Posts Tagged ‘Philip Cote’

The Original Family

Posted: November 30, 2024 in public art
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Sometimes there are silver linings when buildings get demolished.  Until recently, this wonderful mural was difficult to get a good look at.  Now that there is a vacant lot next door I was able to get a much better picture of it.

The Original family, a mural by Philip Cote based on indigenous Anishinaabe creation story, thurnderbird, man, woman, moon, animals,

The title of the mural is “The Original Family” and it is based on an Anishinaabe creation story.  The artist, Philip Cote, has been telling Anishinaabe stories through his mural painting for at least twenty years, including a series of images on the concrete supports of a bridge at Old Mill subway station (see Spirit Stories Under Old Mill in this blog).

scaffolding and hoardings beside a vacant lot where a building has just been demolished, large mural on the other side of the fence, by Philip Cote, Original family,

The Grand Hotel was demolished to make room for a 68 storey skinny tower (on a larger base – i.e. the lower floors will be bigger, podium-like).  No facades to save here.  Once construction starts on this new building, the mural will become partially obscured again.

 

scaffolding and hoardings by a construction site, end of mural above hoardings, thunderbird in first nations style painting

 

 

 

Roncy old and new

Posted: October 21, 2022 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Walking an old favorite, the upper section of Roncesvalles.

below: The old Roncesvalles Village mural with the 504 streetcar is still looking good….  Jac’s Milk convenience store at Wright.

Jac's Milk convenience store on Roncesvalles, with a large mural on the side wall, a TTC streetcar, text that says Roncesvalles village, people waiting for the streetcar

below: There is now a bright new mural for Roncesvalles. It was painted by Philip Cote and Jim Thierry Bravo. It’s title is: “The Original People Leading to the Eighth Fire”.

new indigenous theme mural for roncesvalles village, a large brown bear looks down at the text in the mural, a lone of fish and birds under the text, a row of rental bikes in front of the mural, an orange sun in a yellow sky

There are many symbols that have been incorporated into the mural.  The large brown animal at the top (over the window) is a wolf who was the companion of the first humans.  There is an article on the Roncesvalles BIA website that provides more information and insights into the mural’s stories and symbols.    Also, what used to be a pharmacy is now Early Bird & Worm – but the painting of the interior of an old pharmacy is still there, under the new black and white sign.

left hand side of new Roncesvalles mural with a large green fish, a blue bird, and a bear, on the side of a brick building

below: On the far right is a thunderbird, a co-creator of the world.

right hand side of mural painted by Philip Cote and Jim Thierry Bravo, indigenous symbols, thunderbird

below: It’s pumpkin season!

Roncesvalles fruit market store with produce on display outside, pumpkins and sunflowers

view in a store window, gold and black and white pumpkins, picture of a woman in a frame

looking in the window of Good Neighbour store on Roncesvalles

old black sign with red peeling letters that say we scoop kawartha dairy ice cream, some letters missing

a man anad a woman talking and looking at a phone while standing on sidewalk by bicycles parked there, across street from White Corner Variety Store, new condos behind the store, Roncy, Roncesvalles

3 store fronts on Roncesvalles, Thai restaurant, Amma Roti place, and

below: Relax and Recover

two garages in a lane, ivy covering a lot of the nearest one, the word relax painted on the door, on the second garage, two large eyes above the door, and a white heart on the door with the word recover written in the middle of it

below: An oldie – a grominator on a concrete wall in an alley

street art on a cement block garage in an alley, a black and white grominator on one side and an abstract of swirls and wavy shapes in multi colours on the other

below: Bike parked in front of a painted door.

a black goccia bike parked in front of a door with multi color painting, abstract, on it

below: A defaced 33wallflower33 slap on the back of the traffic sign.

33 wallflower slap on back of traffic sign, two children in period clothing, sidewalk scene beside the sign

below: Opossums eat about 5000 ticks per season – now you know!

metal sidewalk box that has been painted with a picture of a possum along with some facts about the animal

samples of store merchandise on a door, a mat that says everyone welcome, a canvas bag with an image of an old TTC streetcar, a pink bag with a black stenciled womans face on it

turquoise and gold sign in the window of a door along with a lace curtain, sign says closed

parts of an old green sofa discarded and left by a bus shelter

Spirit Stories under Old Mill

Posted: July 15, 2022 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The TTC subway tracks cross above the Humber River at Old Mill station. The concrete pillars that support the subway bridge have been covered with many watery blue First Nations themed murals.

subway tracks cross above the Humber River at Old Mill station. The concrete pillars that support the subway bridge have been covered with many watery blue First Nations themed murals. a man holds out his hand to blue faced person, a round yellow sun in the sky

subway tracks cross above the Humber River at Old Mill station. The concrete pillars that support the subway bridge have been covered with many watery blue First Nations themed murals. fish swimming in watery blues around central medallions with images

below: The artist, Philip Cote, described the story behind this image on the ArtworxTO website (see link); like all cultures, the Anishinaabe have an origin story.  In the beginning there was just Spirit. “And that spirit decided to send signals out into the universe and waited for a response. And when no response happened that spirit called the signals back and said, “As you come back to me, create light in the universe”. And at that moment they had light and dark in the universe. And that is the beginning of the Anishinaabe cosmology. Everything for Anishinaabe is made of light and dark. Everything we look at has a spirit, everything, the ground, the rocks, the sand, the trees, the birds, the plants, everything is… and even our sun and our Mother Earth and the moon, they all have a spirit.”

connecting with the spirit, beginning of the universe, philip cote mural, old mill subway station bridge

connecting with thousands of galaxies in the universe

The blues of the water, the Humber River, were painted by Kwest. Water is the Underworld in Ahishinaabe cosmology and the Guardians of this Underworld are the fish. Another artist, Jarus aka (Emmanuel Jarus), painted the fish.

Most of the paintings have a well defined circle. This is the boundary between water and earth, between the spirit world and the physical world. But there are connections between the two worlds – all living things are connected and we are all connected to the Spirit World.

mural by Philip Cote, Kwest, and Jarus

First nations mural on concrete pillars holding up subway bridge over the Humber River, featuring a turtle shaped animal with a bear head, with its mouth open hunting for fish

mural by Philip Cote, Kwest, and Jarus, Anishnaabe spirit world and underworld theme, a male and a female figure, holding hands

Philip Cote mural with Jarus and Kwest, an otter swims in the water, looking down under the surface

These pictures also appear on another blog, Eyes on the Streets