Posts Tagged ‘tap’

Water is Life

Posted: October 7, 2021 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
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Women Paint Riverside
“Currents of Change”

the word life painted on a fence white letters on blue background

the word life painted on a fence white letters on blue background with small flowers painted all over it.

below: The faucet is on and water pours into a glass.  Interesting lively water, full of colours and patterns in this mural by Kirsten McCrea

lift truck beside wall with new mural of a glass of water in many colours and patterns,

below: A large mural by Mo Thunder.  Follow the link to her website for more information about the mural – a mother and child lying side by side forming the land as water swirls around them.

the word life painted on a fence white letters on blue background

part of a mural by Mo Thunder on Broadview Ave of a mother and child lying in water, child has plants in her hand, mother earth theme, water theme

artist, Mo Thuner, on a ladder painting details on a mural with a small paint brush

murals in an alley

below: White flowers on a watery blue background by Julia Prajza

large white flower painted in a mural, on a blue watery background, ladder sitting in front of it, step stool with a can of spray paint

below: Invasive species such as phragmites in the Don Valley, by Merryn

metal stair cases, exterior of a variety store, laneway, bike, garbage bins, artist on a ladder painting a mural

below: Rabbit and deer having to contend with out of control greenery, possibly dog-strangling vine. Phragmites are reeds, those tall perennial grasses that grow very tall.

part of a mural by Merryn about invasive species in the Don Valley, a pink rabbit and a pink deer having to contend with out of control greenery

below: Raccoons frolic in the water and raccoons sit by the shore.  Even one raccoon spray painting a rock, naughty raccoon!  Mural by Emily May Rose.

below: by Haenahhh.  Arms around each other

part of a mural, a couple standing by a lake with arms around each other, seen from the back

below: Hands reaching out in a mural by Claire Browne,

murals behind Queen Street East, Riverside, Toronto, behind stores, water theme, blue, Women Paint Riverside,

black hand, large painted, mural, at bottom of metal exterior stairs and under a window with metal bars, part of a mural with water and plants

tall green plants in a mural by Claire Browne

below: Victoria Day‘s mural – what looks a bit like a blue water serpent but is actually a dragon flying high above us in the sky.

two murals in a Toronto alley, on the left, all in blue tones, a water serpent, very big and rising out of the water. on the right, a long horizontal lake scene with a pink border

below: In the pink is written, “A persistent drop of water will wear away the hardest stone.”

on a wood fence in an alley, a lake scene mural with pink border

below: by Scarbrite Collective (brightening the streets of Scarborough), aka Frannie Potts and Sylvie with help from Memengwaa Kwe Originals aka Caterina.

a woman backlit by large round white moon is holding an infant in the air, woman has long dark hair, sky is pink

laneway mural by Scarbrite Collective and Memengwaa Originals, a mother lifts her baby up backlit by full moon on a pink sky

part of a mural in an alley covers fence and a door in the fence, wood, painting of a landscape scene with water, green shrubs, a tree, and night sky with stars

below: Love not hate.  A blue raccoon stealthily walks across a roof above a mural that was painted by participants in this year’s Girls Mural Camp (a three week program in the summer for teenage girls).

murals in a lane in Riverside near Queen and Broadview, Toronto. raccoon on upper story approaching a window, night scene on lower floor with bird silhoutted by full moon

below: The other part of the Girls Mural Camp project.

on a garage door in an alley, a mural of a blue faced women with swirly white and blue hair, flowers in her hair

murals in an alley

below: by Moonlight Murals Collective

three water women mural on a wall

part of a mural with theme of water, blue woman dancing with eyes clsed

part of mural, pale blue legs and bare feet walking in swirling water

below: Three heads that seem wrapped by a fish, mural by Cedar Eve

below: Eyes closed

long haired creature with just eyes showing, long pink and red hair on a blue fence

below: The Girls Mural Camp 2020 mural is in the same alley.

girls camp mural in an alley near Hamilton Street in Toronto, poster like pictures connected with white lines like a schmetic drawing

blue raccoon painted on wall above a garbage can

NOTE: There is also an installation by monicaonthemoon on the back of the Broadview Hotel that is part of this project but I have given it a separate blog post – Hands, Florests, and Minds.

With support from:

Eastend Arts

Women Paint

Native Women in the Arts (NWIA)

Riverside BIA

StreetARToronto

Gerrard underpass – hands and water

Posted: May 17, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations
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In many places in Toronto, railway lines run diagonally through the city’s grid of streets and avenues. Often, they cross the streets near intersections including at Carlaw and Gerrard East. The result is an intersection with two underpasses.

The mural on Gerrard East was updated and added to recently that I remarked on that I noted in a previous post, East on the 506. Kirsten McCrea was the artist.

below: The southeast corner of Gerrard and Carlaw is angled.  In “East on the 506” I described the art on this wall as:  “In the center of the newly painted rectangles are two grey shapes, these are originals. They are part of a 1996 installation by Dereck Revington called ‘Blue Fire’. There is still a plaque that describes these aluminum pieces as “a constellation of five paired aluminum fragments etched with traces of a poem by Robin Blaser and suspended from the entrances to the underpass”.

southeast part of intersection of Carlaw and Gerrard with railway overpass

The overpass on the Carlaw side has now been painted too. The following pictures were taken back in November.

below: Hands beckon and point the way under the railway tracks on the west side of Carlaw, from the north

A large hand mural beckons you forward, under a bridge on Carlaw

below: And from the south

a large realistic hand painted in a mural, part of Bridges in Art project

below: Under the bridge

purple windmills on an orange pink background, part of a Ryan Smeeton mural on Carlaw

Under a railway overpass, looking across the street to arches in concrete supports between road and sidewalk, lights on above sidewalk, mural painted on the far wall including purple windmills on pink and orange background

part of a mural, text graffiti, very three dimensional looking in shades of blue on blue background, representing water

below: A blue octopus in the water

part of a mural, blue background with a darker blue octopus

At the southeast corner of Gerrard and Carlaw there is a small park. The retaining wall of the railway tracks marks one of the boundaries of the park and is continuous with the walls of the underpasses. It too was painted by Ryan Smeeton but with the help of Elicsr, Smug, Tenser, and Steam.

part of a mural, a very large brass faucet is open, water is pouring out, a frog sits on a lily pad

mural on a wall along railway embankment, park in front of wall. water theme mural, large faucet has water running out of it, a frog, a scuba diver, and some text street art

part of a mural on an outdoor wall, a frog in a blue hoodie sitting on a lily pad, frog has gold chain and medallion around his neck

tree in front of a mural, painting of a person in vintage scuba outfit with old fashioned helmet, yellow suit, weight belt, sitting on a box or a rock at the bottom of the lake, silhouette fish swimming past

park in autumn, wall of railway embankment runs along edge of park, mural on the wall, water theme, with text throw up street art by tenser and steam

part of a mural, a young man in red shorts and red baseball cap, squatting on ground beside a ghetto blaster, there is also part of a text street art piece, as well as a rose on a stem with thorns and a couple of leaves painted on a support pillar for a bridge

I found love in an alley

Posted: August 15, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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“Cupid draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me”
(from ‘Cupid’ by Sam Cooke)

green background to a piece of graffiti that is black line drawing of cupid shooting an arrow. The target is a real tap in the wall that has been painted bright red

This has me thinking about taps and faucets as hearts.  Is there a metaphor to be found here?  “Pouring out your heart”, or maybe “Let your love flow”, or maybe just a little “love tap”?

below: Graffiti Alley has been love bombed.  Hearts and unicorns by @heart_bomb bring their colourful messages of love and togetherness to the lane.

graffiti on a door in an alley, pink and purple hearts with the words, you've got to let love rule, a piece by heart_bomb

graffiti on a laneway door, two unicorns, one yellow and one blue, looking at each other with a heart above them, words say: stronger together, a piece by heart_bomb

below: Nearby, elicser has a more philosophical take on love.

street art by elicser of a man holding (hugging) a child, in blacks and white, with words, sometimes it's like holding fire.

below: Keeping the message simple (even when love isn’t!).
I also love the three little monkeys at the bottom.

the word love in white block letters that are outlined in red, background is turquoise bubbles. below that are three brown pasteups of monkeys

And that’s why I love to keep going back to Graffiti Alley!

words painted on a sidewalk in blue, love all art