people | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘people’

Feel Good Lane

Posted: February 27, 2019 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: #monicaonthemoon, alley, Andrew Castro, Anya Mielniczek, Bareket, Barry Luksenberg, birds, bkez, Bomi, butterfly, Chris Perez, colour, colours, cruz, deer, desko, Ed Hamer, Elly Dowson, emily may rose, faces, Feel Good Lane, flip, flower, fox, Frannie Potts, garages, lane, Leyland Adams, mska, murals, Odinamaad, Oriah Scott, paint, painting, people, psyblimation, raccoons, Rage Williams, ROAM, spud bomb, street art, streetARToronto, streetcar, Team SPUDBomb, TTC, turningwind, urban, van, zima

I’m still playing catch up as I go through photos that I took back in the fall. Late in October I went west on St. Clair to visit Feel Good Lane. The lane was officially named in 2016 in memory of Barry Lukensberg. He was a rapper, part of the 512 Crew, who was born and raised in the neighbourhood. He went by the name FeelGood. In 2014 he died in a motorcycle accident in Vietnam.

Just prior to my walk down Feel Good Lane, it had been the canvas for more than 30 street artists. This is what I saw that day. … Back before the snow!

below: The title mural, by SPUDBomb

below: by monicaonthemoon

below: by Oriah Scott

below: This is the front of the same garage in the above photo (with the streetcar). Both were painted Elly Dowson

below: Dog mural by @Dr_Roameo

below: Raccoons all over the place! A mural by Emily May Rose and Rage Williams.

below: The blue landscape is a painting by Leyland Adams

below: by Bomi (Bomino San Grantes)

below: by Cruz1

below: Butterfly face and curly hair – Frannie Potts

below: Another Cruz1 creation with a small painting by Bkez (aka Bareket) in the background

below: by Mska

below: A mural for the 512 Crew,

below: In the back, a mural by Odinamaad (turningwind). In the foreground is the work of Desko Zima

below: A face in blue and orange by Anya Mielniczek

below: On the right, a small piece by Andrew Castro

below: A fox head by Ed Hamer

below: Three pieces. Chris Perez mural on the left (blocked by a parked car), in the middle and one of a few swirls painted by Flip

below: The white chair is in front of a jellyfish and heart by Psyblimation

The project was organized by Julian Back and Kim Lesperance with the help of Team SPUDBomb. Financial support was provided by
StreetARToronto (StART). In addition, $5000 was raised from the community to help finance the project.

Winter Stations 2019

Posted: February 19, 2019 in events, waterfront
Tags: Above the Wall, Adelle York, Chairavan, colours, Family Day, February, Forest of Butterflies, frozen, Joshua Carel, Lake Ontario, lifeguard stations, Luis Enrique Hernandez, Mind Station, people, public art, sculpture, Sheridan College, snow ice, Tomasz Piotrowski, wall, winter stations, Woodbine Beach, Łukasz Chaberka

This year there were five installations at Woodbine Beach for the annual ‘Winter Stations’ event. Yesterday, February 18th, was the opening day. It was also a holiday Monday, Family Day, and lots of people were at the beach.

below: Forest of Butterflies by Luis Enrique Hernandez of Mexico.

below: The lake was very wavy and rough on Family Day. There was lots of water spraying onto the piles of snow and ice as the waves crashed against the shore.

below: ‘Above the Wall’ designed by Americans Joshua Carel and Adelle York. Climb the stairs and meet people on the platform at the top.

below: ‘Chairavan’ by a team from Sheridan College.

below: ‘Mind Station’, designed by Tomasz Piotrowski and Łukasz Chaberka from Poland.

below: Interior view – stand on the stumps to look out holes in the roof.

below: One of the views from the roof.

below: ‘Cavalcade’, designed by a group from Toronto: Victor Perez-Amado, John Nguyen, Anton Skorishchenko, Abubaker Bajaman + Stephen Seunwon Baik

below: The construction phase

Apparently, this was the 5th year for ‘Winter Stations’. Previous years ‘Winter Stations’ blog posts:

Flotsam and Jetsam and others (2017)

Warming with everyone and their dog – almost (2018)

Dreams and Love

Posted: February 14, 2019 in galleries
Tags: African, art, artists, black and white, contemporary art, Harbourfront, Jah Grey, Omar Ba, people, photography, photos, political, portraits, power plant, Quil Lemons, Sean Brown, Stella Fakiyesi, Yannick Anton

I’ve decided to put together two exhibits that are on at the moment in one blog post. The first is ‘Same Dream’ by Omar Ba at the Power Plant Gallery and the second is ‘Reflections of Love’ by a group of photographers next door at one of the Harbourfront galleries The two exhibits don’t have a lot in common except the close proximity of the two galleries and the fact that I saw them on the same afternoon last week.

First, Omar Ba was born in 1977 in Dakar Senegal. He studied art in Dakar and then in Geneva where he now spends part of his time.

below: The large work in the middle of the gallery was painted in place. That is Jesus on the cross. The center figure has the word”Horus” painted beside it. Horus was an Egyptian God who was usually depicted with a falcon’s head on a human body. The painting depicts “a recurrent motif of birth, death and reincarnation across different cultures today” according to the description of the exhibit on Power Plant’s website .

below: ‘Naufrage’ 2014. Dictators, despots, and authority figures can be seen in many of his paintings, often mixed in with scenes of plants and/or animals.

below: Similar to the one above, except hear the plants are based on fairly realistic human hearts with black aortas and yellow blood vessels.

below: Ba’s paintings are full of small details as can be seen in this close-up of part of ‘Autopsie de nos consciences 2’, 2018. Name the flags?

below: More details but from a different painting.

***

‘Reflections of Love’ is a photography exhibit on at Harbourfront for the month of February that features the work of five artists.

As you enter the gallery, the words on the wall say, “In honor of Black History Month, this thoughtful photography exhibit explores the many forms of love found within our black communities through reflections of self, identity and acceptance. Power within vulnerability and healing can only come through togetherness and conversation. This is a true celebration of exemplified strength in people with deep roots and heritage.”

below: On the back wall, a series of images by Stella Fakiyesi. Fakiyesi was born in Nigeria and raised in Toronto.

below: Photo by Sean Brown

below: Photo by Jah Grey

below: Two photographs by Quil Lemons

below: A closer look at the one on the right shows a wonderful tangle of three girls.

below: Three portraits by Yannick Anton

***

Happy Valentines Day!

more ice.. and a few ice breakers too

Posted: February 11, 2019 in public art, waterfront
Tags: Alexandra Griess, Andrew Edmundson, bents, chairs, Chroma Key Protest, Connectors, Dionisios Vriniotis, ducks, green, H2O Beach, ice, Ice Breakers, installations, jorel heid, JP King, Lake Ontario, long-tailed ducks, metal, Our Desires Fail Us, park, people, reflections, Rob Shostak, sculptures, Sean Martindale, snow, Stellar Spectra, tripix, winter

A walk along Queens Quay West

My reason for walking along the waterfront was to see the 2019 version of ‘Ice Breakers’. This year there are five art installations spaced out along Queens Quay. The white PVC tubes you see in the photo below is half of one of these installations, Stellar Spectra. The other half is identical and was behind me when I took this picture. They are placed at each end of the little bridge. These hollow structures were designed by Torontonians Rob Shostak and Dionisios Vriniotis. There is room for a person or two inside and once inside, look up! The tops of the tubes are covered with coloured acrylic.

below: I was trying to think of a way to describe the bridge that sits on, but a picture paints a thousand words so here’s the bridge from a different angle. You can also see the two white structures on the bridge in the background. In addition, there are green signs on poles that once floated in the water but are now frozen in the ice. The signs, like protest signs, are ‘Chroma Key Protest’ by Andrew Edmundson of Solve Architects.

below: Twenty five green signs

below: A pair of long-tailed ducks enjoy an small bit of open water.

below: Another installation, ‘Tweeta Gate’ over a very icy path. There were lots of barriers along the waterfront along with signs that warned of “no winter maintenance”. It was very slippery. These 10 arches are supposed to lead you to the waterfront but I didn’t see anyone brave enough to walk there. ‘Ice Breakers’ remain until the 24th of February so there is still time for the ice to melt (it will, won’t it?) Each arch represents a different architectural style. It was designed by Eleni Papadimitriou and Stefanos Ziras.

below: ‘Connectors’ is an entanglement of four orange tubes made of drainage pipes – if you speak into one end, which of the other 7 ends is the sound going to come out of? This was designed by Alexandra Griess and Jorel Heid from Hamburg Germany.

below: At H2O beach

below: The beach was fairly quiet. It was also covered with a layer of ice.

below: More ice surrounds the base of ‘Tripix’, a structure that was designed by a group of Ryerson students.

below: The panels that cover its surface are reflective and the angles in which they are arranged make for a kaleidoscopic effect when viewed from inside the installation.

below: And yes, another CN Tower picture

below: It’s not part of the ‘Ice Breakers’ series, but three large photographs are on display at Ontario Square. These are the series “Our Desires Fail Us” by Sean Martindale and J.P. King. They are mirrored images of Toronto garbage (mirrored in that one side of the photo is a mirror image of the other).

below: A close up look at one of the other photos [art is garbage vs garbage is art? – sorry, couldn’t help myself]

below: Recently, the off-ramp from the Gardiner Expressway that circled onto York Street was removed. The bents that held the road up remain in what is now a park at the corner of York Street and Queens Quay.

As I write this post, I keep wondering if I missed something because of the ice. I might have to make a second trip if the temperatures warm up enough before the 24th of February. In the meantime, don’t slip!

admit one… and a few more

Posted: February 10, 2019 in events, people
Tags: #icefest19, #icefest2019, dogs, Hollywood North, ice, Icefest, oscar, people, pictures, posing, sculptures, snow, winter, Yorkville

The theme of this year’s Icefest was ‘Hollywood North’.

Shooting on location at Yorkville Village Park on Cumberland Ave
during the weekend of 9th and 10th February

Featuring: Lots of ice sculptures (over 70,000 pounds of the stuff!)

In the Director’s chair

Starring

and a cast of thousands.

Somewhere on instagram there is probably a dog….

It says, “Say cheese”, so of course we do!

An Oscar winning performance!

bringing in the pig

Posted: February 5, 2019 in events, people
Tags: cameras, costume, happy new year, kids, lions, lunar new year, people, ribbons, Scarborough Town Centre, selfies, wishes, year of the pig

Happy New Year!
Lunar New Year that is, as we usher out the year of the dog and welcome in the year of the pig.

A few scenes from Scarborough Town Centre today.

Write your wish on a ribbon and tie it to archway – maybe your wish will come true.

Lions dance to ward off the evil spirits

back to the snow

Posted: January 29, 2019 in nature, people
Tags: alley, cars, parked, people, snow, snowstorm, winter

Hi!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here…. mostly because I have been away again. In fact, I just got back to Toronto less than 48 hours ago. The problem with coming home late in January is that you come home to winter. Winter in Toronto can mean almost anything with temperatures varying from mild to frozen solid. It’s not too cold right now but a lot of snow fell yesterday! The temperature is forecasted to fall tonight. It’s also forecasted to be above freezing by the weekend.

I may (or may not!) get my car shoveled out!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Posted: November 19, 2018 in events, people
Tags: animals, antlers, boys, bumble bees, camera, characters, clowns, costume, families, floats, flower pots, girls, gloves, hair, hats, ivy, mitts, people, red nose, reindeer antlers, SAnta Claus, smiling, tosantaparade, walking, waving, wigs

Santa Claus Parade 2018

The 114th annual Santa Claus parade filled the streets with lots of fun and excitement.

Floats, clowns, and hundreds of characters in costumes.

And people, lots of people!

And of course, Santa Claus at the end of the parade sitting in his sleigh with toys and Christmas surprises. The star of the parade, the person everyone came to see.

meandering near Bloor and Dundas

Posted: November 9, 2018 in general Toronto, graffiti and street art, intersections, locations, nature, old buildings
Tags: alley, autumn, bikes, building, car, contemporary art, Dundas West, garage doors, heart, houses, lane, map, MOCA, mural, pasteup, people, raccoon, signs, street scene, Tommys Gift & Variety, tractor, trees, uber5000

Presenting an eclectic compilation of images so

Have a seat!

below: But maybe not here, even if they are two comfy sofas! Comfy but wet.

Meandering on a day early in November

while the trees were still showing their last hurrah of colour.

This mural is on Roncesvalles is partially obscured but is still a welcome splash of colour and vibrance.

I love the raccoons! Pink raccoons

and blue raccoons on street art that I haven’t seen before.

Crooked lines,

tight spaces,

and old glass. All kinds of alterations.

Peeling paint on diamonds (once red?)

and water drops on leaves (definitely red).

One very pink car. Whiskey for Whiskers.

Uber 5000’s yellow birdies and friends are still on the side of Tommy’s Gift & Variety.

And next door you Coffee and breakfast at Tina’s while your tax returns are prepared.

Semi neighbours

at the edges of gentrification.

Lights over the train tracks

and graffiti beside.

A fine and dandy tractor

and a great idea

She’s gone green but she’s got the blues.

and Ontario’s now orange.

A family outing

below: The building with the giraffe pattern on top, at Bloor and Dundas West, is still there.

below: The murals painted by Wallnoize are still there. They were painted in the spring of 2015 and I posted a lot of photos of them shortly after that.

below: The murals run under the Bloor Street underpass (railway tracks overhead), on both sides of the street.

below: The new MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) is now open on Sterling Road. The renovations to the old Tower Automotive building aren’t totally complete; most of the area is a construction site. But the museum opened earlier this year. Access from the West Toronto Railpath is available.

But hey! Why stop here?…. more about the new MOCA follows ……

Halloween on Church, 2018

Posted: November 2, 2018 in events, people
Tags: baby, camera, candle, clowns, costumes, dark, day of the dead, dog, doll, drag, fun, instagram, Kermit, keyboard, light, lights, makeup, man, mask, Miss Piggy, night, party, people, street, umbrella, woman

It was the last night of October, the rain had stopped earlier in the evening, and Church Street was closed between Gloucester and Wood streets. It was ‘Halloween on Church’, an annual street party filled with costumes on display wanting to be seen and other people wanting to see and take pictures. These photos represent only a small selection of what there was to be seen that night (obviously!).

below: A one night stand to remember