Posts Tagged ‘urban’

Dysturb

Posted: May 9, 2016 in events, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Spread around Kensington and Chinatown are 20 large black and white photos taken by a number of freelance photojournalists who are part of a group called #Dysturb.   One of their goals is to present photojournalism in new ways, including as street art, with the aim of engaging people and encouraging discussion of global issues.   The images are part of an exhibit for the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

Kensington has had a problem with taggers for a while.  Often street art gets vandalized in that area.   The #Dysturb photo that was at 56 Kensington (under Mona Lisa) has already been torn down and a couple of others have been ripped.

Pictures of some of the images that are part of the exhibit are shown below.  I have included a partial transcription of the words that accompany each picture.

 

Libyan Coasts, August 1, 2015
Photo by Christophe Stramba-Badiali/Haytham

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - a boat load of Libyan migrants is being rescued from their rubber dinghy.

West African migrants are seen aboard a boat, approximately 20 nautical miles off the Libyan coast, as they are about to be rescued by Medecins Sans Frontieres. The MSF-hired ship, named Argos, was patrolling the waters off Libya when it encountered one rubber dinghy carrying a total of 111 migrants including several children and infants. “

Barpak, Ghorka District, Nepal, May 9, 2015 ”
Photo by Renaud Philippe/Hans Lucas

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - children playing in the wind created by a helicopter, Nepal, on a wall in an entraceway. A man is busking in front, and there are people walking past on the sidewalk

Children play in a cloud of dust and gravel thrown by an Indian army helicopter landing in Barpak Nepal.  The community is at the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that struck April 25, 2015, taking over 8000 lives.  Of Barpak’s 1400 houses, only 20 remain standing.   The rest of the town is a pile of rubble that blends into the rocky landscape.  An archway that somehow survived the quake greets visitors with a rueful ‘Welcome to Barpak’.”

Shaanxi Province, Henan, China, February 27, 2014
Photo by Sim Chi Yin/Vii

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - an ill Chinese man is being comforted by his wife. The picture is on a graffiti covered wall and a black car is parked close to it.

Gold miner, He Quangui, battling silicosis, struggles to breathe while cradled in the hands of his wife Mi Shixiu.  After many attempts to stabilize his breathing, in the early hours of the next morning her tried to kill himself to end the suffering.  He contracted the irreversible disease working in illegal gold mines in China’s Henan province.   He is among some six million workers in China who have pneumoconiosis – the country’s most prevalent occupational disease.”

Cizre Turkey, October 30, 2015.
Photo by Emilien Urbano/Myop for Le Monde
NOTE: I took this picture on Friday. Today (Monday) it was gone.

large black and white photo pasted onto a boarded up storefront of European Textiles on Spadina Rd. The photo is part of #Dysturb exhibit at Contact Photography Festival. It shows a hooded man holding an automatic rifle

A militiaman from the PKK Youth wing YDG-H in Cizre Turkey.  The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) – the militant youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – are battling to defend their neighbourhoods from Turkish security forces.  The YDG-H has been acting as a paramilitary force in Cizre for the past few months and has closed off several Kurdish neighbourhoods with their armed checkpoints and patrols.

Fort McKay, Alberta, Canada, August 12, 2015
Photo by Ian Willms/Boreal Collective

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - a sick boy is lying on a bed, on a wall in the entranceway to a store, sidewalk and street scene in the background

Dez, 7, plays in his bed.  Dez was born with an underdeveloped heart and has received multiple open heart surgeries.  His family and healthcare professionals in Fort McKay believe that his condition was caused by environmental pollution.   Fort McKay is an indigenous community that is surrounded by oil  sands developments.”

Kunduz City, Afghanistan, November 18, 2015.
Photo by Andrew Quilty/Oculi

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - a mother (covered in a black burka) and her daughter in grief, at a gravesite. Pasted on an orange wall with an old brown leather sofa in front of it.

Najibah tries to comfort her daughter Zahara, 8, as they weep over the grave of their husband and father, Baynazar.   Baynazar, 43, was wounded by gunfire on his way home fromwork during the Taliban takeover of Kunduz in late 2015.  He was taken to the nearby Doctors Without Borders (MSF) trauma centre.  In the early hours of October 3, during his second operation, a US AC-130 aircraft attacked the hospital for more than half an hour, killing 43 MSF staff, patients and nurses.  Dozens more were wounded.

About #Dysturb

#CONTACT16

trees, trees, and more trees

Posted: April 28, 2016 in nature
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Have you ever noticed how many trees there are in this city?
Have you ever stopped to examine the visual relationship between trees and architecture, the patterns of leafless branches superimposed on straight man-made lines?

Horizontal branches of a tree growing in front of a low rise yellowish brown brick apartment building. Balconies, jutting out with the bright blue sky behind.

For the past couple of weeks I have been keeping an eye open for such relationships while I walk.   As it turns out, there are lots to be found…. and some are even interesting  🙂

Part of a mature tree, looking upwards, the greenish steeple of St. Basils church can be seen through the branches. No leaves on the tree. A very tall condo building under construction is also in the picture.

Just for fun I googled “How many trees are there in Toronto?”.  I got answers!  One link was particularly useful:  available in pdf from the City of Toronto’s website is a report titled, “Every Tree Counts: A Portrait of Toronto’s Urban Forest” (updated in 2013).   It is estimated that Toronto has about 10.2 million trees and they provides a tree canopy over between 26% and 28% of the city.

A large mature tree with no leaves, early spring, grows in front of a large glass building that has a reflection of another large building its windows.

There are at least 116 different tree species in the city.  The 10 most common species account for close to 58% of the total.   We have a lot of maple trees – Norway Maple, Sugar Maple, and Manitoba Maple were the top 3 species.  Next in the list were Green Ash, White Spruce, Silver Maple, American Elm, Eastern White Cedar, Austrian Pine, and White Ash.

When Dutch elm disease devastated the city’s elm trees in the 1960s and 1970s many were replaced by Norway maples.  These proved to be hardy but they were also very invasive and damaging to ravines and other natural spaces.  As a result they are rarely planted on city property anymore.  Still, they represent 15% of Toronto’s tree coverage.

A lone smallish sized tree in winter is growing in front of a stone building on the University of Toronto campus, snow on the ground.

Of the total tree population, 6.1 million (60%) trees are on private property, 3.5 million (34%) trees are in parks and ravines, and 0.6 million (6%) trees are on city streets.

A tree in a concrete planter in front of a tral coloured building. It's a sunny day so there is a shadow of the tree on the building.

Trees make a significant contribution to our life.  Not only do they look nice, but they also provide benefits.  They provide shade in the summer and they help improve the air quality.  They help prevent erosion in our ravines and they provide habitat for insects, birds and animals.  Our parks would be poorer places without trees.

A large branch of a tree in the foreground, condos and the CN tower in the background. The curve of the tree branch looks like its wrapping itself around one of the tall condos.

One goal that the city has is to increase the canopy cover over Toronto to 30%.  To this end, between 2004 and 2012 the city and its partners planted almost 100,000 trees per year.   That’s almost 900,000 trees.   Not all survive but progress is being made.  Tree cover increased slightly (1.3%) between 1999 and 2009.

below: A map of Toronto showing the tree canopy in each neighbourhood

A map of Toronto showing the percentage of each neighbourhood covered by tree canopy from almost white (very few trees) to dark green (a lot of trees)

in winter, some snow, part of a large leafless tree in front of an office building with a sloght curve in it.

Take a moment to look at the trees you pass, yes, look up!  Especially in the next week while the branches are still bare.  Better still, look up often and watch the changes unfold as the trees bud and bloom.  At this time of year the trees change quickly and before you know it the city will be transformed.

winter tree in front of a stone government building on Queens Park Circle, A Canadian flag and an Ontario flag are flying in front of the building.

A number of leafless trees and three lamp posts in Simcoe Place, downtown Toronto, with the CBC building in the background

A man's legs as he walks across the pond on Ryerson campus. Very little water is therem lots of reflections of the trees and buildings around. He is wearing jeans and bright orange running shoes.

leafless tree branches above an older red brick house with a mansard black slate roof and a feww yellow brick details

Dominion Coal and Wood

Posted: April 13, 2016 in history, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
1

The eastern end of the Kay Gardner Belt Line Park crosses over Yonge St and the subway just south of Davisville station.  It then runs across the north side of Mt. Pleasant cemetery.  It comes to an end at Mt. Pleasant Road where the trail merges into the roads that run through the cemetery.

In 2014 students from Greenwood School painted a mural at this location.  The mural has three main elements.  A train to represent the Belt Line, the name of the community that it is located in (Mt Pleasant Village), and the words ‘use Dominion Coal and Wood’.    The last part is because not long ago, on this site, stood the large concrete silos that the Dominion Coal and Wood company used to store coal and wood.   The shape of the black background is very similar to the shape of the silos if viewed from above.

below: Mural, with Mt. Pleasant Road above it.

blog_domiion_mural_greenwood

mural celebrating mt pleasant village and the old dominion coal and wood silos that used to be at that location. At the end of the belt line trail where it merges into mt pleasant cemetery

below: Plaque located on the site of the old silos (now in the bushes beside a condo)

City of Toronto historical plaque describing the history of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos that used to be on Mt. Pleasant Ave near the old Belt Line Railway tracks.

transcription of the Heritage Toronto plaque:

“Dominion Coal and Wood

Originally located on Danforth Avenue, the Dominion Coal and Wood Company was founded in 1912 by William H. Smith.  In 1929, the company opened a landmark facility on this site.  Its nine adjoining concrete silos were designed by E.P. Muntz Engineering Company.  Coal and wood were transported here by rail car along the former Belt Line Railway and then sold as heating fuel to local businesses and home owners.

Originally just one among many similar suppliers in the city, Dominion Coal and Wood outlasted most of its competitors.  The company expanded into building supplies as coal sales dwindled, but continued to sell coal here until the site was closed in 1999.  Although recognized as an increasingly rare type of industrial architecture, the historic silos were demolished in 2001. “

 

below: The nine silos, about 1972.  The photo is from City of Toronto Archives and was found online at JB’s Warehouse (a good source if you are interested in more information at Dominion Coal and Wood)

picture of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos on Mt. Pleasant, from city of Toronto Archives, taken about 1972. With an old Mt. Pleasant streetcar on the street by the silos.

below: I tried to replicate the above photo, about 42 years later.  The Mt. Pleasant streetcars are long gone as is the gas station on the NW corner of Merton and Mt. Pleasant.  A corner of the tall white apartment building on the right can be seen peaking from behind newer condo buildings.  Of course, the dominant part of the picture is the condo development that was built on the site of the Dominion silos in 2002.

condo building across the street, about 12 storeys high, made of brick and glass, a couple of cars are on the street

April flurries

Posted: April 5, 2016 in graffiti and street art, nature
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

April showers bring May flowers, or so they say.

painted on a garage door, bright green background with black roses with red leaves and white daisies, also with black leaves, a red butterfly and a blue butterfly

BUT, wait just a minute!  You know it always snows in Toronto in April.  Always.

young man's face painted in pink with white features (stylized, not realistic) with orange hair and orange shirt. beside him is the word no written in large pink letters with an exclamation point after it.

And this year is no exception.

drawing of two eyes and a mouth on a grey wall. There is fear in the eyes and the mouth seems to be screaming. Beside the drawing is a window with green metal bars and a small leafless tree growing in front of the window. Snow on the ground.

It’s cold enough that even the poles are wearing scarves.

an old scruffy yellow metal pole in an alley has a black knitted scarf tied around it. There is a bit of snow on the scarf.

But why should that stop us?  There’s always a silver lining and there’s always lemonade to be made.
In this case, it is the opportunity for one last look at the city in winter (we hope!)

backyard, entrance off alley, little red car parked on snow covered parking lot. blue sky, backs of two storey houses

looking through a backless garage where the garage door is open. The garage is empty. you can see the backyard, covered in snow as well as snow covered steps leading up the second storey

looking down a narrow lane to a large two stroey red brick house across the street, a woman is riding past on a bicycle.. winter scene

danger, open edges

Posted: December 2, 2015 in locations, old buildings
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Sometimes when I walk I find a view or a photo that suggests a theme for the day; something that summarizes the area that I’ve been walking through.  On Saturday, this was the photo, a construction site on Wellesley Street -a massive hole in the ground amongst a growing number of high rise buildings.

red and white danger sign on a makeshift wooden fence that says danger due to open edge. Beyond it is a very large hole for a construction site. A bulldozer is in the hole, downtown Toronto is in the background.

a large number of new high rise buildings just beyond a large hole in the ground where another condo is being built

This piece of property, between Wellesley and Breadalbane streets, had been vacant for a number of years.  It was once owned by the province; back in the 1980s there were plans to build a ballet and opera house there.  Those plans fell through and the land remained vacant while community groups lobbied for a park to be developed there.

When I first walked the area in April 2013, there was a blue fence around the site.

A wood plywood fence painted blue. Someone has painted three large white dollar signs on as well as the word ka-ching.

The blue fence is gone. According to the development proposal sign, two towers are being built here with a combined height of 99 floors.  A nine or ten storey L-shaped podium will run along St. Luke Lane and Wellesley Street to join the towers.    The plan also allows for park land on Breadalbane.  When I checked the website for the development, 11 Wellesley aka Wellesley on the Park, there is only one tower pictured and it doesn’t look like the description on the sign.

Ah, a little light bulb goes on.  The sign describes the developers’ original plan.  A change in the plan doesn’t mean a change in the sign.   So…  this seems to be the future home of one 60 storey condo tower on one third of the land and a 1.6 acre park on the remainder.

two bicycles parked on a sidealk in front of a fence that has a development proposal sign on it. Building site behind that, thena wall of skyscrapers in the background.

My Saturday walk had actually started close to Yonge and College.   I was drawn to the nondescript block of stores that are now boarded up in preparation to be demolished.

A block of two storey stores on Yonge street has been boarded up in preparation for demolition.

I’m wishing that I had taken pictures previously of these stores just to document the history of that part of Yonge Street.  I had many chances to do so, but the building never seemed interesting enough.

a man is walking past a row of boarded up stores that are about to be demolished.

development proposal sign above a large number 501, with an office/retail for lease sign above it.

Whether or not you think that two 58 storey towers with a shared 7 storey podium is an improvement is an entirely different question. It will contain 960 condo units and 5 storeys of above grade parking (because the subway runs underneath) with 320 parking spots.  Lobby access for the buildings will be from Maitland and Alexander Streets on the north and south sides of the property.  Or at least that’s what’s on the sign.   But fool me once, so I checked the  website for the condo (TeaHouse Condos in this case) and once again the information doesn’t match.  According to the website there will be two towers but the north one will be 25 storeys and the south one will be 53 storeys.  Whatever the end result, it will be different from what’s there now!

 

At least one person had an objection.

development proposal sign on a yellow wall that someone has written enuf on in big pink letters

A walk around the back of the building shows that we aren’t losing much there either.

two stroey building boarded up and ready for demolition, with a parking lot, behind a chain link fence.

 

The next site that I explored is just to the south where a hole is already in progress on the SW corner of Yonge and Grenville.

A hole in the ground on Yonge Street for construction of a building.

Photo taken from St. Lukes Lane

.

below: This hole has exposed the north wall of the brown brick Oddfellows’ Hall as this view shows.  This is looking south, with College Park in the background (built by the T. Eaton Co. and opened as a 6 storey Eatons store on 30 October 1930).  Behind the chain link fence is St. Luke Lane.

back of a large four storey brick building behind an open hole construction site, taller buildings in the background (College Park)

Now you see it… soon you won’t.  The condo tower here will be 66 storeys high.

open hole at construction site surround by fence, brick building in the background.

Oddfellow’s Hall was built in 1891 and 1892 by architects Norman B. Dick and Frank W. Wickson for the Independent Order of Oddfellows.  It has two octagonal turrets and is a playful mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles.   The building had a 20’ x 46’ long grand hall for IOOF private meetings as well as offices and storefronts.

below: Looking north up Yonge Street at College Street, about 1970.  The Bank of Commerce (later Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and now CIBC) was an early tenant of the building.  Also in the picture is the old fire hall tower but more about that later.

old photo from about 1970 looking north up Yonge Street from College Street. Oddfellows Hall is on one corner with main tenant as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Old fire hall tower is in the distance.

Photo found online, original source was City of Toronto Archives

.

below: Most people will recognize the building as Starbucks.

Oddfellows Hall, a large brick building with two hexagonal turrets, brick, now a Starbucks on the ground floor.

starbucks at the corner of Yonge and College

Back to Grenville Street where there is yet another development.  On the west side of St. Luke Lane is a partially completed condo that has incorporated the facade of what is known as the John Irwin house.  It is one of the oldest surviving residential buildings in the area;  in 1873 it was recorded as being owned by a John Irwin.

An old three storey brick house, the John Irwin house has been restored and incorporated into a new condo development that is in the process of being built, cement mixer in front, men working.

This house wasn’t always in this location though.  It was moved a few metres east along Grenville, from one side of the condo development to the other.  I found a photo that I took in April 2013, just after the house had been moved.  Here you can see the back of the house as well as St. Luke Lane to the right.

back of an old house from the 1870s, the John Irwin House, a three storey brick building, that was moved from one site to another. It is sitting on supports at the edge of a construction site.

Does your head hurt yet?  Because there is more…..
But first, a break.  A few other pictures from the area.

below:  No Parking in St. Luke Lane, twice.

A red sign on a red wall. In yellow letter that are peeling off, the sign says Private Parking Only, mcdonalds.

A light yellowish grey wall with a yellow sign that says no parking. Old sign, looking worse for wear. A piece of flat scrap metal is leaning against the wall
  below:  And a man (Van Gogh? someone else?) with a red umbrella but more remarkably, a white picket fence almost hidden under vines by Wellesley Street.

A drawing of a man on white paper pasted to a concrete wall. A red stenciled umbrella is on top of his face. A white picket fence is beside the wall.

below: Also in St. Luke Lane, a mural commemorating the Highway of Heroes.

A mural commemorating the Highway of Heroes

And back to the program….

So far we have two holes in the ground, a partially finished condo, and a block that has just begun to be demolished.  The last development that I saw in the area was one that is still in the planning stages.  The development proposal sign posted beside Currys Art Supplies (the blue awning) is a clue that changes are imminent at 480-494 Yonge Street.  This building is on the SW corner of Yonge and Grosvenor.   The sign says one 45 storey tower but by now I don’t believe the signs!

development proposal sign at 490 Yonge street

480 Yonge Street is a heritage building as is the old fire hall (1872).   The top corner of 480 Yonge is just visible in the bottom left of this picture.  It is to be incorporated into the new development if it goes ahead.  The fire hall tower is going to be preserved but the building in front of it will be removed.  The sidewalk will also be widened as a result.  That’s the opening act of this story; there may be changes before the final curtain.  The developers applied for a zoning amendment (increased height and density) earlier this year but I do not know the results of that.

old fire hall tower above a newer building, or a newwer facade on an older building, red dump trunk on the street, large new condo being built in the background, Yonge St.

below:  On the NW corner of Yonge and Grosvenor is this building.   I don’t know if there are any plans in the works to redo this stretch of Yonge Street but after seeing all the new developments, I’m starting to get a bit sentimental about the old buildings.  So here is documentation of what remains, starting with  A & W Home of the Burger Family at 496 Yonge.

Three storey older grey building on a downtown corner.

below: between Grosvenor and Breadalbane – Cuban cigars and Persian food

Three three storey buildings in a row, old brick buildings, on Yonge St in downtown toronto, 502, 504 and 506. Yonge Market, Persian restaurant, a Cuban cigar store.

below: SW corner of Yonge & Breadalbane – old and new, short and tall

sw corner of yonge and breadalbane streets showing older stores in the foreground and taller condos in the background.

below: SW corner of Yonge & Wellesley – tattoos, massages, and payday loans.

southwest corner of Yonge and Wellesley, a row of old buildings, now storefronts. A Massage parlor and a tattoo place, a convenience store and a Money Mart. Gass condos in the background.

below: NW corner of Yonge & Wellesley – Not just noodles

not just noodles restaurant on the corner of Yonge and Wellesley as well as more stores going north up Yonge Street.

Renfrew Place

Posted: September 23, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Renfrew Place, near Queen Street West and University Avenue.

Another alley, another collection of graffiti and street art.

below: Lovebot strides over speed bump warnings.

A yellow sign warning of speed bumps in the lane has a big lovebot sticker in the middle of it. Buildings in the background.

Street art on an alley garage that covers the whole of the front including garage door and entranceway. On the entrance door is a greenish horned three eyed, big teeth monster

rasr tag on the upper story of a building in an alley . another tag under it that also covers a door.

door in an alley is covered with a street art piece in golds, reds and white

back of a building in an alley, beside a parked car, is covered with swirls of pink, orange and yellow street art. There are a couple of abstract faces in the swirls.

back of a building in an alley is covered with swirls of pink, orange and yellow street art. There are a couple of abstract faces in the swirls.

Two signs on a wall covered in street art in pinks, yellows and oranges. One sign is a Tow Zone sign, i.e. no parking. The other sign has an arrow pointing to Queen mother bar garden.

below: The Korean Grill House restaurant is at the corner of Queen West and McCaul.

The back of the Korean Grill House restaurant, and the alley that its in. There is lots of street art on it. Two red garbage bins are also in the picture and they too have graffiti on them.

below:  This mural by elicsr is on the corner of Renfrew Place and John Street.

a mural by artist elicsr on the side of a convenience store. The side of the building faces an alley. A large man and woman are in the mural and they are wearing red crowns. The woman has a young girl sitting in her arms. There is another man in the mural, he covers the back entrance to the building.

two pictures, both part of a mural by elicsr. On the left is a man in a brown and olive green adidas jacket. He is wearing a brown baseball cap with the letters ELX on it. On the right is a picture of a woman with her arm wrapped around a young girl. She is writing a letter.

A painting of Frida Kahlo on a wall. Larger than life size. She has a purple shawl around her shoulders.

line drawing of a dinosaur on a wall beside a door.

A street art piece in grey tones with some black and white, by gino.graffiti (that is how he has signed it). Done in 2015. In an alley beside a black metal door.

The back of a couple of buildings in an alley, covered with graffit, mostly tags. One says Herbs and another says Near. A beige car is parked there too.

A street art painting is wearing away revealing the red brick underneath. A pink bunny is still partly visible. The word gwap is written above the rabbit's ears.

the demolition of a building has made it easier to see some street art and signs on the upper part of the side of a building. One is the word Alveno (or maybe Alvend) written in large block letters. Another is a colourful geometric design.

north of Nassau

Posted: September 5, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Nassau Street that is, just south of College and just west of Spadina.  There is an alley that runs north from Nassau directly behind Spadina.  A dead end lane runs perpendicular to it, behind the houses on Nassau Street.  Like most alleys in Toronto, there is street art there.  Some old, some new, and unfortunately some scribbled over.  All in all, this lane is looking a little worn.

Buildings in an alley with lots of graffiti on them.

a wall with a painting of a woman's head on the left (in grey tones), a door with metal bar gate in the middle, and part of a tag like graffiti piece on the right.

large geometric street art piece on a brick wall in an alley

Black and white street art painting on a reddish brick wall, signed Jaroe

Two large poser bunnies on a wall in an alley

buildings in an alley with lots of street art on them

A lovebot and a pair of anser eyes on a wall in an alley. Lots of empty cardboard boxes on the ground by the wall.

A wall with a small window with a metal grille over it, covered in street art, with weeds and goldenrod growing up in front of it

view down an alley late in summer when there are leaves on the trees and lots of weeds growing at the edges of the pavement

An old wood door on an alley building has been painted with a large yellowish green face with big pink lips and brown teeth

graffiti on a garage door

Two black lovebot robot stickers on a yellow protective sleeve around a cable that is helping to hold up a pole.

In an alley, the back of a house is being renovated, all the windows are boarded up and some of the exterior brick has been removed. There is a metal gate across the back of the property. The garage to the left is covered with graffiti.

Newer garage in an alley with a crooked metal wire gate beside it. The garage has graffiti on the side wall and on both of its garage doors.

looking towards the end of an alley that has a large wheatpaste 3D lovebot high up on it. Beside lovebot is another wheatpaste

Wheatpaste high up on a wall, a large face like thing. The words 'dying inside' are part of the picture

below: Only the eye remains from a previous painting

Just an eye from a previous street art painting hasn't been covered by a white tag

below:  Two photos from the south side of Nassau street

Two women pushing a stroller walk past some street art on Nassau St. in Toronto, a large orange piece ta

The front and side of a garage are covered with street art. The front is not very very visible in this picture but the side is. A man from the waist up with his finger pointing upwards is beside a picture of city buidings and a poser bunny.

constant evolution

Posted: August 26, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

It was busy in Graffiti Alley on Saturday afternoon.

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece, other people in the alley, some taking pictures of each other, some in a group

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece

…. the finished wall

Graffiti Alley -

below: This cat is new.  It replaces a painting of a woman’s face

Graffiti Alley - in a corner, a grey tones painting of a cat's head, blue recycling bins in front of it and partially obscuring one corner.
below: Another woman’s face is different but instead of being painted over, this one has been drawn on with black marker.   The little red and yellow guy is a recent addition too.

Graffiti Alley - people in the alley in the background. In the foreground is the painting of a woman's face by Insane that has been scribbled over in black marker.
below:  There are other drawings, probably by the same person that took a marker to the woman above.

Graffiti Alley - two black line drawings of faces that have been drawn on top of a pink and purple street art painting.
At Portland, a new larger than life raccoon.

blog_changes_graffiti_alley_raccoon

Plus other murals and street art that I saw this past weekend in the alley.  Some are more recent than others.

Graffiti Alley - uber5000 mural of a boating scene, yellow bird sterring a boat, black dog sitting on the bow, another yellow bird paddling a red canoe

Graffiti Alley - garge door painted in two shades of pink with the words Wanted Woman Gotham painted on the garage door as well

Graffiti Alley - part of a wall painted light blue with the word Yarka painted in purple and orange script

Graffiti Alley - on a light turquoise door, a stylized painting of a woman with yellow hair, red lips, blue dress, long black eye lashes

Graffiti Alley - a wall with a window on one side. Under the window is written the word Don in large pink and red letters. Beside the window is a painting of a man with a pointy top hat that covers his eyes, he has a big nose and a large white beard.

a woman sticks her head out of a window of a building in Graffiti Alley.

painting on a garage door - older man with orange jacket and orange bowler hat. Around the garage door are flowers on a blur background.

A garage door painted orange, then the word Yarka painted in blue letters

Mural of a large monkey sitting, holding a green book with his feet and smoking a pipe using one of his hands.

a cityscape, two bunnies and a chicken

Posted: August 11, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Murals and street art seen in a nameless alley in Kensington Market area,
near Kensington Ave and St Andrew Street.
It’s the alley that Mona Lisa watches over the entrance to.

a mural on a wall in an alley, a city scene (no people) in grey tones. A man is sitting on the stairs beside the mural and a green car is parked there too

wide angle shot of a mural on a wall in an alley, city buildings in grey tones covers the lower floor of a two storey building.
close up of a portion of the grey cityscape mural

a wall in a lane, a large red chicken head painting is on the right and it seems to be looking down the lane. A woman is standing in the lane

street art painting of a large brown chicken with a red face. The signature on the painting says Jonny Cakes
a yellow poser bunny on a wall in an alley beside a door that is covered with tags including oreks

looking down the alley, wide angle shot, poser bunny mural on the right side, red tag graffiti on the left. At the end of the alley a man stands with his dog, a woman with a white umbrella is passing by

a poser bunny street art painting at the corner of a building is in the foreground, people on Kensington Ave are in the background

people overhead

Posted: July 20, 2015 in public art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

In Underpass park, some of the concrete supports holding up Eastern Ave have been painted by various street artists.  The pillars that are closest to Lower River Street feature people of all races, genders, ages, and colours entangled together.

A man and two kids walk their bikes past Underpass Park on Lower River St. in Toronto. A road is above them. Concrete supports that hold up that road have been decorated with paintings by various street artists. Closest to the street, the pillars are people with their arms raised so it looks like they are holding up the road. The horizontal part of the supprts are covered with pictures of people flying outward from the center.

Details of some of the people:

part of a street art painting, a black man with a yellow baseball hat, an older Chinese man with a small beard, as well as other arms and legs tangled up together

street artist painting of a woman with long black hair emerging from a bed of flowers.

blog_underopass_park_people_purple_pants

street artist painting on a concrete underpass support, a white man is reading a read book with the titile Like. A brown man's face is also in the picture.

street artist painting of a woman with long yellow hair emerging from a bed of flowers.

a street artist painting of a woman in a blue and white striped shirt flying with her arms outstretched. Two pairs of feet as well as a pair of hands belonging to other people are also in the picture.

Older Entries
Newer Entries