You better watch out, you better not cry
Better not pout, I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
… and he arrived on Saturday amidst the gusty winds and light snow. Winter arrived on the same day!
Before the parade there was the Holly Jolly Fun Race, a 5 km race along the Santa Claus parade route.
#TOsanta | #TOsantaparade
Nathan Phillips Square, Saturday 19 November
A cold wet day.
below: Stop the Fascists
below: Make America Love Again
below: We all share one atomosphere, one ocean, one earth
below: Demand accountability from elected officals – stand up for the disempowered.
below: Greenpeace
below: We are the Storm and we will leave light in our wake.
below: “Not fit for president, wake up America!”
below: Nathan Phillips Square during the rally.
below: Canada rejects bigotry
below: Nastywoman hashtag in action
below: Can’t comb over sexism and bigotry
below: Trans Lives Matter and Love Trumps Hate
below: One giant step backwards
below: With butterflies, hearts and sparkles
below: Bersih demonstrators join the rally. This group is calling for the resignation of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak
below: Trump Election: Byproduct of Obama/Clinton Neoliberalism – Bolshevik Tendency
#trumprally | #lovetrumpshate | #nastywoman
As I was walking down Yonge Street yesterday I happened upon this, faces playing peak-a-boo with passersby on the street. It’s a new 22 storey mural being painted on the north side of 423 Yonge Street. A ‘musical mural’ featuring the faces of musicians from the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s.
below: From top to bottom: Ronnie Hawkins, Glenn Gould, Diane Brooks, Jackie Shane and Muddy Waters.
below: The bottom of the mural
below: Looking up…. Shirley Matthews, B.B. King, Gordon Lightfoot and Oscar Peterson.
#yongemural | #adrianhayles
In the southwest corner of Alexandra Park (near the SE corner of Bathurst and Dundas) there is a large colourful mural. It was painted a couple of years ago by Elicser and Troy Lovegates.
I happened to be walking along Queen Street West this afternoon when I spotted something new…
A large mural on a wall by the CP24 parking lot by elicser
with the artist himself, putting on the finishing touches to the mural.
I had heard about a mural at Lawrence and Orton Park so this morning I thought I’d check it out. I ventured out Lawrence Avenue to just east of Markham Road. As I drove I was reminded of how big this city really is.
below: This is the community mural that started my adventure this morning. It was painted in nine sections and then assembled on the wall. It is the work of Ted Hamer, Rowell Soller and Skratch Wonder.
below: As I left Orton Park, I saw this mural from a distance. Of course I had to stop and take a picture. I got some strange looks. Tourists are probably not too common in this part of the city.
below: While I was looking for the best angle from which to take the above photo, I noticed some markings beside the road.
below: As it turns out, these are from the summer of 2011. Lawrence Avenue is 6 lanes wide and at this point it crosses Highland Creek and Morningside Park – a long bridge, a rather barren stretch of concrete and pavement.
below: Bridges were meant for going under, right? Luckily there was an entrance to Morningside Park right there, and luckily I left my toboggan at home 🙂 Morningside Park is part of a network of parks that follow the Highland Creek. It starts near Markham Road and the 401 and runs south to Kingston Road near Guildwood station. A search for an answer to the question, “How many ravine parks does Toronto have?” has yielded no results yet. I’ll keep looking.
below: The answer to another question, “Is there graffiti under the bridge?” was more easily found.
below: The bottom of the pillars were painted back in 2010 and 2011.
below: Hope takes flight over the city. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see but the word hope is written on the city at the bottom of this small mural but it is behind the weeds.
below: Personified Hope, from the picture above, wraps around to another side of the pillar as he/she moves upward. Also seen here is one of the feet from the upside down man.
below: Another pillar has a painting by elicser.
below: There were also a couple of paintings on the other side of the creek. There was water in the creek. Too much to cross safely.
Or at least, too much for me to cross safely!
It was a very quiet place to be this morning. I saw a couple of people on the path, including Batman, but they were silent.
One last photo, taken as I was driving home across Lawrence. I guess it’s somewhat appropriate for the time. Not sure why one would be sporting such a sticker in Ontario though. C’est la vie. To each their own.
I saw many people at bus stops waiting for the 34 Lawrence bus and I wondered how long it took them to get to the subway. Lawrence is 6 lanes wide and I tried to picture it with an LRT running down the center. (but that’s a whole other blog post, perhaps another day).
At one end of the new sports field at Regent Park, there is a large mural by elicser.
below: The west end of the mural, waiting on the sidelines with basketball at the ready as well as watching the soccer game.
below: The cricket players are between the words ‘Regent’ and ‘Park’ as seen above.
below: The mural continues behind the basketball court.
below: Basketball players both on and off the court.
below: The east end of the mural
I first blogged about the murals and street art in Underpass Park last summer after the pillars and bents on the east side of Lower River Street (at the skate park) were painted. The newest paintings are on the west side of the street.
Street artists Troy Lovegates and Labrona are in the midst of painting 16 portraits of 16 east end residents – one on each face of four pillars that help support the Eastern/Adelaide/Richmond overpass.
The pillars on the east side of Lower River street were painted as part of the Pan Am Path and were completed before the Pan Am Games started last summer.
below: From inside the skate park, looking westward. Lots of people!
below: Looking beyond the park and out over Bayview Avenue, train tracks, and the Don River. Two faces by anser.
The murals on the pillars in the park are part of the StreetARToronto initiative.
A beautiful Thanksgiving day, sunshine and autumn temperatures – what better time to get outside and enjoy a walk with friends? Today’s walk included the Beltline from Mt Pleasant cemetery to the Allan Expressway. Along the way we saw a couple of murals so I stopped to take a few pictures. These murals were under the bridge over the Beltline at Eglinton West. Both were part of the StART (StreetARToronto) program and were painted in 2013 by artists Viviana Astudillo and Logan Miller.
below: On one side of the underpass are scenes from the days when a railway ran along the Beltline.
below: The mural on the other side of the underpass depicts scenes of the modern day path including hawks, people, joggers, cyclists, walkers and dogs.
below: Someone has left there mark here too.
I missed Nuit Blanch this year. While I was away, I heard lots of good things about the installations at Nathan Phillips Square, including the fact that they will remain until the 10th of October.
Silly me went during the day. It didn’t look too impressive then!
There were lots of tourists taking pictures.
and schoolkids hanging out by the 3D Toronto sign.
Oh right, it’s a night time, after dark sort of thing. Come back after 7 p.m.
So last night I went back at 7 p.m. …. but last night was also the first game of the Blue Jays playoff series against Texas and it was playing on a large screen in the square. I watched the end of the game. There wasn’t a very large turnout, but the atmosphere was great. Everybody was in a good mood as the Blue Jays won 10 – 1.
Shortly after the end of the game, the large 14 metre globe that represents the sun lit up. “Death of the Sun” by Director X (Julien Lutz) began.
The sun starts as a swirling orange and yellow globe.
It then turns orange before the colours die out and fade to nothing.
At one point the sun lets off steam, gas, fog (whatever you want to call it) before it goes silent.
The end of the sun signals the start of “Pneuma”. Images by Floria Sigismondi were projected onto a wall of water under the arches in the square in what appears to be a short film full of symbols.
‘Oblivion’ is the name given to the collection of installations at City Hall. Both of the artists come from the world of video. Sigismondi has previously made videos for the like of Rihanna, David Bowie and Marilyn Manson while Director X has worked with Rihanna and Drake.
It was an interesting installation…. well done technically and fascinating to watch.
We tried to push the sun back into the sky, but we failed.
#nbTO2016 | #DirectorX | #pneuma | #floriasigismondi
as I walk Toronto 