Posts Tagged ‘pangeaseed’

back to Ossington

Posted: May 8, 2025 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
5

Ossington Avenue is an interesting street to walk with it’s numerous stores, restaurants and coffee shops.  But there is another fascinating world hiding behind the main street in the numerous lanes and alleys in the area.  A few weeks ago I presented some images from these alleys (Behind Ossington, 15 April),  but I barely scratched the surface of what is there.

on Ossington Ave., older buildings that are now stores. one is painted olive green, another is white, and third is red brick. at the end, is a building with large yellow and blue vertical stripes, a bench is on the sidewalk

For this blog post, I have assembled more of the photographs that I have taken around Ossington since January of this year.  It gets a bit long because I decided not to chop it into smaller pieces, so grab a seat and let’s get started!

a bench beside a green wall in a snow covered parking lot, door beside bench has love U! written on it

below: A whimsical Uber5000 painting on a garage door.

uber 5000 mural, green biplane with 3 yellow birdies, including one standing on a bomb. dog standing on one of the airplane wings

below: Hearts on fire, burning love, and the fireman that is trying to extinguish the flames – in a mural created by D. Terra Stencils.

stencil,ural by D. Terra stencils, a crouching fireman holds a hose and shoots water upward towards a big red heart

below: One of the cutest raccoons that I have ever seen, also painted by D.Terra Stencils.

mural by D. Terra stencils, of a young raccoon, green leafy background

below: Some more cute raccoons of a different sort go camping in a mural by Emily May Rose

Emily May Rose raccoons go camping, with a grey and orange trailer, a yellow umbrella, and a folding chair too

two grey Emily May Rose raccoons play in a pile of dirt, while drinking canned drinks

below: … and some more raccoons!

Emily May Rose raccoons in a painting on a fence in an alley

below: …. and even more!

in an allley, wall and door, raccoons by Emily May Rose and text graffiti too
toronto alley near ossington with street art on fences and garages

below: Smaller black stencil graffiti on a white garage door – an iconic image of Marilyn Monroe as well as a Kung fu Panda.  The other woman gets a splash of bright red.

black stencil graffiti on a white garage door, portrait of Marilyn Monroe, and kung fu panda image, as well as another woman's head and face

below: A trumpet player and a gun fight.

black stencil graffiti on a white garage door, a man playing a trumpet, also two men in a gun fight with one standing over the other who is lying on the ground.

below: Bikes on the stairs with a colourful bird keeping a watchful eye.

in an alley, exterior stairs to a small balcony, bike parked on stairs, mural of a bird painted on wall beside the stairs

below: A tribute mural celebrating Canadian Black designers.

mural in an ossington alley, black background, text that says Designers of Canada, with three portraits, on the lower level of a three storey red brick building

below: An old square brick building, garages and fences with graffiti, old trees, and a row of houses at the end of the lane – this captures the look of a typical Toronto lane.

looking down an alley, garages with graffiti on the right, fence on the left, at the end, a semi divided house that is different on either side, also at end of alley, on right, a larger red brick building (old)

below: Home patio, outdoor living urban style.

exterior of building, concrete block painted a dark yellow,, white door, and black window, with 2 small chairs and a table, and a stool, immediately outside the building

below: “Stop and enjoy”.  I like how the poster below the stop sign says “mediocrity” which makes the overall message, “Stop and enjoy mediocrity”.  A bit snarky.

stop sign on a pole in an alley, beside a garage door with street art on it. text graffiti on the stop sign so that it says stop and enjoy

in a laneway with street art murals on all the garage doors

part of a larger mural, a face in the sun, eyes closed, some vines are growing over the face

older drawing on garage, man's face, coconut tree with palm leaves,

below: The tail end of a fishy mural.

a small alley near Ossington, cars parked in alley, one side has building with mural on it, the other is a house with grey siding cladding

below: This aquatic themed mural dates from 2016 when a group of artists painted many murals in the area, all with the Great Lakes as their theme. They were part of Pangeaseed Foundation’s Seawalls for Oceans project. Some artworks have survived better than others. Love letters in paint is a post from 2016 that show most of them in their original form.

fish mural by shalak attack

below: The Swiss army knife was also a Pangeaseed mural

street art mural with a big red swiss army knife in the center

below: Where possible, Jimmy’s Coffee shops have exterior walls painted with images of famous Jimmys including the one on Ossington. Jimmy Carter, James Dean, the guitar of Jimmy Hendrix and two muppets representing Jim Henson Gonzo and Elmo

images of famous Jimmys on the side of Jimmys coffee shop on Ossington, Jimmy Carter, James Dean, the guitar of Jimmy Hendrix and two muppets representing Jim Henson gonzo and elmo

black and white image of Jimmy Hendrix singing and playing guitar, pink background, mural

below: A Jimmy of a different kind, a fantastic cacaphony of colours and shapes in a mural by Jimmy Chiale

mural of abstract shapes and colours by j. chiale

below: Close up of part of a mural, a young man wearing a black mask over his eyes.

close up of a street art painting, a young man in a black mask over his eyes

photo taken in a snowy parking lot, of the backs of some houses, fences, backyards,

below: Rowell Soller

rowell soller mural on a garage door

below: Two paintings on two different garages that look like they were done by the same artist.  The signature appears to be Soul R. and the top painting is from 2017.

mural of a turtle swimming in the water, in light shades of brown, blue garage

mural of a turtle swimming in the water, in a wall in an alley, with a pile of empty boxes and containers on the ground in front of it

below: 2022 Christina Mazzulla, for the Golden Turtle Restaurant.

mural, pink flowers, a fish, and a sea turtle

on the side wall of a house in an alley, mural, pink flowers, a fish, and a sea turtle

below: “You are stroger than you think”

a house being renovated, plywood over downstairs window with graffiti on it

below: Nick Sweetman has used shades of blue and purple to create this wonderful northern scene with a bear and moose combo.

a large bear and a moose, in a mural on a garage door in an alley, painted by bruno smoky or shalak attack

below: Totally blue.   The other colours have faded?  Or were never there in the first place?

gate in alley, double wide, at the end of a driveway, all in blue

below: More garage doors painted by D.Terra Stencils

alley near Ossington with lots of garage doors covered with murals, street art, urban art

below: On a bright yellow background, an image of Jean Michel Basquiat, one of the original creators present-day street art.

garage door painted yellow, then a portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat often considered the founder of street art

below: .. and beside Basquiat, a levitating woman

mural on an alley garage door by D.TErra stencils, a levitating woman, lying on her back up in the air, long hair hanging down.

below: Written in Portuguese is “Nem às paredes confesso” which translates to “I don’t even confess to the walls”.

mural on red background, musicians, one singer and one instrument player

below: Portuguese words, and nearby a Portuguese flag

street art painting of the Portuguese (Portugal) flag

mural, portrait of a man on a purple background

below: Boxers – Muhammad Ali and an opponent

boxing mural

below: The last D. Terra Stencils is this rendition of Ren and Stimpy

ren and stimpy from Nickelodeon TV in the 1990s, in a mural

trimming trees in an alley, man in lift above the lane, truck, some garages with graffiti and street art

little bits of metal on a wood utility pole

exterior door in an alley, covered with street art

part of a larger painting, a small character peaks its head out from the middle of a puffy orange letter O

below: The next four images are of the same mural in a snowy laneway parking lot…  starting with DAM DOG ketchup bottle

parking lot, in winter, box with street art on it beside a wall with more painting

parrt of a mural, smiling skull with a chain through one eye socket, and slightly yellow bottom teeth,

below: Parking for Animals

from a larger mural, young man in multi colour sunglasses, with a can of spray paint in his hand

close up of part of a mural, finger on the top of a spray paint can

below: These little ceramic animals have been walking in this alley for at least ten years.

little flat ceramic animal shapes, a turtle a small dinosaur, glued to a wall in an alley, beige with green and pink dots,

below: T-bonez stands alone, maybe waiting for the light to turn green?

t bonex sticker on a yellow box (for crossing signal). urban ninja squadron, visual noise,

T bonez sticker from visual noise and urban ninja squadron

close up of an old turquoise section of street art on wood fence, with red spray paint circle and double cross

on a wall painted very deep but bright red, outside in an alley, torn bits of paper remain where posters have been partially torn off

box on a wall, covered with stickers that are mostly in black and white, with red spray paint tag on top of it all.

below: And what’s this? Even more raccoons?! Toronto’s “beloved” trash pandas are everywhere!

raccoons in an alley mural, one sitting on a trash can, drinking, raccoons are trash pandas

part of a mural, painted by Emily May Rose, of a greenish grey raccoon, or trash panda, sitting of the top of a metal garbage can, holding a bottle with an XXX label.

love letters in paint

Posted: July 11, 2016 in events, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6

 

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

large mural by Peru on the back of a two storey building, a large red ship called the S.S. One Love in the water

part of a mural by Peru, lots of blue, looks like a stylized snake

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

a two storey vertical mural by caratoes in grey tones, fish and faces on the top and an object made of black and white triangles on the bottom

Close up of the top half of a mural by caratoes in grey tones, fish and faces

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

large mural of a water fowl sitting on the water on the old white Queen West self-storage building.

viewed from the corner so you can see two sides of the building, large mural of a water fowl sitting on the water on the old white Queen West self-storage building and another mural on the other side of the building

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

round mural painted by Sermob, car parked in front of it, stylized figures on water

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

large round mural of two large fish, intricate patterns on the fish, entwined head to tail to form a circle with their bodies

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

a large round mural of a family of otters. Baby otter is sleeping in his parents' arms. by Valinas

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.

large mural by birdo, street art, on a two storey bright yellow building, a shark, and an alligator (or crocdile) head

small mural of an animal head, street art, by Fuel, Kostyn, birdo

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

black and white mural in an alley, turtle, geometric shapes, woman's face, leaves, RIP Don Valley River

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

detail of a black and white mural by birdo and en masse with sybols of death and decay.

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

a large mural of a boy standing on a small island, wearing sunglasses, and saying "Hello", painted by Hebru Brantley

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

two sides of a building with murals, one side is a large mural of a boy standing on a small island, wearing sunglasses, and saying "Hello", painted by Hebru Brantley and the other side (store front)

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.

a mural of marine animals on the side of a building, but behind a locked fence

fish mural on a white wood fence, muted tones of greens, blues and browns.

colourful mural by Peru with the letters K E S H

Other posts about this project:

  1. other murals at Queen and Ossington, seawalls and serpents
  2. murals by the Don River, at the mouth of the Don
  3.  murals at Queen, Spadina and Bulwer

 

#seawallsTO | #pangeaseed | #loveletterprojects