murals | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘murals’

Leaside has murals!

Posted: August 20, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: #dudemanart, ACK crew, alley, art, cruz1 art, ctr, dragon, dudeman, Eglinton East, Elicser, fence, flowers, garage doors, go big or go home, horus, lane, Leaside, Mediah, Mediah IAH, minus two, mska, murals, owl, paint, peru, phil, possum, prodigal son, public art, raccoon, sofe, sparr, spray paint, spud, sweetman, tuffytats, wales, wall expressions, walls

Today’s story begins back in 2007 when elicsr painted this mural behind a store that fronts on Eglinton East.

It depicts the bible story of the prodigal son. A very brief summary of the story – A wealthy king had two sons.

The younger son took his half of his father’s money, left home, and squandered the money. He fell into hard times. He realized that he would be better off as a servant in his father’s household than living in penury on his own.

So he returned home to repent. His father celebrated the return of the son and forgave him and his prodigal ways.

Fast forward to August 2016 when the alley became a canvas for 46 street artists and their Wall Expressions project, Go Big or Go Home. I walked the alley on Thursday and this is what I saw.
[Warning: a lot of the street art is text or abstractions which may not be your cup of tea. ]

below: Girl power skull with pig tails by dudeman.

below: Under the weather vane, a newer garage door painted with a mural by Mediah IAH aka Evond Blake.

below: Black and white owl on a branch by mska

below: SPUD bombs and swirls on the back of Eco Cleaners.

below: And another SPUD creation on the other side of the lane.
A few skulls seemed to have snuck into the painting!

below: ‘Mars Attacks’ by the ACK crew, wales, miles, noser, braes and tensoe.

below: Garbage bins lined up in front of a horus/tuffytats rose in blue and red.

below: A swirly wavy mix of colours brighten up a wooden fence.

below: Red head (and shoulders) man

below: The Men’s Salon Barber Shop now has a mska creature, complete with scissors in hand, by the back door.

below: Next to the barber shop is this mural, or at least this is part of it. The next photo….

below: … is the end of the mural. I’m not sure who painted it but the marks on this are: Mark One, BOB (or 13013) and xFLA,.

below: A mural for Loui by minus two (and others?)

below: More text and abstractions, this time by manic, roam and acuse. Loui gets another mention too.

below: In the foreground, a Nick Sweetman shrimp swims across a mural with help from peru and ctr.

below: A closer look at that shrimp

below: Another large mural with more than one photo. At one end there’s a zas possum hanging out, spray paint can in hand – possibly up to no good?

below: And at the other end there’s another animal that is usually nocturnal, a raccoon. An animal that is no stranger to Toronto!

below: Look up, way up! There’s a dog on the roof.

below: Swimmer with a bathing cap looking at you, by sparr

below: Phil wrote his name on a garage door.

below: Sofe in orange and green tiger stripes

below: Two more garage doors.

below: Bright colours stand out on the side of this garage near the entrance to the lane.

below: Rozy, from the other side.

below: someone beginning with the letter m? (m–?) and lerch.

below: Big fat P in pink by bias? at number 153

below: And last, a little snail

This project had help and support from Toronto Police (53 division), Stephensons Rental, Dominos Pizza, and StreetARToronto.

video of the event on vimeo

Queen, Soho, Bulwer

Posted: July 14, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: Bulwer St., David Suzuki, Elicser, elliott, fish, Franco Fasoli, hug me, JAZ, Kevin Ledo, kids, Love Letter to the Great Lakes, marty mcfly, murals, stikman, tree

It’s good to see the ‘Hug Me!’ tree is still on Queen Street!

If you look closely in the background of the above photo, you can spot the reason I was exploring this section of Queen St West (near Soho St). Along the wall by the parking lot is a new mural.

below: Floating man, floating down the river with an photo from the past clutched in his hand. “Tona as Marty McFly Disappearing Photos” by Elicser Elliott. It is another of the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project murals.

There were two other Love Letter murals that I came here to find.

below: If you look up as you walk along Queen Street West you might catch a glimpse of this mural by JAZ (Franco Fasoli). Arms, or tentacles, seem to be reaching out of the water and strangling the fish.

below: The third mural is around the corner from the other two, on Bulwer Street. It’s a large portrait of David Suzuki painted by Kevin Ledo. The blue shapes on the right are outlines of fish (atlantic salmon apparently) but I cut their tails off when I took the picture.

below: I haven’t walked along Bulwer St for a while so it was nice to see that this (unsigned?) mural is still there even though someone has spray painted some words on it.

below: One last little find on Bulwer, a circuit board stikman

Other posts about the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project murals:

#seawallsTO | #pangeaseed | #loveletterprojects

love letters in paint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

below: Closest to the street, a mural by Sermob

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

singing birds, the devil, and more

Posted: June 21, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, alligator, animals, artist, bicycle, birds, black and white, blackbirds, Bloor West, Christie, Christie Ossington, devil, fish bones, freedom, garage door, graffiti, lane, Loft, man, murals, OCNC, Oscar Kwong, oskwong, street art, Under the radar, woman

Running east from Christie subway station behind the stores on Bloor West is an alley. There are a few murals there, either in the lane or visible from the lane. Below are pictures of five of them, although the last one is more graffiti than mural.

The largest of these murals is ‘Under the Radar’, or at least those are the words painted on the mural. It is on three sides of a building that backs onto the alley.

below: East side of the building

below: The back of the building

below: “Painting to the artist is like flight to the bird. Freedom”

below: West side of the building

below: White on black, a mural signed as @oskwong @release852 (2 photos)

below: The central portion – it looks like the devil and maybe an angel? Good vs evil?

below: This mural is signed, ‘the Loft’ which is an acronym for Life Opportunities Food and Technology, a program run by the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre.

below: A bicycle riding alligator.

below: White fish bones contrast with a bright orange garage door.

below: It’s not very often I have to watch out for a Mercedes AND a Ferrari in the lane!

return to Scarfo Lane

Posted: June 9, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bird houses, birdo, blue bird, city, colours, doors, fairy, garages, Insect Cabaret, lane, logs, marine, mural, murals, nature, octopus, red bird, turtle, urban

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.

below: Swimming in the lane.

The next two are from the same garage door.

And in case you’re curious –

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

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

alleyway of dreams

Posted: June 7, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, alleyway, animals, bees, colours, community, cows, donkey, fence, garage, garage door, giraffe, graffiti animals, lane, laneway, murals, Nadia Hakime, pigs, rabbit, rhino, rhinocerous, shapes, street art, tiger

The Alleyway of Dreams is an art project begun in 2012 that aims to spruce up and add some colour to a lane near Danforth and Main. I walked the alley yesterday and this is what I saw.

below: A large mural by StreetARToronto, caring hands and large bees in Bee Haven. (2 photos)

Artist Nadia Hakime has painted several animals on the garages in fences in the alley.

below: In the barnyard, four cows and three pink pigs.

below: A blue rhinoceros with a horn that resembles a flowering tree.

below: This giraffe thinks you’re standing on your head. His world is a very upside down place!

below: A cute little bunny and a friendly blue dog ready to make friends.

below: A majestic looking tiger.

below: Humphry the donkey turns to look.

below: Grapefruits on the left and peaches? apricots? on the right.

below: A wonderful blue chameleon is smiling at passers by, painted by Steven Micallef.

below: A ‘Starry Starry Night’ shed, thanks to Vincent Van Gogh and artist Nadia Hakime.

#alleywayofdreams

The Alleyway of Dreams facebook page

kids and community, around Woodbine

Posted: June 7, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, community, construction, Gledhill, history, hoardings, kids, lane, murals, painting, past and present, school, street art, students, Woodbine, Woodbine subway station, youth

This post is about community involvement and the murals that result. They aren’t great art and they weren’t meant to be. They are about the stories we tell about ourselves and our communities. They brighten our public spaces and enrich our neighbourhoods.

The first is a series of murals painted by Gledhill Public School students. There are murals by the graduating classes of 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 in a lane near the school.

Just to the east, Woodbine subway station is undergoing much needed renovations and expansion. Some of the hoardings around the construction site have been covered with three murals. They were painted by: Haley G., Sasha K.S., Francis H., Melika W., Tristan C., Savannah P., Adrina P. and Anna-Lisa A as well as Jim Bravo and Andrenne Finnikin as part of the ‘City on the Move, Young Artists in Transit’ mural project.

The first mural is a juxtaposition of past and present, people playing beside the creek. The creek, trees, and birds are all the same. There is now a city in the distance and clothing we wear has changed, but we still enjoy the outdoors like our ancestors did.

Above ground, a fair, an amusement on a summer day. Below ground, the subway is being built.

And last, woodpeckers in the trees as well as a poem by George Elliott Clarke who was the Poet Laureate of Toronto 2012-15. It describes the murals and is transcribed below.

The poem on the last mural:

Seeing Beauty, at Woodbine

Citizens, let’s pasture ourselves in parks
And gardens, so skyscrapers mingle with trees,
And we recover Native faith, Settler
Hope, to savour birds’ trills and swoops, fording
Creek and times past, to touch us, where we stand.

Once was pleasure in a street fair – ice cream
And lollipop, but also in strolling
Or rolling down to work, shirt-sleeves rolled up,
Dawn light unfolding, That’s what’s visible.
(Underground, a steel vein branches, roots, and throbs.)

Torrential leaves stacked up towers, now fallen,
Last Fall, Birds tap into the standing logs
Winter planted. Spring rain well refreshes
The city. Now, young artists tap dreams –
Drafting Beauty – to which all say, “Bravo!”

by George Elliott Clarke

community and history, St. Clair West

Posted: April 24, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
Tags: cars, CN Tower, convertible, CPR, Davenport Arts Community, fifa, history, murals, railway, Silverthorn, soccer, west york

There is a railway bridge, just west of Caledonia Rd where the GO line to Aurora passes over St. Clair West.
On the north side of the underpass is a mural in black, white and grey tones.

The theme of the mural is “Ontario’s first railway” as this railway line has been in operation since 1853 when the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron railway was built here.

The first locomotive built in Canada was a steam powered engine built by the Toronto Locomotive Works, a company founded by James Good. Named “Toronto”, it was finished in April 1853 and in mid-May 1853 it pulled a short (4 cars) train from downtown Toronto 30 miles north to Machells Corners (now Aurora). Service on the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron line had begun!

below: “From one age to another. The locomotive was the machine of the future.”

The mural was painted in September 2012 by Marcelo Pinero, Aelwynn Swanson, and Pia Ferrari from the Davenport Arts Community.

There is also a mural on the south side of the underpass; it has a soccer theme.

It too was painted by Davenport Arts Community.

below: Silverthorn Sunrise mural painted late in 2012 by Marcelo Pinero and Aelwynn Swanson. It is painted on the side of Whiteside Pharmacy which is on the NE corner of St. Clair and Silverthorn. Silverthorn was also the name of this neighbourhood prior to 1998 when it was amalgamated into the City of Toronto.

And last, a mural that is actually on the side of business, West York Motors, which is located on St. Clair West between Ford and Osler streets.
It was painted by Splash Murals.

more information about the Davenport Arts Community

from Riverside to Leslieville

Posted: April 22, 2016 in locations
Tags: bench, cafes, Canada Dry, graffiti, history, Leslieville, mountie, mugs, murals, people, Queen Elizabeth, Queen St. East, reflection, rubiks cube, statue of liberty, stores, street scenes, streetcar, tea, troll, windows

A walk along Queen Street East from Broadview to Greenwood.

below: Welcome to Riverside, mural at the corner of Queen and Grant streets featuring the sign on the Queen bridge as it crosses over the Don River.

below: Farther east on Queen Street, at Curzon, there is this ‘Greetings from Leslieville’ mural.

There are many interesting little stores on this stretch of Queen Street.
All the benches have been painted in cheerful colourful stripes.

below: On the 21st of April (yesterday), Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday.
A number of stores and restaurants had displays in her honour.

Queen Street East was developed as long ago as the mid 1800’s and remnants of various decades can be found as one explores the area.
below: … details such as this fading Canada Dry sign. The formula for Canada Dry ginger ale was developed in the early 1900’s by John J. McLaughlin, of the same McLaughlin family whose early automobile factory led to the start of General Motors. This ginger ale was patented in Toronto in 1907. Usually the words ‘Canada Dry’ are written in red, not yellow. Is there a time when Canada Dry used yellow lettering?

below: At the corner of Queen and Coady there is also a ghost sign for Coady Sweets as well as an advertisement for Coca-Cola.

below: Call it luck – even a vintage car drove past while I was there.

below: An old KitKat advertisement on the side of Boston Discount Store. If you look closely, there is also an original Boston Ave street sign at the top right of the KitKat ad.

below: Even older are the buildings in the mural of Queen St. East circa 1926. I am not sure if this an accurate depiction of a particular stretch of Queen Street. It might be interesting to do some research to find out if the picture can be retaken, 90 years later. So far I have been unable to find out anything about a Jackson Brothers store on Queen East.

below: A sign of the new, some of the new TTC streetcars are now running along Queen Street.

below: A mural depicting Frank Zappa along with the words
“Stupidity has a certain charm. Ignorance does not.”

below: Like so many places and streets in Toronto, there are condos going up here too.

below: The railway tracks pass over Queen Street. A number of years ago the underpass was decorated with paintings of different animals and those paintings remain in good shape.

below: Once upon a time trains served this area. There was a railway station here but it is long gone.

transcription:

“In 1896, the Grand Trunk Railway opened its Queen East Station to serve Toronto’s growing east end. Renamed Riverdale Station in 1907, the building stood here on De Grassi Street at Queen Street East. Its dramatic turret, bay window, and a deep overhanging roof were defining features typical of small railway stations of the period.

In 1904, a streetcar collided with a freight train at the level crossing on Queen Street East, killing three people and injuring 18. This and subsequent accidents led to the elevation of the new Union Station railway corridor above city streets and sidewalks. The station was moved in 1927 to accommodate the new embankment for the underpass, the first of nine to be completed. Dwindling passenger numbers during the Great Depression led to the closure of Riverdale Station in 1932 and its demolition in 1974.”

below: Looking west from under the railway bridge.

below: A train themed mural in an alley just off Queen Street.

Sackville Street murals

Posted: April 6, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: apartment building, Bruno Smoky, children, Elicser, elicsr, flying, hoardings, housing, kids, men, murals, people, Regent Park, Sackville St., Shalak Attack, street art, tchc, Toronto, urban renewal, wall, women

Sackville Street, just south of Dundas, is right in the midst of the Regent Park renewal project. It is also the site of two murals. First, there is bright and colourful mural which is painted on the side of a new apartment building.