sculpture | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘sculpture’

early morning Parkdale

Posted: January 11, 2023 in alleys, graffiti and street art, history, old buildings, windows and walls
Tags: alley, architecture, buildings, changes, Christina Mazzulla, Christmas, demolition, development, gables, globe, graffiti, Heather & Little, Jim Bravo, Jimmy Chiale, lanes, Lula Lumaj, mural, murals, Peter Dykhuis, Queen St. West, sculpture, stickers, storefronts, street scene, T-bonez, tibetan, Tsampa, urban ninja squadron, World Peace Monument

below: Pink faced, orange leopard spotted blast of colour…. A mural by Christina Mazzulla.

Settlement in what is now Parkdale began before 1850. In 1879 it was incorporated as a village and ten years later it became part of the city of Toronto.

below: Mural by Jim Bravo and Lula Lumaj from 2015, celebrating the history of Sunnyside Park. In the early years, part of the attraction of living in Parkdale was its proximity to Lake Ontario and such features as Sunnyside Beach and Sunnyside Amusement Park.

below: Christmas wreath on the globe outside Parkdale Library. This is the World Peace Monument, a globe surrounding a fountain. It was designed by Peter Dykhuis and fabricated in copper and bronze by Heather & Little in 2005. The metal sculpture has aged well but as we should all know by now, the city does not do water features well (i.e. I’ve never seen a fountain there; have you?)

In July 2022, City council adopted the Parkdale Main Street Historic District Plan. It covers Queen Street from Dufferin west to Jameson/Macdonell including this block of three buildings. It hopes to preserve many of the two and three storey brick buildings that line Queen Street and in turn, the character of the area.

below: Map of proposed Parkdale Main Street HDP. This map was found on a City website where you can also find other information about the project if you want.

below: Southeast corner of Queen and Dunn

below: A happy black and white bear to greet you

below: And a cow in a tea cup

below: Looking south on Lansdowne. Note the car blocking the bus stop.

below: Someone’s happy this morning

below: Looking south on Noble towards Queen

below: Northeast corner of Brock and Queen

below: “No Justice No Development” in the window of this former store.

below: Row houses. Each house shares a gable, or a peak, with one beside. Gables were very common in Toronto architecture, especially in the Victorian era, but in those houses each had its own gable. As people have decorated their houses, the resulting mix of colours, materials, and textures forms its own picture. This is not unique to this street – there are many other places in Toronto where homes with shared gables (both semis and rows) have been renovated such that the two halves look very different.

below: Bay and gable houses

below: Parkdale has always had a mix of many different building styles, both commercial and residential. The Tsampa Tibetan restaurant has an octagonal turret.

below: From rows of two storey houses to walls of glass and steel (on the other side of Dufferin, and the other side of the railway corridor).

below: Until a few years ago, this was Designer Fabrics store. The block of buildings was built in 1881 by J.C. Mussen, a Parkdale businessman. It was originally six storefronts. In 2020 there was a plan to build a nine storey condo on this site.

below: Like the building beside it, this grey building at 1354-356 Queen West may be demolished to make way for a condo development. There has been a long line of retail businesses in this space, from John Wanless’s hardware store in 1881 to Designer Fabrics (1950s to 2018). For more information about the building, see the website of Architectural Conservancy Ontario.

looking across Queen Street West, small tree and bus shelter on the south side, older buildings on the north side including a two storey brick building with front windows papered over

below: One person’s trash is another person’s treasure…. I had to double check just to make sure that it wasn’t real!

below: The bottom right section of a black and white mural by Jimmy Chiale.

below: “Danger – Restricted Area” says the sign

below: Nothing changes

below:Another demolition – this one is on Noble, immediately north of Queen Street West. An 8 storey condo has been proposed for this site.

below: Another building, another blue and white sign, another condo. As it turns out, this is immediately behind 1354-13656 Queen West (that grey building a few images above) which means that the 9 storey condo here will front on three streets: Queen St, Brock Ave, and Abbs St..

below: The struggle against colonialism continues

below: After a while there are just too many of these. It can get a bit disheartening. This sign sits in front of 1488 Queen Street West which is already empty and looking derelict at street level. The snails pace of development doesn’t help – neglected properties are a liability. They look horrid and contribute nothing to the neighbourhood.

below: Scan for nonsense

With thanks to @designwallah for helping to identify the artists of some of the murals in this post.

6ix Art Outdoor

Posted: August 2, 2022 in events, locations
Tags: 6ix Art Outdoor, art, Distillery District, painting, people, sculpture

I came across these colourful sculptures at the Distillery District this past weekend. There are thirteen of them, all painted by different artists.

Artists:

Alex Garant,
AlfAlfA,
Caitlin Taguibao,
Clandestino Art,
David Anthony,
Fatspatrol,
Gosia Komorski,
Jacquie Comrie,
Jieun June Kim,
Michael Sparaco,
Natasha Kudashkina,
Peter Triantos,
Que Rock,
and Yen Linh Thai.

waterfront

Posted: April 10, 2022 in construction, locations, public art, waterfront
Tags: Aitken Place Park, Alice Aycock, anser, bench, Between the Eyes, billboards, boats, condos, eyes, ferries, fish, John Fung, Lake Ontario, Merchants Wharf, Nbii Dodem, Paul Figueiredo, public art, Que Rock, queens quay east, Redpath Sugar, reflections, Richard Deacon, sculpture, seagull, Sherbourne St., Shore Stories, sugar beach, Sundial Folly, Water Clans, waterfront

Let’s follow the fish! 🐟 It’s pointed east along Queen’s Quay and by coincidence that the direction I’m headed too… 😃

The seagull is not amused.

below: Harbour Square Park with “Sundial Folly” at the water’s edge. This art installation is the work of John Fung and Paul Figueiredo. It has recently been cleaned up. The sphere is hollow and there is a walkway that runs through it. An opening at the south side (water side) acts as a sundial.

below: Looking east from Harbour Square towards the Westin Hotel tower and the park by the ferry docks.

below: Tour boats and ferries still under wraps for the winter months.

below: “Shore Stories” a mosaic located by the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. It was made in 2012 by youth from the community under the guidance of AFCY (Arts for Children and Youth, an organization that may or may not still exist).

below: The “egg beaters” at 1 Yonge Street are now behind a fence. The installation is actually called “Between the Eyes”, and is by Richard Deacon.

below: It’s 830km to Kapuskasing and even farther to Cochrane, just keep following Yonge Street northwards.

below: “A Series of Whirlpool Field Manoeuvres for Pier 27”. by Alice Aycock

below: The walkway along the waterfront comes to an end where a very high concrete wall separates Redpath Sugar from the public space.

below: Que Rock murals, water theme, “Water Clans (Nbii Dodem)” four panels at Redpath Sugar.

below: Pink umbrellas and sugar filled ships, at Sugar Beach.

below: Queens Quay East at Dockside

below: Sherbourne Commons

below: New construction on Queens Quay East where many parts are being made of wood. A new park, Aitkens Place Park lies between the new building and the waterfront.

below: Vacant lot on the corner of Queens Quay East and Small Street.

below: At the foot of Parliament Street.

below: Anser eyes

below: Sweet and salty at the Distillery

a touch of spring

Posted: March 12, 2022 in graffiti and street art, intersections, locations, public art, reflections
Tags: Anish Kapoor, art, Camilla Teodoro, CIBC Square, CN Tower, Compartment Earth, construction, covid vaccination, Esmaa Mohamoud, fence, hoardings, Light Stolen from the Sun, live again, Louis Agassiz, Love Park, posters, Queens Quay West, reflections, Renty, Rentyhorn, Roxy Paine, Sasha Huber, sculpture, Steve Driscoll, The Brotherhood FUBU, the power plant, traffic cones, Visoleil, windows

It seems like it’s been a long winter with more extended periods of colder temperatures as well as never ending snow. Last weekend was the first sign that maybe spring would arrive this year …. before the snow came back! Here are a few things that I saw on my walk last Sunday while out enjoying some warm sunshine.

below: A sign of the times; a sign for the coming spring.

below: There is still a large parking lot on the corner of Rees and Queens Quay. It may be the last piece of undeveloped property along this part of the waterfront.

below: Clearing away the piles of snow.

below: The skating rink beside the Power Plant is melting quickly. The designs painted on the concrete below provide a bright contrast to the towers of glass and steel nearby.

below: Same spot as above but this time looking northwest.

below: On the south wall of The Power Plant, a large image of the artist, Sasha Huber, on top of a Swiss mountain.

large picture on the outside, south, wall of the The Power Plant. A picture of the artist, Sasha Huber, planting a sign and plaque for Rentyhorn, renaming a Swiss mountain.

“Rentyhorn” (2008) is part of a campaign to rename Agassizhorn, a Swiss mountain peak. Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was a Swiss glaciologist who became convinced that Blacks were an inferior species and that he could prove it. Renty was an enslaved woman who was one of a group forcibly photographed by Agassiz in his attempt to prove his theory. There is more of this story, and more of Huber’s work, on display in the gallery.

below: Reflections and distortions in the windows of The Power Plant.

below: Queens Quay

below: “Compartment Earth” in the lobby of RBC WaterPark Place building on Queens Quay. It is 16,000 pounds of stainless steel; a sculpture by American artist Roxy Paine.

below: Work continues on the park, Love Park, that replaces the old York Street exit ramp from the Gardiner Expressway.

below: Esmaa Mohamoud‘s large image titled: ” The Brotherhood FUBU (For Us, By Us)” covers 37 x 144 feet (or 11 x 44 metres).

below: Looking up to the blue sky.

below: Part art, part health, this is “Visoleil” in the lobby of the new CIBC Square. A glowing circle of light to lift the spirits during the grey of a Toronto winter. I went on a Sunday and the doors were locked so I couldn’t get closer. Unfortunately, it’s probably gone by now as it was scheduled to be removed on 11th March.

below: Also at CIBC Square, “Light Stolen from the Sun” by Steve Driscoll. This new CIBC building on (by the new GO Station and across from Union Station) has been under construction for a few years now. It isn’t quite finished.

below: Looking through the front window you can catch a glimpse of this magnificent piece of backlit glass. Apparently there are twelve. This is something that I am definitely going to come back to see!

below: Street closed. Construction.

below: More construction, King and John.

below: Development notice on Crocodile Rock… yikes, 68 storeys proposed at Adelaide and Duncan.

below: Northeast corner of Adelaide and Duncan

below: Hoardings on Lower Simcoe street – “A Stroll Through the City” by Camilla Teodoro

below: Looking west on Front Street from Bay with Union Station, CN Tower, Royal Bank building, and the Royal York Hotel.

below: In Simcoe Park (Front Street), there is an aluminium sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor. It was installed in 1995.

below: Outside Metro Hall, a banner promoting COVID-19 vaccination in kids.

below: Snarky graffiti – “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”

below: Signs on traffic construction cones

below: Protest posters and graffiti. Anti condo development & corrupt landlords. Mercury contamination of water.

Spring Stations at the Distillery

Posted: June 8, 2021 in events, locations, public art
Tags: ARc de Blob, art, CHarlie Leather, Distillery District, flowers, From Small Beginnings, heart, Jack Leather, sculpture, The Epitonium

Because of COVID, the annual ‘Winter Stations’ art installation at Woodbine beach was cancelled. Instead, there is ‘Spring Stations’ now showing at two locations including at the Distillery District.

below: “The Epitonium’ by Iranian design team of Mojtaba Anoosha, as well as M., Shahed, Elaheh, and Alemeh Yenglabad. It looks like a large sea snail has landed in the Distillery District.

below: ‘ARc de Blob’ created by Austrian and UK team Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum.

below: ‘From Small Beginnings’ by Jack and Charlie Leather behind the red heart. The original design called for small spruce seedlings growing on the timbers.

Distillery district, a line of fake trees with trunks painted white, no leaves, beside a shiny red sculpture of a large heart. Behind that is art installation called From Small Beginnings by Jack and Charlie Leather and it is a stack of timber arranged in a large upside down pyramid

Previous Winter Stations posts:
2019
2020

benched

Posted: March 28, 2021 in locations, public art
Tags: art, benches, Christiano De Araujo, David Ogilvie Engineering., design, Francisco Gazitua, grominator, hoardings, Jieun June Kim, Michelle Cieloszczyk, murals, Nathan Mabry, Patrick Li, reflections, sculpture, T-bonez, Thelia Shelton, urban ninja squadron

Arty things around Liberty Village

Back in May 2020, 14 benches in public places throughout Liberty Village were designed/decorated by different artists.

below: ‘Gathering’ by Patrick Li

below: “Home of Innovation” by Jieun June Kim

below: Red pigeons in front of a new condo – by Los Angeles-based artist Nathan Mabry. If you step back and look at it from the right angle, the large red parts look like a pigeon as well.

below: ‘Perpetual Motion’ by Francisco Gazitua

below: “In Memory of Omi and Opa” by Thelia Shelton

below: “Love Conquers Our Differences” designed by Christiano De Araujo and produced by David Ogilvie Engineering

below: Brightly carpeted stairs behind one of the old brick buildings typical of Liberty Village

below: mural by Jarus

below: One smart mural.

below: Grominator watches the dancers

below: It’s not easy these days but “smile, enjoy now”.

below: “Can” by Michelle Cieloszczyk, 2017

Time for coffee!

Walking with friends

Posted: January 22, 2021 in nature, old buildings
Tags: bench, Bloor West, Catfish Pond, High Park, houses, ice, park, pond, rink, sculpture, shadows, snow, street, trees, winter

Howdy!

There are rumours of a vaccine being available but at the rate at which people are being inoculated, we’re going to be living this socially distanced life for a few (many?) more months. To help alleviate the feelings of isolation without jeopardizing anyone’s health, I have started walking with friends in their neighbourhoods. My previous post, about Glendon College, was the result of a walk that I took with my mother and it was that afternoon that I decided to make a point of walking with friends more often. The result of the first of these walks, near South Kingsway & Bloor, is what you see here.

below: Rules of the rink for these Covid-19 times.

A little house!

below: Be careful where you walk!

below: Evidence of beaver activity!

below: The muddy path beside Catfish Pond

below: Morningside High Park Presbyterian church, built 1917.

below: In the distance, highrises near Bloor West and Keele

below: High Park

below: The very north end of Grenadier Pond. Work is underway to remove invasive species of plants from this part of High Park and replace them with native vegetation.

and back up the stairs to Bloor West

With thanks to Alice for being my tour guide.

Bayview & Lawrence, Glendon College

Posted: January 21, 2021 in history, locations, nature, public art
Tags: Bayview Ave., Chedington, DOn River, E.R. Wood, Glendon College, Glendon Hall, Lionel Thomas, Ray Spiers, sculpture, snow, snowman, trails, trees, Watson's bridge, winter, woods

The main entrance to Glendon College is via Lawrence Avenue on the west side of Bayview; here Lawrence becomes the driveway for the college. The first building that you see is glass with the word welcome in several languages etched into it. On the left is “boozhoo” which is Ojibwe, “she:kon” is Mohawk, and “tansi” is a greeting in Cree.

In 1924, Edward Rogers Wood (1866-1941) and Agnes Euphemia Smart (1868-1950) moved into the house that they had built on 84 acres of ravine land at the north end of Bayview Avenue, in what was then suburban Toronto.

below: Glendon Hall now, on a grey winter day.

When Agnes Eupemia (Phemie) died in 1950, she left the estate to the University of Toronto to be used for a university botanical garden. Ten years later U of T gave the site to the newly formed York University to use as their main campus.

below: Another of the older buildings at Glendon

below: Residence building being renovated. They were built in the late 1960s. Glendon College has just under 3000 students but the campus was very quiet (on a Sunday in January 2021).

below: Lionel Thomas (Canadian,1915-2005), The Whole Person, 1961 metal mounted on the exterior of one of the buildings on the College campus.

below: Metal sculpture by Ray Spiers (b. Canada 1934), Untitled 1, 1975

below: Sculpture of a more temporary nature.

The main part of the campus is up high, above the ravine formed by the west branch of the Don River. At the bottom of the hill is the pool and tennis courts as well as access to trails along the river.

below: Athletic Center and bridge over the Don River

below: The end of Lawrence Avenue on the east side of Bayview.

below: Under the Bayview bridge which was originally built in 1929 with financing help from E.R. Wood, and expanded in the early 1960s.

below: Before 1929 this is where traffic crossed the Don River. The bridge, Watson’s Bridge, was built in 1895. In the distance, you can see the Chedington condos; they sit where a house for Muriel Wood once stood. E.R. Wood built the house (also called Chedington) for his daughter in 1927-28 but it was destroyed by fire in 2009.

below: Watson bridge, built 1895

below: Beyond Bayview the paths were very icy so we didn’t venture much farther that day.

More details about the history of the Bayview bridge can be found on a City of Toronto website. They have lots of pictures!

September downtown

Posted: October 15, 2020 in general Toronto, locations
Tags: 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.

statue of Egerton Ryerson at Ryerson University on Gould Street, painted green, with some red paint graffiti as well as red hands

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 buildings
Tags: 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.