Posts Tagged ‘Paula Tikay’

behind Dundas, near Dufferin

Posted: February 5, 2025 in alleys, construction, graffiti and street art
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below: View from a lane that runs behind the north side of Dundas West, walking west of Dufferin.   The alley also runs east of Dufferin but that will have to wait for another day.  The large brick building on Dufferin is St. Annes parish hall.  St. Annes church is behind, facing Gladstone Ave.  The vacant lot on left was a parking lot not long ago but now it is now a construction site.

man on bicycle, snow covered alley, vacant lot on left, backs of buildings on right, church at end of alley, St. Annes parish hall, workman arts

below: It looks like changes are coming on the Dundas West side of the lane as well.  A concrete wall/fence has been partially demolished and there are construction fences behind some of the buildings.  According to the Urban Toronto website, two 8 storey developments have been proposed – one fronting on Dundas and the other on Dufferin, with the alley remaining between them.

partial concrete wall, in an alley, with a row of buildings behind it, construction fence, snow,

below: Behind Dundas West… but not for much longer.

backs of two storey brown brick buildings, metal exterior stairs, doors, snow covered backyards,

below: Artwork by Cuban artist Supermalo5, aka Fabian Lopez  who always includes a little question mark in his work along with the incorrect equation 2 + 2 = 5

metal construction fence across the backyards of old brown brick buildings on Dundas West

construction site on Dufferin, just north of Dundas

construction site on Dufferin, just north of Dundas

fence around vacant lot, now construction site at lane and Dufferin, also at Boland Lane

alley view, back of old brick building with three doors on upper level, garage doors and single doors on lower covered in street art,

below: Two big round black eyes

behind 1512 Dundas West, a little mushroom shapred creature with two big black eyes, outlined in pink

below: Street art painting, abstract, by Mony Zakhour

street art mural by Mony Zakhour in alley behind Dundas West on garage door

close up of part of abstract mural by Mony Zakhour

street art mural by Mony Zakhour in alley behind Dundas West on green and yellow door

below: Screenshot from Google street view, captured in 2019.  The houses on the left are now gone – you can see the blue and white development notice sign in front of them.  They are now part of the vacant lot/construction site pictured above.  You can also see that the lane here is Boland Lane.  It runs perpendicular to Dundas West.

 

blue door with faded paint and a metal grille in front of it, beside a garage door with graffiti on it including the words Idle no more. Upper storey has an exterior door that goes nowhere

below: A quick look at what else is in Boland Lane

boland lane, looking towards back of dundas west, snow covered graffiti on walls of building on the left

below: “Embrace what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable”

text graffiti that says embrace what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable

below: “Perfection is the enemy of greatness”

text graffiti that says perfection is the enemy of greatness

graffiti on a grey wall, two images, one a woman in purple with blond hair and yellow t shirt and one more abstract, blue naked woman from waist up

old grey wood door in a grey building, with one rusty step, snow on step, graffiti on door and building

Continuing behind Dundas….

below: Layers, old and new as well as  wood, brick, and glass.

graffiti sticker, man's portrait in blue, on a black wall with red face graffiti behind

below: Rooftop decks and terraces above and street art covered garages below including a flaming hot kitty painted by Christina Mazzulla.

garage in laneway with street art murals on side as well as on garage door.

below:  A trio of grey masked foxes (wolves? dogs?) covering two doors.  This painting goes back to at least 2017 and possibly 2015 and before.

black and white mural on a garage door of at least three wolf-like creatures

below: The lane meets Awde Street, with a teal colored garage door.  Awde is only a block long, and is not the original Awde Street.  Apparently what is now Croatia Street was once Awde (1908) and there is a plaque to prove it.

end of alley, at Awde street, backs of two storey brick single family homes, with garages. snow, some cars,

below: That brownish wall in above picture (where there is now a stack of firewood), was once covered with a painting.  This is it in 2015.

garage door with a picture on it titled Casa Nostra, a picture of a man playing a large guitar and a woman standing beside an outdoor table with food on it.

below: Awde Street, streetview from 2019.

At this point, the lane makes a 90 degree turn towards Dundas – and lo and behold, there is even more artwork to see ( also by Mony Zakhour?)

bright mural in alley

below: On the north side of Dundas West, there is a large mural titled, “Three Sisters” painted by Paula Tikay and Aner Urra.  I discussed it in a blog post from 2019 (Three Sisters, Tikay and Aner)

man in laneway walking past a large mural, Three Sisters,

… and that’s the end of the alley!

Small bit of trivia:  I once found my great-great-grandfather, John Marshall, and his family in a Toronto phone book from about 1910 (I can’t remember the exact year).  They were on Gladstone Ave.  When I went to see if I could find the house, I discovered that the number corresponded with a vacant lot (parking lot?) adjacent to St. Annes church.

Three Sisters, Tikay and Aner

Posted: June 19, 2019 in graffiti and street art
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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.