Posts Tagged ‘murals’

Broadcast Lane

Posted: March 8, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti in a Cabbagetown lane.

Graffiti street art, smiley man's face in pink with orange hair and orange moustache. Also abtracts in blues.

Graffiti on a garage door obscured by a large pile of snow. Open metal gate between two garages, graffiti can be just seen down the wall on one of the garages, beyond the gate.

graffiti painting of a musician, trumpet player in yellow on blue background, above a garage door in a lane

backs of buildings, cars parked behind the buildings, piles of snow on the side of the alley, graffiti on the walls and garage doors.

A tree with it's branches painted in rainbow colours, from left to right: red, orange, yellow, green, blue. A man is sitting at the base of the tree, back to the viewer, in a yoga position. Unfortunately, part of the mural has been tagged over in sea foam green DWEL. Wintertime, snow on the ground. .

large stylized man's face graffiti in orange hues on a light grey door.

A large painted man's face on a brick wall. Close to it is a line drawing (black on white) of a woman's face but she's much smaller.

Two graffiti faces on a wall, one woman and one man. Metal bars surrounding a small parking spot behind the building partially obscure the wall.

Behind 509 Dance, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre on Parliament Street.

Mural over the back entrance to 509 Dance, ghetto blaster in one corner, a guy break dancing, and upside down almost, in the picture. He's wearing a yellow hat.

Close up of part of the mural where a guy is break dancing.

Bathhouse raids mural

Posted: February 12, 2015 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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The Bathhouse Raids by Christiano De Araujo is a mural on Church Street just south of Carlton.
Completed in the fall of 2013, it was the largest of the Church St. Mural Project pieces commissioned for WorldPride 2014.

The following photos were taken with a very wide angle lens
because of the size of the mural and because there are always cars parked in front of it.

large mural on the side of a building. A number of cars are parked in front of it. The mural depicts the bathhouse raids, an event in Toronto's history where police raided gay bath house and arrested those they found inside. A yellow Toronto police car, a fire truck with its lights on are both in the picture. An oversized person is in the center, hands held over her/his head.

On the 5th of February, 1981, Toronto police raided four bathhouses in what was known as ‘Operation Soap’.
Around 300 men were arrested.  Most charges connected to the incident were eventually dropped or discharged, although some bathhouse owners were fined.

part of a large mural showing a yellow Toronto police car from the 1980's, a couple of policemen and a crowd of men standing just back of the police car

part of a large mural showing a yellow Toronto police car from the 1980's, a couple of policemen and a crowd of men standing just back of the police car

The event marked a major turning point in the history of the LGBT community in Canada.
The raids led to protests – the night after the raids, 3,000 people marched on 52 Division police headquarters and on Queen’s Park, smashing car windows and setting fires.  That spring the city held its first Pride Parade.

right hand side of the bathhouse raid mural on Church St. showing a firetruck with its red flashing lights on

around the bakery

Posted: January 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The Ontario Bread Company is located near Dundas and Ossington.
It had an Ossington Ave address but it is surrounded by lanes.
In September of 2013 it went out of business.  The building is still there but it is empty.

A slightly snow covered parking lot between two low rise buildings, both of which have murals painted on them. .

street art on a wall. In the middle is a brown loaf of bread with the words Ontario Bread Co written around it. There is a black and white tag on either side. two windows and a door of the building are also in the photo.

Lovebot is now on their mailbox!

a small black and white lovebot sticker, the one that looks like a king of hearts playing card, is on the mailbox

The bakery was founded in 1935 by Polish immigrants and they specialized in Polish, and other Eastern European, breads.  BlogTO did an interesting piece about the bakery in August 2013.

 There is a lumber yard adjacent to the bakery on the same lane.
What follows are some of the photos that I took as I walked the “block” of lanes around the bakery and the lumber yard.   Some of the graffiti has been there for a few years.

 

Lifelike painting of a beaver, but larger than life. Very realistic looking, sharp front teeth, little arms and big flat tail.

Old graffiti taf in yellows and blues on a grey brick wall. Two windows have been bricked over in red brick. One window has a green wood covering. It includes the words "RIP Ryan Dunn"

jumble of different scribbles and tags and old graffiti along a wall.

A view of the back wall.

looking down an alley with the side of a two storey building being the dominant part of the picture. It has a large number of colourful graffiti tags painted on it.

The words on this one say “It’s a bittersweet symphony”

A large colourful tag and street art piece. It's a bittersweet symphony is written into it. The left side is dark with a black background, the right side is brighter with a yellow and orange background.

This pair stands under the shower in a quiet corner.

Wheatpaste paste up picture of a woman in a long black sleeveless dress who is pouring water from a jug over the back of her head. The water is falling on a girl who is sitting behind the woman. The girl is holding an umbrella.
Rob Ford may no longer be mayor, but his legacy lives on …. in the form of anti-Ford graffiti.

tags on a brick wall in black, orange and white. Anti Rob Ford graffiti also there in the form of a crack pipe with Fords face on it. "Spud doesn't condone crack" I think are the words written beside the crack pipe.

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall
graffiti tag in greens and purples on a wall on a snowy day. Above the tag is a weathered sign that is peeling but it can still be read - No Dumping Along this wall.

This piece is on Rolyat Street, just north of the Ontario Bread Co.

A wheatpaste paper graffiti piece of a girl's head in duplicate, looks like she's reflected below. Long black hair. Big black eyes.

The last two pieces of street art are in a neighbouring lane, just to the northwest.

large pink creature street art, a small pink heart with the words 'lost doggy' is beside the creature

graffiti buzzard and tag behind a house.

Irene Ave

Posted: January 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Irene Ave. is a short street that runs behind the north side of Bloor Street West between Carling and Shaw streets, just east of Ossington Avenue.  Irene Avenue Parkette takes up most of the south side of Irene Avenue.  There is an alley that runs between the park and the back of the stores on Bloor West.

The Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, through the Graffiti Arts portion of their LOFT program, has sponsored a number of murals in this alley.

This is what it looked like on a cold afternoon last week.

laneway in winter, some snow and ice on the ground. Three cars parked. A mural on the side of a two storey building. Reddish rust coloured background with two faces, one woman and one man.

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The next picture was taken in June of 2012.
The mural is still there but I couldn’t take a proper photo of it last week as there was a car parked too close.

A mural of Teetnage mutant ninja turtles painted on a garage door.

When I walked around the block to check out the fronts of these buildings, this is what I found

Street art mural by elicser of three men on a bench. One is smoking a cigarette, one is reading and one is holding a lunch box in his hands.

A mural by Elicser and to the right the LOFT Youth Centre for Social Enterprise and Innovation.

behind Honest Eds

Posted: January 4, 2015 in graffiti and street art, landmarks, locations
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Honest Eds, a Toronto icon, at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor since 1948

Standing on Bloor street looking south through the alley beside Honest Eds store. There is a glass covered walkway between the buildings on either side of the alley. On the side of the wwalkway is a sign that syas 'Honest Ed Alley'. The alley leads to a parking lot.

Looking south from Bloor Street towards the parking lot behind Honest Eds.

There are a few murals on the buildings that back onto the parking lot.

mural on a two storey light grey brick building showing musicians.

Trumpet players on the back of the Victory Cafe at the corner of  Markham and Lennox Streets

large mural of a woman with boxing gloves on. Beside her is a picture of a large dog's face.

Woman with boxing gloves has been on the back of Trainers Fitness for a few years.  The newer dog is painted on the back of A Leg Up Pet Services. 

The back of two buildings with a narrow passageway between the two. Both are two storeys high. The one on the left is painted light purple and has the words Southern Accent written in yellow letters. The one on the right is a mural of a man paddling a canoe down a tropical river, with a monkey and a parrot also in the picture.

Purple behind Southern Accent restaurant and a mural painted by Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre through their LOFT program. 

 

Islington heritage murals

Posted: December 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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Along Dundas St. West between Islington and Kipling there are a series of more than twenty murals that depict scenes from the history of the area. 

In 1793, Simcoe’s Queen’s Rangers cut a route through the forest for Dundas Street.  It was meant to serve both as a military route in case of war with the U.S. and as a route to increase settlement in the area.   Settlement of what became the village of Islington began a few years later with the arrival of the Johnston family in 1808.

The first mural was a picture of the Methodist church painted on plywood.  It no longer exists.

mural 2 – The Way We Were, part 1 by John Kuna, 2005.
Looking east along Dundas St. towards Cordova Ave in 1912.  It includes Hopkins store and the Methodist church.

large mural on the side of a building that shows people in old fashioned clothes walking down a street. A man in a horse drawn wagon is coming down the street.

part of a large mural on the side of a building that shows people in old fashioned clothes walking down a street. A man in a horse drawn wagon is coming down the street.

mural 3 – They Way We Were part 2, 1912, by John Kuna, 2006.
Because of the car that was parked next to it, I don’t have a good photo of the whole mural.

a mural showing a group of men in clothing from the 1930s shoveling in the dirt.

part of a mural, a man leading a horse out of the stables, the Islington Hotel behind. Two ladies are standing on the balcony of the second floor of the hotel. A man is reclining on a chair on the front porch of the hotel.

mural 4 – Timeline: Islington Then and Now, by John Kuna, 2006.
Showing Dunn’s store (NE corner of Dundas & Burnhamthorpe Cres) as well as the flowering catalpa trees that used to line the street (on the right in the picture)

part of a mural depicting the main street of town as it was in the 40s and as it was in 2006. cars, street, people shopping,

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mural 5 — Honouring Islington’s Volunteer Fire Brigade, by John Kuna, 2007. 
Islington had its first motorized fire truck in 1931.  In the 1940s and 1950s the volunteer firefighters would use water from the Mimico creek to flood part of Central Park, on the west side of the creek, to create a skating rink.

looking across the street at a mural on the side of white brick building, a winter scene, some people are skating, lots of bright red jackets, there is also an old fashioned fire engine with firefighters sitting in it. At the right edge of the picture is a small wood hut with a sign that says Refreshments on it.

close up of a mural showing people skating on a frozen pond in the winter. In the foreground is a traffic sign that says no trucks, also blue street signs for Cabot St. and Dundas Street West

mural 6 – Riding the Radials, by John Kuna, 2007.
From 1917 to 1931 the old Guelph Radial Line (or Toronto Suburban Railway) ran close by this site.  It was an electric rail line between Toronto and Guelph.

A mural showing the front of an old electric train car with the conductor sitting in front. Two boys are hanging out the doors, one on each side of the train car.

mural 7 – Briarly, Gone but not Forgotten, by John Kune, 2007.
Briarly, also known as Gunn House was built in 1840s. From 1870 to 1985 it was owned by the Montgomery family and their descendents.

mural 7 - Briarly, Gone but not Forgotten, by John Kune, 2007. Briarly, also known as Gunn House was built in 1840s. From 1870 to 1985 it was owned by the Montgomery family and their descendents.

A woman and a girl in long light blue dresses are walking in front of a house. The woman is carrying a blue parasol. There is a white picket fence and flowering shrubs in the foreground of the picture.

mural 9 – Harold G. Shipp’s Firt High Flier, by John Kuna, 2008.
The story behind this mural: “In 1944 Harold Shipp convinced a Lancaster bomber pilot who ferried supplies from Toronto to England during the war, to fly over the school’s football field and drop hundreds of leaflets, a few of which could be traded for tickets to the school dance. Unfortunately, a rogue wind scattered the leaflets across the Chinese market gardens near Montgomery’s Inn. In the ensuing mayhem, excited football fans frantic to secure a winning ticket, stormed the field and trampled the carefully tended cabbages”

mural showing men playing football in the 1920s, with a low flying airplane overhead.

mural showing men playing football in the 1920s, with a low flying airplane overhead, as seen from an angle - form this perspective you can see that the mural is actually two pictures.

mural 10 – Portraits from our Past by Sarah Collard, 2008.
Inspired by pictures taken in the early 1900’s. “These include: Apple Packers at Bigham family orchards, Rathburn and Martingrove ~1917; Sunday Afternoon, a scene showing the family of famous Islington photographer Walter Moorhouse on their veranda at 34 MacPherson Ave. (now Aberfoyle); Islington’s First Car, a 1917 Chevrolet owned by the Appleby family; and the Village Shoemaker, Mr. Nelson in the 20th century.”

mural in 4 parts, 1 on the left, 1 on the right and 2 in the center. The left depicts a man selling apples, the right depicts a cobbler fixing shoes. In the center: bottom, a family in old fashioned car. Center top - a family sitting in a livingroom including a man in a rocking chair

mural 11 – Mimico Creek in Fall, ca 1920, by John Kuna, 2008.
Looking north towards the Dundas Street bridge.

A large mural of a creek. On the left back are two painters with their easels set up beside the river. On the right bank are two boys and a man

Gordon’s Dairy, by John Kuna, 2008.

A mural on the front of the Islington Senior's Centre showing dairy carts.

mural 13 – The Old Swimming Hole by June Kuna, 2009.
Swimmers at the mill pond.

large mural of people swimming in a creek in bathing costumes from the 1920s

closer view of part of the mural of people swimming in a creek. In this part of the picture, kids are climbing on a water wheel. The mural is reflected in the window of the store next to it.

mural 14 – The Pub with no Beer, by June Kuna, 2009. 
A scene from the Prohibition Era in the late 1920’s.   Men collecting empty pop bottles from outside the Islington Hotel.

mural showing men loading an old flat bed truck with crates of empty pop bottles, 1920s

Fox and Fiddle bar, a two storey brick building,

mural 15, Faith of Our Fathers, part 2, by John Kuna

mural showing the building of a chirch

mural 16 – The Manse Committee by John Kuna 2010

mural on the side of a two storey white brick building. The picture looks like the outer wall has been removed to reveal a family house from the early 1900s. A cook is working in the kitchen,

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The Prodigy, by John Kuna, 2011
A satellite branch of the Royal Conservatory of Music was located in this building from the 1950s through the 1980s.

mural depicting a boy playing a piano in front of an audience. A man is helping to turn the pages of the music.

mural 19 –  Aftermath by John Kuna, 2011.
After Hurricane Hazel on 15 Oct 1854, most of Islington Golf Course and the low lying areas around Mimico Creek were flooded.

large painting of men in boats, helicopter overhead

mural 20 – Ontario Gothic, by John Kuna, 2011

A mural of a man and a woman standing outside a two stroey farm house. A white car is parked in front of the mural and it blocks the bottom right of the picture.

mural 21 – Toboggan Hill, by John Kuna, 2011

large vertical mural depicting a hill in winter. Bare trees, kids on tobaggons.

Close up of the bottom part of a mural whowing kids on old fashioned wooden sleds, or toboggans.

Fishing in Mimico Creek, by John Kuna, 2012,
with Riding the Radials seen in the background.

includes largemouth bass, rainbow trout, pumpkinseed sunfish

The Faces of Islington, by John Kuna, 2013

The Faces of Islington, by John Kuna, 2013

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the mural with no sign

mural of a group golfing in clothes typical of the 1940s

 more information – village of Islington murals website

Parma Court

Posted: December 8, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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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 ‘Project: Urban Canvas’.  This project involves 30 murals.   One mural for each of the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a United Nations

Urban Canvas was begun in 2008 which was the 60th anniversary of the UDHR. Not all of the murals are complete yet.  Two of those that are finished are located on Parma Court near Victoria Park and O’Connor.

One celebrates Article 19 which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

A large mural on a red brick building, painted to celebrate the United Nations Universal Declaration of HUman Rights. This one includes the words strength, love, respect, unity. It shows a 5 people engaged in various activities. painted by Michael Reyes as well as  Fozi, Humera, and Sabeehah

part of a mural showing a boy and girl holding hands as they run. Also, in the top right corner is a black man with a microphone. The words 'love' and 'freedom' are also written on the mural.

Part of a mural showing a black man's face. The words strength and respect are written there. Also 4 white stars, and the words "hoping after the stress everything is okay."

The words say “hoping after the stress everything is okay.”

 

The other mural celebrates Article 3 of the UDHR. 
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

mural illustrating article 3, it shows people

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website for Amnesty International Toronto Organization Urban Canvas project

This project is also supported by the Working Women Community Centre,  the United Way, and the city of Toronto.

 Other murals in this project on this blog:

Scarfo Lane

Posted: November 29, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Yesterday I came across some interesting colourful garage doors on Scarfo Lane that I have not seen before.   I didn’t see any signature on them so I don’t know who painted them.

Walking south from Herrick Street…..

a blue animal like creature is carrying a stick over his shoulder. three wood bir houses are at the back of the stick. A blue bird is sitting in front on the stick, and looking at the creature.

street art mural on an alley garage door. A red deer is seated in what looks like a computer lab, or factory.

street art mural on a double garage. yellow background. three floating logs with birds sitting on them are being pulled by a creature with a pink and purple head as well as a blue body.

street art on a garage door - paisley shapes in blues and purples
 

and then walking north from Herrick St…..

an alley with garages on both sides, also tall trees that have lost their leaves, small piles of dead leaves along the sides of the alley.

Looking north from Herrick St.

graffiti of a black and white dog's face on a metal garage

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.

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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.

under the tracks at Bathurst

Posted: November 28, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Murals painted by Elicser in 2014, under the railway bridge on Bathurst St., just north of Dupont.

It is difficult to do justice to the paintings with a camera because of the structure of the bridge.   The following images are ones that I took yesterday.  Yes, there are many!

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - taken from across the street, The picture is of 4 people who seem to be looking at the camera.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man on a red bike who is cycling towards a woman with outstretched arms

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a woman sitting cross legged on the ground beside a miniature city

mural under a bridge

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man's hand reaching towards a miniature city. roads, houses, tall buildings and hydro wires

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man with a football helmet on and green triangles in his hand

A man in a blue winter coat is walking under a bridge, beside a mural that is painted on the wall of the bridge.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a pair of legs with sneakers on flying past a man's head.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man with a red baseball cap on backwards

A man sitting on a bench who is looking down into a bag that is on the ground. A face in profile is beside him

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - Two large people in the mural. A woman is walking past on the sidewalk. The picture is taken from across the street so bridge supports are also in the picture.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - the triangular part of the wall of the bridge at the end, showing a woman in yellow coat and hat.

woman holding baby, man behind her making rabbit ears with his fingers

rusty metal railway bridge over a city street. There is a mural painted on the wall beside the walkway on the far side of the bridge.

mural street art painting of a man's face. He has a moustache. He is looking at the camera

 

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