a cooler evening on the waterfront
below: Simcoe Wave Deck
below: Joseph Landau, accordion player
below: Queens Quay traffic – take care! Cyclists (and pedestrians) don’t always see or obey their traffic signals!
Posts Tagged ‘people’
after a hot summer day
Posted: July 3, 2021 in people, waterfrontTags: evening, harbour, Joseph Landau, Lake Ontario, people, Queens Quay West, Simcoe Wave Deck, summer, waterfront
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East End mural
Posted: May 8, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locationsTags: basketball, Bridges to Art, Carlaw Dundas corridor, cyclist, east end, GO train, Jason Pinney, Jones Ave., mural, people, sitting
Initiated in 2017, the “Bridges to Art” program envisions murals on nine underpasses in Toronto’s east end. Several of the murals along the Carlaw-Dundas corridor have been painted including this one on Jones Avenue just north of Gerrard. It was painted by Jason Pinney and features scenes from the east end.
winter village evening
Posted: December 3, 2020 in events, locationsTags: art, brick, Christmas, Christmas tree, coat, decorations, Distillery District, evening, gallery, light projections, lights, people, windows, winter
Another COVID cancellation is the Christmas Market at the Distillery District. This year’s offering is “Winter village”, a down scaled version of past years’ festivities.
The lights are up, the tree is gorgeous, and the atmosphere is almost Christmas-y.
I’m going to say that I actually prefer this year’s less crowded version.
Scarborough Bells
Posted: November 20, 2020 in graffiti and street art, history, locationsTags: Andrew Horne, Bell estate, Birchclliff, cow, De Anne Lamirande, Elizabeth Simcoe, Emelia Jajus, farmyard, Mitchells Grocery, mural, Oakridge, people, railway, Scarborough, Scarborough Dairy, train, underpass, Warden Ave.
Immediately south of the Danforth , the CNR tracks cross Warden Avenue. A heritage mural was painted there a few years ago.
The wall on the west side was painted first. In the centre is a portrait of Elizabeth Simcoe. In August 1793, Elizabeth Simcoe wrote that the bluffs reminded her of the limestone cliffs in Scarborough England. Apparently that led to the bluffs being called Scarborough Highlands. Scarborough village became the settlement near the Scarborough bluffs.
To the left of her is a painting of the Scarborough bluffs.
And to the right, a steam train at the station.
On the east side, a painting of the stone Bell estate house built in 1830 is in the centre. Although it is known today as the Bell estate, the original builders were Richard and John Thornbeck who obtained 100 acres on that site in 1828 (near presentday Warden and St. Clair). In 1861 this 4 bedroom house was occupied by Richard Thornbeck, his wife, six children and his widowed mother.
Thornbeck sold the house to William Bell in 1882. It was then home to a line of Bell decendents for over a century. It was Bell’s Scarborough Dairy from 1931 to 1943 when it was purchased by Donlands Dairy. Part of the property was later owned by Beckers Milk who had a milk processing plant there until 1995. In 2012 the house was empty and boarded up.
below: On delivery, with horse and wagon from Mitchells. Arthur Mitchells Grocery store was an early landmark in the community of Birchcliff. It was on the corner of Kingston Road and Birchmount.
The mural was painted in 2012/2013 by De Anne Lamirande with help from Andrew Horne and Emelia Jajus
This mural illustrates the Bell estate’s beautiful fieldstone house built in 1830, just east of Warden Avenue which was designated as a historical site in 2011 and still stands today. Established on the property was Bell’s Scarborough Dairy which flourished from 1931 to 1943. The A.H. Mitchell Grocery Store was located on Kingston Road and made deliveries in this area by horse and buggy. The centre columns feature Oak trees, the red Canadian Maple and Birch trees which represent the Oakridge and Birchcliff communities.
[note: Oakridge is north of the tracks while the community of Birchcliff is to the south]
With collaboration from City of Toronto and Mural Routes
elicser on the Danforth
Posted: October 28, 2020 in graffiti and street art, locationsTags: artist, black lives matter, Breona Taylor, Destination Dandorth, Donlands, East End Arts, Elicser, Elicser Elliott, flip, Flips, head scarf, laptop, Maysr, mural, Nick Sweetman, people, police, reading, sari, Smokestack Lightning, spyone, SrteetARToronto, swirlgod, the Danforth, writing
One of three murals newly painted on the Danforth is one by Elicser Elliott on the southeast corner of Danforth & Donlands (once a 7-Eleven store). Four other artists were involved in this mural which is part of ‘Destination Danforth’, a pilot project that involved a number of infrastructure improvements such as bike lanes and patios as well as creative elements such as these murals.
On the front and sides of the old 7-Eleven is this mural:
below: The swirls were painted by Flips (Swirlgod and BSC – Blurred Sight Clreared)
On the back of the building along the alley, is a mural in black, white, and shades of grey. “Enemy of Justice is Ignorance Allied with Power”
below: “No justice for Breonna Taylor” plays on the TV while a policeman in 2020 vintage riot gear stands by the door.
below: The year 1955 references the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man in Montgomery Alabama, 1 December 1955. It was the year that saw the birth of the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the USA. Police uniforms sure have changed!
This project was also a collaboration with the local BIA’s, StreetARToronto, and East End Arts.
Three other artists contributed to these murals: Spyone, Nick Sweetman, Smokestack Lightning, and Maysr
“vice a mask”
Posted: October 17, 2020 in peopleTags: anonymous, covid, masks, Maya Angelou, Paul Laurence Dunbar, people, poems, poetry
To mask or not to mask? Masks have turned out to be a very useful tool in stopping the spread of the corona virus. All you have to do is look at the stats in countries such as South Korea and Vietnam where mask wearing is the norm and compare those numbers to the stats in countries such as here in Canada where mask wearing took some time to catch on. Only 38 people have died from COVID in Vietnam compared to almost 10,000 here in Canada.
In the early days of COVID (doesn’t it seem like a long time ago?) masks were controversial. There were a lot of mixed messages from public health – remember when wearing a mask was going to increase your chances of getting sick because you can’t help but play with your mask and then touch your face? Now, there are laws and rules that stipulate that you have to wear a mask indoors – in stores, in schools, on airplanes (who’s flying these days any way?), and in other public places. The argument switched from ‘masks won’t keep you from catching the virus’ to ‘the masks prevent you from giving the virus to other people.’
“Virtue has a veil, vice a mask.” quote, French author Victor Hugo
I was looking for help in writing about COVID-19 and people and masks and why we were slow to accept the practice. I went looking through google for quotes and poems about masks because I wanted to explore the idea that in western culture wearing masks is just not done. Masks are for thieves and others who are up to no good. The bad guy always wears a mask when he wants to rob a bank. Masks are for hiding your identity and fooling facial recognition software.
I have to add that the wearing of masks has become political although not to the extent that it has in the States where Trump has made the mask a symbol of weakness. We have our anti-maskers and they are still protesting (there was one in downtown Toronto today but I missed it). Apparently there were a couple of hundred people at Yonge Dundas square protesting lockdown measures in the name of Canadians’ constitutional rights and freedoms (CityTV link).
The ‘Anonymous’ mask, or Guy Fawkes mask, was used in the 2005 movie “V for Vendetta” where Fawkes was presented as a champion for human rights, an anti-establishment figure. It has become one of the most recognized symbols of protest around the world.
One of the poems that I found was “We Wear the Mask” written by Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1896. It’s opening lines are:
“We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,–
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.”
So now we have another “use” of a mask. The invisible mask that we wear to hide our true selves from other people. This quote from Japanese author Haruki Murakami complements the idea: “It’s not the people who change, it’s the mask that falls off”.
The last poem I found was one where the American author Maya Angelou adapted Dunbar’s poem (above). It’s long. It has nothing to do with COVID and probably not much to do with Toronto either. But in these unusual topsy turvy times, so what? It’s not a happy poem. But mix together COVID and its doleful fall-out, plus the protests surrounding Black Lives Matter and the simultaneous fight to increase recognition of Indigenous rights, stir it all together and presto, befuddled and disconsolate times.
“We wear the mask that grins and lies.
It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes.
This debt we pay to human guile
With torn and bleeding hearts . . .
We smile and mouth the myriad subtleties.
Why should the world think otherwise
In counting all our tears and sighs.
Nay let them only see us while
We wear the mask.We smile but oh my God
Our tears to thee from tortured souls arise
And we sing Oh Baby doll, now we sing . . .
The clay is vile beneath our feet
And long the mile
But let the world think otherwise.
We wear the mask.When I think about myself
I almost laugh myself to death.
My life has been one great big joke!
A dance that’s walked a song that’s spoke.
I laugh so hard HA! HA! I almos’ choke
When I think about myself.Seventy years in these folks’ world
The child I works for calls me girlI say “HA! HA! HA! Yes ma’am!”
For workin’s sake
I’m too proud to bend and
Too poor to break
So . . . I laugh! Until my stomach ache
When I think about myself.
My folks can make me split my side
I laugh so hard, HA! HA! I nearly died
The tales they tell sound just like lying
They grow the fruit but eat the rind.
Hmm huh! I laugh uhuh huh huh . . .
Until I start to cry when I think about myself
And my folks and the children.My fathers sit on benches,
Their flesh count every plank,
The slats leave dents of darkness
Deep in their withered flank.
And they gnarled like broken candles,
All waxed and burned profound.
They say, but sugar, it was our submission
that made your world go round.There in those pleated faces
I see the auction block
The chains and slavery’s coffles
The whip and lash and stock.My fathers speak in voices
That shred my fact and sound
They say, but sugar, it was our submission
that made your world go round.They laugh to conceal their crying,
They shuffle through their dreams
They stepped ’n fetched a country
And wrote the blues in screams.
I understand their meaning,
It could an did derive
From living on the edge of death
They kept my race alive
By wearing the mask! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Wear your mask! The COVID one that is.
September downtown
Posted: October 15, 2020 in general Toronto, locationsTags: banks, buildings, Canada Permanent, construction, covid, Dreaming, graffiti, Jaume Plensa, King Street, masks, people, photoshoot, reflections, Rising, Roy Thomson Hall, Ryerson, sculpture, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, TIFF, uber5000, University Ave., Yonge Street, Zhang Huan
“Social norms has been reset to factory settings”
I’m not sure what the above words mean or imply but I do know that we’ve all been impacted by Covid in one way or another. The city seems to be moving along albeit more slowly than usual. Sections of the city have fared better than others. In fact, it would be very easy to portray segments of Toronto as being in trouble.
Here the road is closed to vehicles for Open Streets (the last Sunday of September).
We are missing events. All those things that I like to take pictures at and blog about – the parades, the street festivals, and even the protests. With more people staying at home, no tourists on the streets, and events going virtual, it’s a much quieter city.
below: This was the last weekend of TIFF and you wouldn’t know anything was happening.
below: In past years, King Street closes for TIFF activities. This year there was none of that – no crowds jostling for a look at a celebrity or two, no booths selling things.
below: These little “patios” have been carved out of some downtown streets to help restaurants stay open during these COVID days. It’s a great idea for the warmer months. Although the city now allows propane heaters on the street, I am not sure how many people are going to want to have dinner outside in December.
below: The Royal Alex Theatre is still set up for “Come From Away”
below: A nearby restaurant still has its St. Patricks Day green on display.
below: Roy Thomson Hall in the foreground with downtown buildings in the background, as seen from Metro Hall.
below: New public art on Adelaide… this is “Dreaming” by Jaume Plensa. She’s three storeys high and I wouldn’t be surprised if she is dreaming of the days when we didn’t need masks. How long until someone gives her a mask?
below: Reflections with security guard
below: The steeple of St. Andrews Presbyterian church
below: Mother and daughter cycling together
below: The cows are still in their pasture, unfazed by the changes around them.
below: The next two photos were taken while I was standing in among the tall black towers of the Toronto Dominion Centre. The first view is to the southwest towards the CN Tower.
below: The second view is to the northeast.
below: The Canada Permanent building on Bay street is getting a cleaning.
below: This is one of the Bank of Montreal buildings, also on Bay Street.
below: Window washers
below: Pearl Street, looking east. Old brick buildings in the foreground with their modern counterparts shining in the background.
below: The west end of Pearl Street.
below: I found a person!
below: Looking north up University Avenue
below: The Shangri-La hotel and Momofuko restaurant with it’s weird sculpture “Rising” by Zhang Huan at street level (also University Ave). Masses of “peace pigeons” cover the surface.
below: Looking the other way on University Ave, south past Richmond to Adelaide and beyond.
below: Preservation of a large brick facade on Adelaide.
below: Waiting for the lights to change
below: Under the heading of “somethings never change”, there are always photoshoots in front of Osgoode Hall. Presumably this photo or one similar can be found somewhere on instagram?
below: Arranging the veil.
below: With a the pigeon by the Eaton Centre.
below: Mr. Ryerson keeps changing colour. Apparently he was more red not that long ago. Rather than remove the red paint, he was “cleaned up” by painting him this shade of green. He probably doesn’t realize it but he’s become a controversial figure. He may have been one of the first to establish public schools but he also played a role in the creation of residential schools for the indigenous population. Because of the latter, there has been some people advocating for the removal of this statue.
This statue was unveiled in 1889. It stands in front of an ivy covered building that started its life as Toronto’s first teacher’s college (1847).
below: Queen Street West
below: This yellow birdie, at least in sticker form, may be on the verge of extinction. An Uber5000 creation that can also be found on several of his murals around the city.
As I write this, the number of Covid cases in Toronto (and all of Ontario) have gone back up. Although we were hopeful that we were wrong, was there ever any question that things would get worse before they got better? Are we more complacent? Maybe. But let’s hope that we are also wiser this time around.
history in pieces of stone
Posted: October 1, 2020 in history, locations, nature, old buildingsTags: autumn, berries, cliff, colours, columns, crab apple, crabapple, Dr. Healey Willan, flowers, garden, Guild Inn, history, Jacobine Jones, Lake Ontario, leaves, marble, monuments, mountain ash, Musidora, park, peacock, people, plants, sculpture, Sir Ernest MacMillan, statue, stone, Thomas Bowie
Another path through the woods. This time there was a hint of yellow in the leaves because it was late September and even in 2020, some things are the same as ever.
The path led me uphill to the newly renovated Guild Inn. It’s been five years since I have wandered around their gardens and surrounding park. In that time, the building has been renovated and expanded. I didn’t take very many pictures the other day because I knew that I had a lot from my previous visit. I was going to link to the blog post from that time but I discovered that I never actually got around to posting anything! So, I have found the old photos and have included some of them here.
below: For instance, this is the front of the inn in July 2015 with its windows covered.
below: And the back, five years ago.
below: Five years later – the back of the Guild Inn with the path leading to the gardens.
below: A statue of Saint Francis Assisi with a wolf, carved by Thomas Bowie (b.1905)
below: A stone wall with statues and carvings provides a backdrop for a garden full of black-eyed susans. Because of the efforts of a few people to salvage some of Toronto’s architectural and creative history, the gardens of the Guild Inn have become the final resting place of a number of pieces of older buildings that have been demolished to make way for modern skyscrapers.
below: Stone wall with features from the Bank of Nova Scotia building (1903)
below: The bird nest is long gone. … but it would have been a nice quiet spot to raise a family.
below: From the Royal Conservatory of Music. There are two bas-relief bronzes of men associated with the Royal Conservatory. On the right is Sir Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973), an organist, composer, and conductor who was knighted in 1935 by King George V. On the left is Dr. Healey Willan (1880-1968) another organist and composer who was associated with the Toronto Conservatory for 30 years (1920-1950).
below: Looking through one stone arch to another, the square arch from the Imperial Bank of Canada Building (1928) and underneath sits Musidora. Many artists have lent their interpretations of this woman (in sculpture and paint), the subject of a poem titled “Summer” by Scottish poet James Thomson written in 1727. The beautiful Musidora strips naked to cool down by bathing in the stream, not knowing that she is being watched by Damon. Damon is torn between watching and turning away but chooses the latter.
In 1887, a Bank of Montreal building was built at the northwest corner of King and Bay; a site now occupied by First Canadian Place. The building featured a series of sculptures representing the Canadian provinces that were created by a number of artists. When the building was demolished in 1968, these panels were brought to the Guild Inn. Not all of them are on view today possibly because some were not in good shape (held together with metal straps). Maybe they are being fixed up?
below: This is the Alberta panel in 2015; the artist was Jacobine Jones (1897-1976)
below: It has since been cleaned up.
below: One of two stone angel panels from the North American Life Assurance Company Building (1932).
below: The brick and stone entranceway from the Granite Club (1926)
below: This cabin was named for William Osterhout, a United Empire Loyalist who in 1805 was given the first Crown land grant from King George III as reward for his service with the Butler’s Rangers. Although Osterhoust briefly owned the property, he never settled in Scarborough Township. The structure was more likely built around 1850 to 1860…. that may be a contentious “fact” as some believe that it is at least 50 years older than that.
The gardens have several different types of trees all in their autumn plummage.
below: Orange berries on a mountain ash tree…
below: … and many little crabapples on a crabapple tree.
below: At the south, the property ends at the Scarborough bluffs and there are many warning signs along the paths that run near the edge.
below: Looking out over Lake Ontario
And then, when driving north on Morningside on my home, I encountered this…. The peacocks have arrived.
For more of the history of the Guild Inn, see their website.
Toronto sign renewal
Posted: September 22, 2020 in landmarks, locationsTags: 3D sign, city hall, couple, Danilo Deluxo McCallum, fountains, people, photographs, selfies, Toronto
The 3D Toronto sign in Nathan Phillips Square has been replaced by a newer, hardier version. Same same but different.
LEFT:
“The original TORONTO Sign was installed on Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto City Hall in July 2015 for the Toronto Pan American and Parapan American Games. Although it was only intended to last a few weeks, in response to the sign’s popularity, the City of Toronto extended its presence on the Square and it became a Toronto landmark.
The Medicine Wheel was added on June 18, 2018 in honour of Indigenous Peoples and to increase awareness of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21.
The Medicine Wheel symbol was chosen, in consultation with Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre, as it is an emblem of North American Indigenous cultural values, tradition and spirituality. Its four directions (East, South, West and North) symbolize completeness, wholeness, connectedness and strength.
A maple leaf was added to the TORONTO Sign in 2017 to mark Canada’s 150th birthday.
The TORONTO Sign has become symbolic of Toronto. According to a Destination Toronto visitor survey, the TORONTO sign was one of the top three most visited attractions in the city and it is consistently ranked as one of the most Instagram-worthy spots.
In September 2020, a more durable replica of the original TORONTO Sign was installed”.RIGHT:
“The artwork design on the TORONTO Sign uses vibrant African fabric patterns as a backdrop to represent the diverse community of people of African descent in Toronto and globally.
Woven into the colourful patterns are African cultural symbols like the Adinkra Sankofa bird, which represents the importance of moving forward through recalling the past.
The inclusion of portraits of Canadians of African descent is an important statement in recognition that people of African descent are here, beautiful, bold and proud, holding Toronto accountable for justice and equity.
The City of Toronto recognizes the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African descent (2015 to 2024).Danilo Deluxo McCallum is a Toronto based visual artist. He works professionally as a painter, videographer, illustrator, graphic designer, muralist and art mentor. A product of the city, the characters depicted in McCallum’s work reflect a diverse landscape of people.”
in the alleys near Queen and Spadina
Posted: September 21, 2020 in graffiti and street artTags: bald eagle, birch trees, daught calm, Elicser, feelings boi, frontline workers, Graffiti Alley, Greg Mike, Jim Bravo, kone, lambourghini, lanes, mural, Obey, people, peru143, photographers, photography, pink panther, posing, Queen Street West, Queen West, ROC, ROC(514), Rush Lane, Shepard Fairey, slaps, stickers, stikman, street art, walking, Zianna Oliphant, zonr
below: Older street art in an alley behind the north side of Queen Street West
below: Although it was painted in 2015, Greg Mike‘s message of “Stay positive” still applies.
below: Elicser‘s mural of a woman with a bald eagle fling over the city.
below: Keep calm and meow on!
below: The birch forest painting by Jim Bravo is still at Queen West and Denison.
below: Also remaining, is the remnants of this stikman although he is now covered with a fresh coat of paint.
below: Truth phone in Graffiti Alley, by Mike Salisbury
below: A ROC bird character in collaboration with kone
below: A tribute to frontline workers in Rush Lane. Treaty 13 between the British government and the Mississauga of New Credit is also known as the Toronto Purchase.
below: Pink panther
below: Stickers and slap on metal – zonr, feelings boi, and peru143
below: Two more stickers. Daughtcalm on the right and Obey, aka Shepard Fairy, on the left.
below: There is an “Obey Eye” mural on the side of a store on Queen West (near Portland) that was painted in 2014. It is on the upper level and in a small side alley. The words in the mural say OBEY never trust your own eyes always believe what you are told.
below: Part of the Black Lives Matter tribute murals that were painted back in June. Zianna Oliphant was the girl from Charlotte North Carolina who spoke for black rights at a council meeting after a fatal shooting of a black man by Charlotte police. Also, note the altered yellow sign that now says “Watch for Injustice”.
below: A green Lambourghini and it’s photoshoot.
