people | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘people’

zombie for a day

Posted: October 27, 2013 in events
Tags: blood, bloody faces, chains, gore, men, people, Pokemon, rat, Rob Ford, scary, stitches, teeth, wild, women, zombie walk, zombies

Toronto Zombie Walk, Nathan Phillips Square,

26 October, 2013

The rain stopped just before the Zombie walk started but there was a very chilly wind blowing. The weather didn’t stop the zombies! It didn’t stop the fun either.

close up of a girl's face. She has a fake mouth tied together with red embroidery thread

I met a zombie, and it was fun.

a mother and daughter dressed up as zombies. Frizzy hair, grey skin and lots of fake blood dripping from their mouths.

keeping it in the family – like mother, like daughter

A woman with make up on her face to make her look like a zombie.

zombie repose, by the archer

A man with white makeup on his face, a chain around his neck and a plastic rat on his shoulder.

A rat’s best friend.

two girls with big bows around their necks, fake teeth and lots of blood

cute but bloodied

Two men. The one on the right is wearing a hoodie that says smoke meth and hail satan.

They humoured me.

A zombie holding a large yellow Pokemon zombie. He is screaming at a photographer

even Pokemon was not spared.

two woman dressed up like zombies. The woman in the foreground has blood dripping off her chin and down her neck. The woman in the background has a large ugly facial wound

dripping blood, and the eyes…….great zombie eyes!

a man made up to look like he has a pencil shoved into his eye

an eye for an eye, oh wait, a pencil for an eye

a girl with red frizzy hair who has white makeup on her face and a bloody mouth

bulletproof

A man with very long hair, a moustache and a beard with blood running down his face. A fake leg is attached to his shoulder. and he has chains around his neck

screaming, blood curdling screams……

Three people - two grey zombies and a young Asian woman who is pretending to be scared of the zombies

one of the many great interactions between the zombies and their audience

Two girls wearing woolly hats and very ugly fake teeth. THey have lots of blood on their chinslots of b

so much for the orthodontics

three zombies dressed in white coveralls, sitting by The Archer sculpture in Nathan Phillips Square

even zombies need a break

Mayor Rob Ford poses for a photo op with a zombie

Rob Ford meets zombie

paper people

Posted: October 25, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, big ears, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Bill Murray, black and white, broom, deadboy, drawings, everything made him happy, graffiti, Graffiti Alley, lane, Leonard Cohen, paper, people, photos, Rob Ford, stencils, street art, Toronto, woman

paper people of Graffiti Alley

a paper graffiti of Bill Gates, Bill Murray and Bill Clinton on a graffiti covered door

Three Bills
This is now a recurring theme in stencil/paper graffiti. Originally, the Bills were used in response to ‘post no bills’ signs on fences surrounding construction sites.
The Bills here, from left to right, are Bill Gates, Bill Murray and Bill Clinton

paper graffiti of ROb Ford, from the shoulders up, giving the finger.

In the fall of 2011, many of these Rob Ford stencils appeared in Graffiti Alley, amongst other places. They were the work of Toronto street artist, Deadboy. This might be the only one that remains in this alley.

a poster with a black and white line drawing of a man's head. He has a beard. Beside him are words.

Leonard Cohen: “only one thing made him happy and now that it was gone everything made him happy”

a black and white paper poster/stencil of a woman throwing her arms in the air and walking away. It is on a grey door in a lane. There is a broom beside the door.

“I don’t do floors”
“Clean it up yourself”

a brown and black set of posters/stencils of three heads. Two are the same - they look like heads with big ears and they are wearing very big sunglasses. The third looks like a woman in a helmet like the kind an astronaut might wear.

big ears and the astronaut

I have not included all the stencils in Graffiti Alley as some have appeared in prior posts. See https://mcfcrandall.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/walking-graffiti-alley-again/

a stencil of large headed, no armed, creature.

alien in the alley

With thanks to:

Georgette for her help with the three Bills

and Sally who recognized Leonard Cohen.

Nuit Blanche 2013

Posted: October 9, 2013 in events
Tags: 401 Richmond St., ai weiwei, bikes, bones, city hall, CN Tower, crowds, George Walker, graffiti, honey, installations, leg, lights, nathan phillips square, nuit blanche, painting, people, phones, photography, pics, posters, prints, spheres, street art, Toronto

Saturday, 5th October

downtown Toronto

This is only a small selection of the art installations and exhibitions that were on display that night.

part of an art installation where there are small bones hanging from the ceiling, A man's leg is in the background

Bones, leg bones? Part of the ‘Indicator’ installation at Gareth Bate Art Projects, 401 Richmond St.
“Birds, bats, bees. Indicator species tell us when ecosystems are in peril. Bones, sugar, dripping honey – a meditation on catastrophe and connection.” The bones hung from the ceiling and the honey dripped down the walls.
Artists: Karen Abel, Jessica Marion Barr, Gareth Bate

A man looking at a series of small black & white prints in an art gallery

A timeline of the life of Conrad Black in black & white woodcut prints as shown at a gallery at 401 Richmond Street. Artist, George Walker

silhouettes of some people, on glowing pink and blue spheres

silhouettes
at Much Music, Queen Street West

The CN tower, with pink and blue lights, is in the background. In the foreground are people taking pictures with their phones. In the middle ground are a number of pink and blue lit spheres

phones lifted skyward

A woman is taking a picture of an art installation that is flat on a table. Twelve black & white framed prints are on the wall behind her.

Black & white art made using electric currents & little wires that spun in circles.
401 Richmond Street

An art installation featuring pictures of bicylces. Multicoloured.

bkies, bikes, bikes

A man is spray painting a piece of street art using aerosol cans of paint

spraying in the spotlight
On Dundas West near Beverley Street

Crowds, at night. Light is provided by fluorescent lights that spell out a short poem.

‘The rose is without why’ by Boris Achour.
This is a short poem written by Johannes Scheffler aka Angelus Silesius, in the 17th century. The words are written with fluorescent lights and is more than 300 feet long. It was bright enough to light up the square.

crowds at Nathan Phillips Square on the night of Nuit Blanche. Some people are standing on the upper level watching the crowds below.

upper level, Nathan Phillips Square

Nathan Phillips Square

Nathan Phillips Square
On the left – ‘Forever Bicycles’ sculpture by Ai Weiwei lit in pink and purple. There are 3144 bicycles.
On the right – ‘Crash Cars’ by Alain Declercq consists of two driverless cars.

posing
These metallic figures were not part of Nuit Blanche. They are part of a sculpture close to the Court House on University Ave., just north of Queen St. West.

Nathan Phillips Square on a sunny long week-end

Posted: August 7, 2013 in events, locations
Tags: archer, August, dancing, irie, irie festival, live music, music, Nathan Phillips, people, performance, reggae, Samba Squad, summer, sunshine, Toronto, tourists

This year the long August week-end (Aug 3, 4 and 5) was warm and sunny. Like most summer week-ends in Toronto, there was lots going on. On both Sunday and Monday afternoon I dropped by the IRIE festival at Nathan Phillips Square.

people watching a performance at Nathan Phillips Square on a sunny afternoon

There was a small but appreciative crowd at Nathan Phillips Square on Sunday afternoon for the IRIE festival.

Samba Squad, a group of musicians, performs on stage.

Samba Squad performing on Sunday afternoon.

4 men dancing on a stage. they are wearing green pants and white sleeveless T-shirts.

They were called the TD dancers and they were one of the opening acts on Monday afternoon.

A man and a woman dancing. The woman has long hair that is bouncing around as she moves.

Their performance was twelve minutes of non-stop, high energy movement.

Seeking shade and a place to rest.

Two Asian male photographers and their cameras with very long lenses taking pictures of a performance on the stage at Nathan Phillips Square.

There were not a lot of cameras clicking away during the performances that I saw. One exception were the four men with their long lenses that stopped by for a few minutes, took some photos, and left. I thought of African safaris as I watched them.

A girls wearing a light blue jacket is standing beside the pool at Nathan Phillips Square while her mother takes her picture. The mother is wearing light blue pants and is holding a light blue umbrella.

Photo op in light blue.

Nathan Phillips Square from the south, showing one of the arches over the fountain. Some vendors are there as well as some tourists and other people enjoying the sunny afternoon.

There were also a few vendors selling food & drink, clothing, and jewelry. Mostly it was a pleasant way to spend some time on a sunny summer afternoon.

First Toronto Japanese Summer Festival

Posted: July 28, 2013 in events
Tags: crowds, drawing, Dundas Square, festival, geisha, Japanese, kids, kimono, parasol, people, Pokemon, red parasol, summer, sunglasses, T-shirts, Toronto

Dundas Square, Sunday July 28

I happened upon this festival this afternoon. It was crowded but everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Many people were out at Dundas Square this afternoon enjoying the perfect summer afternoon.

There were displays and activities. You could make buttons, practice calligraphy or try your hand origami.

two girls dressed in kimonos trying to grab a small inflated balloon that is floating in water.

Catch a bobbing balloon with a tiny hook!

Display of T-shirts for sale. They have Japanese writing on them. One is the character for energy and the other is the character for "be yourself'

T-shirts were some of the things that were available for sale.

A man wearing a Pokemon mask on the side of his head. Also in the photo is a small boy wearing a fedora but falling asleep on his father's shoulder

There were also masks for sale.

A woman wearing a kimono made of fabric that is covered with red maple leaves.

Many woman wearing kimonos in all colours and variety of fabrics. Some men were wearing the male equivalent (sorry, I have forgotten the name). There was a kimono fashion show as well.

Streetfest – Beaches Jazz Festival

Posted: July 26, 2013 in events
Tags: beach, Beach Boys food, beaches, churros, crowds, dancing, Dr. Draw, Erin McCallum, event, food, food trucks, gmmf, God Made Me Funky, Gorilla Cheese, happy, hats, jazz, Juice, kids, music, people, Phusion, Queen St. East, smiles, street, street festival, sunglasses, Toronto

Streetfest, part of the Beaches International Jazz Festival, was held 25, 26 and 27 July this year. About 2 km of Queen St. East is closed to traffic so pedestrians can enjoy the music provided by many bands representing a diverse array of music genres. On both Thursday and Friday evening when I was there the weather was perfect and the atmosphere was fun. I hope that I have been able to capture the spirit of the event!

Music, food, shopping, and most of all, people watching!