from the nearby Alexander Muir / Gladstone Avenue Junior and Senior Public School and The Grove Community School had some input on the mural.    Also involved was StartARToronto.

There is another Raptors mural!  Not on Queen West this time, but in the Dundas & Sherbourne area.  It was painted by Javid Jah and luvsumone (aka Moise Frank).

a mural on a red brick wall, King of the North, face of a basketball player, Toronto Raptors number 2, with a crown on his head, Kawhi Leonard

below: On Yonge Street by the north end of the Eaton Centre are these words which were painted by the same two men. The letters are supposed to be 3D and rising out of a black square hole in the sidewalk.  North Side rising.

painted on a sidewalk in front of the Eaton Centre, are words North Side, written in Raptors colours, as support for Toronto's basketball team as they play on NBA finals playoffs

below: The Raptors logo is painted on the sidewalk outside Scotiabank Arena.

the raptors basketball team logo is painted on a sidewalk along with the words Eastern Champions, painted after they won the last round of the NBA playoffs

See also
1. Queen Street Raptor and
2. Raptors updated – into the finals