On Gerrard Street East, beside a parkette, is a grey concrete building that has been brightened by some paintings by Spud1 and kreech9 (and others?)
….And around the corner, past a pile of tires, is a wall of flowers, a happy face, and a rainbow.
The 3D Toronto sign in Nathan Phillips Square has been replaced by a newer, hardier version.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.”
Albert Jackson Lane is a small alley that runs south from Harbord Street.
below: What is happening to Harbord Fish & Chips? (Albert Jackson Lane is on the right).
below: Looking down the alley, the first impression is that it is rather nondescript but a few bits of colour suggest that walking down the lane might be worth the effort.
below: A purple and teal fish by birdo, aka Jerry Rugg
below: Part of “Secret Garden” by Emily Kouri
below: An older mural that completely covers the garage and the fence on both sides. I am not sure who the artist is.
below: This character is well known – a poser bunny.
below: The Toronto skyline and its reflection in Lake Ontario in a mural by Mel Coleman.
below: A talking head, a square head on TV. I love the bunny ears on the TV – who has those anymore!
below: At the end of the alley, a house with major renovations in progress.
This is the fourth year of the Brain Project. Forty five sculptures in the shape of a brain have been decorated by different artists. They are on display at Nathan Phillips Square for the month of July.
below: “Silver Bloom” by Carson Teal. Complex, random, and fragmented.
below: Here, pac man from the 1980’s arcade & video game, gobbles up yellow dots that represent brain cells. It is artist Orit Fuchs’s way of illustrating the destruction of brain cells in Alzheimers.
below: Brand Emsley’s “From Making to Thinking”, from the Brain Project website: “Toronto’s unprecedented building boom is reflective of the economic shift from the manufacturing economy to the knowledge economy. It is particularly acute in the area known as the railway lands and surrounding area.”
below: On the left, “The Routine Ride” by Antonio Caballero and on the right, “Beautiful Mind” by Romero Britto
A description of all the brains, plus information about the artists, can be found on The Brain Project website.
#noblankbrains
There are a few exhibits showing at the Ryerson Image Centre at the moment but the one that I want to highlight today is “Rich and Poor” by Jim Goldberg. Goldberg took portraits of people in the San Francisco area in their home environments between 1977 and 1985. They are divided into two sections, “rich” and “poor”.
below: Each portrait is accompanied by a comment from the person being portrayed, in their own handwriting. This woman, Nell, provides the wonderful quote: “If you want to stunt your growth, be rich.”
below: The pictures are fascinating, and the words reveal more details of the subjects. “My wife is acceptable”. The poor woman. In the picture she is off to the side and almost disappears into the background as she looks at the floor. I thought of the words ‘abject’ and ‘woeful’ when I first saw her but I think that maybe the best word to describe the look on her face is ‘blank’.
below: Whether you’re rich or poor, or more likely some where in between, what you say about yourself if you were the subject?
This show continues until April 8th
Uber5000 is almost finished a new mural in Graffiti Alley!
below: Large hockey playing yellow birdies. One male and one female by the looks of it.
below: The mural is loosely based on Nathan Phillips Square in the winter time. See that Toronto sign? It has been painted with glow in the dark paint. Apparently, UV lights are going to be installed to illuminate the sign at night. Something to check out in the near future!
below: That’s one cool tree!
With thanks to Joanne (of My Life Lived Full blog ) for walking with me today! You were a great excuse to walk Graffiti Alley again…. and yes, there is always something new to discover!
A small collection of a few of the things that I’ve noticed over the past while.
Pictures of little things that haven’t found a home yet.
below: It’s not two people each riding an old fashioned bike even though that’s probably the first thing that you think of when you see it. It’s one bike with two wheels and two riders going in different directions. Going nowhere probably. Seen in the front window of Tandem Coffee on King Street East.
below: Don’t just peer out the window, get outside and be a part of the world. There’s so much to be seen!
below: Love letter to a bike.
below: The mannequins on the balcony in Kensington are now gold!
below: I’ve seen a couple of these images now. This one is a paste-up on a black metal box near Bloor & Borden. I’ve also seen another painted on hoardings around a construction site, possibly on Bathurst Street. There was a similar image on the wall of Honest Ed’s but this one has a bit more detail in it, especially the hair.
below: A small sticker, slightly creepy, almost as if the poor girl is being stalked.
below: An old clock hiding under a newer sign, forgotten. Stopped long ago.
below: It looks like Mary’s been discounted.
below: Always good advice! Painted in pink on a window that catches the afternoon sun and makes interesting shadows on the blind behind.
below: Take one ball, a stool, and paint and add some imagination – a unique garden ornament to brighten the day of passers by.
below: Decorative tiles on the front of a brick building on Yonge Street (two photos).
below: I wonder what the T stands for?
below: Keep your eyes open and you’ll be surprised too!
Today I’m going to end with the photo below. To me it encapsulates the idea that photographers can be a weird bunch. Somewhere out there someone has a close up photo of these pipes and dials. It’s probably a great picture! …. because if they hadn’t been there, I may have taken the same picture. Instead I took a picture of the photographer in action. Never stop seeing.
Never stop noticing.
This is a Thursday Doors post.
I wanted to find a poem or a quote or something like that to accompany this post. A post about opening doors to get home. I only found poetry best said at a funeral… not so good for a sunny March afternoon. I’ll save the poetry in case I ever do a series of cemetery doors.
How many doors do you go through in a day?
You aren’t going to find any historical doors here nor have I taken any pictures of colourful, ornate, or classy doors for this post. Instead, I decided to use photos of a few of the doors that I had to pass through on my way home the last time I went exploring, starting with the subway at St. Patrick station.
These are doors that I pass through frequently yet I rarely notice them. Usually I see them more as an impediment to where I want to go. Maybe I should pay them more attention?
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For Thursday Door posts by other people, see Norm Frampton’s blog at Norm 2.0. He is the originator of the Thursday Door idea and he also keeps track of which other blogs have participated.