historic scenes, Midland

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Mary C

Midland ontario symbol in bronze with blue water, bronze pine trees and yellow sun

Scattered around downtown Midland Ontario are quite a few murals with scenes of bygone days. Many of these were originally painted by Fred Lenz in 1996 & 1997 and then repainted ten or eleven years later by Terri Milley and Ruth Hurdle.

below: Midland train station and railway yard.

downtown midland ontario, street with reddish brick building, 2 storeys, with a large mural painted on the side

In 1871 the area was the village of Mundy’s Bay. That year, the Midland Railway chose Mundy’s Bay to be the terminus of a new railway line – the railway already ran between Port Hope and Beaverton and they wanted to extend it to Georgian Bay. The small community of Mundy’s Bay was renamed Midland City. By 1879 the railway was completed.

railway mural in Midland Ontario, five panels, train station, two large engines, people,

scene in a mural from Midland train station many years ago, women in long dresses and men in suits

vintage scene, men at railway yard, boy watching

below: Midland is on the shore of Georgian Bay which is part of Lake Huron. Lumber and grain passed through this harbour and the town prospered.

mural of an historic scene in Midland Ontario, people in fashion of the time, standing on dock looking at a boat in the water and a grain elevator

below: Sewing in the window, with a view of the woolen mill across the street. small mural behind a tree on the upper storey above a store, a woman in a long blue dress is sewing at on old fashioned sewing machine

below: European explorers and their First Nations guides canoeing on the lake.

mural in bad shape (peeling paint) of a European explorer standing beside a lake scene, First Nations people and Europeans in canoes

below: A red and white lighthouse with a brilliant blue sky

along the whole side of a building, painted bright sky blue with some puffy white clouds. A large painting of a red and white lighthouse

below: Maybe when the first car came to town?

mural depicting a farm scene from a porch, with old fashioned car driving through. Barn with horse and child, also horse drawn wagon

below: Above an Italian restaurant is this small picture of horses bringing logs to the saw mill to be cut into lumber.

small mural above an Italian restaurant, horses bring a load of logs to the saw mill to be cut

below: HMS Bee, a schooner

a man with a beard stands with his arms crossed looking at a picture of a schooner with 3 sails, the HMS Bee

below: A portrait of James Playfair. A the bottom of the pillar on the left: “A successful Midland lumberman turned to shipping in 1896. In 1901 he formed the Midland Navigation Co. In 1910 he established the Midland Dry Dock Co. renaming it in 1915 the Midland Shipbuilding Co to build ocean ships”. At the bottom of the pillar on the right: “James Playfair’s Company completed in 1917 a large new shipyard on the Midland Waterfront to build Government contracted ocean cargo steamers. The first one launched was the ‘War Fiend’ (1918-1920).”

a portrait of James Playfair in a mural, long with images of some of the boats that his shipyard built

below: Playfair Mills

a car is parked in front of a mural of a man balancing on logs in the water, playfair mills, midland history series murals.

below: Midland’s first post office opened in 1872

picture of man with grey hair, beard & mustache standing outside the post office,

below: A tribute to Canadian Girl Guides

vintage Girl Guides in blue hats tending to a wounded dog, with a sore paw, tent in the background.

below: The cleaners, delivering clean clothes.

car parked in front of a mural showing the interior of an old cleaners with a man working inside hanging up a dress

The murals were funded by Midland BIA & The Ontario Trillium Foundation

Tegel Art Park, Berlin

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Mary C

The “One Wall, One Mural” project is led by the non-profit organization Urban Nation. They have brought well-known street artists to the Reineckendorf district in Berlin to paint large murals on the sides of apartment buildings. When I was there in August 2018, there were 6 murals.

below: by How and Nosm, Spanish brothers (aka Raoul and Davide Perre) . From watermelon dripping at the top to puzzle pieces on the bottom, with a lot of detail between.

below: by Fintan Magee. A couple divided by war but with hope for the future.

below: by Pixel Pancho

below: A bright blue bird with magnificent detail work by Super A (aka Stefan Thelen) and Collin van der Sluijs.

below: by Gonzalo Borondo, a dark scene that wasn’t popular

below: by The London Police whimsical characters with their robots.

These pictures were taken in August 2018. Since then, another large mural has been painted on one of the remaining buildings. It was a collaboration between Nuno Viegas, and the German pair, Hera and Akut. I don’t have a picture of it but this link will take you to Urban Nation’s description of the mural.

new murals on West 15th Street,

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Mary C

A couple of stretches of concrete wall in Pilsen have recently been opened up to street artists in Chicago. This post documents the murals that have just been completed on West 15th Street along the railway tracks.

below: Some party animals by Blake Jones

party animals mural by Blake Jones of a large pink rabbit and a green crocodile

below: by Natalia Virafuentes

street art painting by Vira Feuntes of a red face within a brown oval, turquois emouth and three eyes

below: Burger flowers by kozmo (aka Brenda Lopez)

burger flowers mural by Branda Lopez in Chicago, two large flowers, one with pink petals and the other with purple petals, the centers are hamburgers with cheese, they also have faces and tongues that stick out

below: Sup! A large green skull by @eee.matador_x (aka The Paint Reaper)

a large green skull in a mural

below: A close up of the last letter, Y, in the word Unity painted by Antonio Beniquez.

the letter Y written large as part of a mural that spells the word unity. Black and gold on top, white in the mddle and red along the bottom

row of murals on 15th street, along railway wall, Chicago

below: On the right, a blue crazy creature by @the_red_door (aka Reddor Santiago)

a mural with two creatures, a black cartoon cat head and shoulders, skinny arm with white gloved hand, long red nose. The other is a light blue, skull on top, smiley face with big teeth on the bottom

street art painting of a blue man with big square head with a red heart in it

below: A close up of a pink and blue creature by (sub) Urban Warrior. (aka Natalie)

pink nose, pink horns, green hair, blue face and eyes, mural

below: JoeyD finishing his mural of white creatures and rainbows. On his right is a blue bird, by Fedz

two murals, on the right is a large blue bird sitting on a white branch with a red background by fedz and on the left joey d is finishing his mural

There is also a row of murals on South Wood Street that have just been painted and if you scroll down to the next post you will find the murals on Wood. Those of you who know Pilsen, or have visited these walls, will know that the two projects (this one and the next) intersect at the corner of 15th and Wood.

new murals on South Wood Street, Chicago

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Mary C

A couple of stretches of concrete wall in Pilsen have recently been opened up to street artists in Chicago. One of these is on South Wood Street immediately north of the railway tracks (by West 15th Street). This past week, August 2019, a group of artists painted the wall. This is a selection of the murals that now adorn that wall.

below: Some of the new murals

a person walks past a wall covered with many murals beside a street, South Wood Street

below: As you emerge from under the bridge, this is the first mural that you see on the west side of Wood Street.

a mural that is partially under a railway bridge, metal supports for the bridge in the picture,

a mural on South Wood Street, a person with a wide brimmed hat carrying a ghetto blaster on her shoulder

below: Peace mural by @sob_e (aka Eliza Riley Delgado)

two murals on a wall beside a street, one has the word peace

below: Warrior City Tribe by Mero

warrior city tribe mural on a wall on Wood street in Pilsen

two murals on a wall, both with birds

below: Breaking down walls and letting the rats and vermin out.

two murals on a wall, painted like hole in the wall with rats, cat, and skunk

below: Two alligators (Crocodiles?), one break dancing and one stepping out in a hoodie and bling.

mural on a concrete wall in Pilsen, two alligators or crocodiles, one in a hoodie and one standing on one front leg and smiling

two murals on a wall, one is mostly red and has a wizard cap with a star on it and the other is mostly yellow

below: Sponge Bob Square Pants tries his hand at singing while Bart Simpson spins.

mural on South Wood street in pilsen illinois, a dance scene with an angry sponge bob square pants singing while Bart Simpson is the D J with two turn tables, a man is trying to dance

a small tree in front of two murals on a wall

below: On the left is a mural by Yo Loco

two murals on a wall

below: by @All_CITY_COWBOY, helicopter, music, and mayhem in the city.

a mural by @all_city_cowboy, helicopter, shadow silhouette figures

below: With the green lizard character standing by

two murals on a wall, one with green lizard character

en masse on West 16th Street, Chicago

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Mary C

In September 2013, part of the mile long mural on the West 16th Street railway wall was painted by en masse, a Montreal based collaborative. Like most of their work, it is painted in black and white. It is too big for one photo so I hope that this small collection of images give you a sense of what the whole looks like.

men and women beside the bridge

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Mary C

On West 16th in Pilsen, there is a bridge where S. Blue Island Avenue goes under the railway tracks. On the west is a mural featuring five women that was painted in 2016 by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi to balance the “Galeria del Barrio” across the street. “Galeria del Barrio” consists of a long row of different coloured men’s faces that portray different emotions. This is the oldest mural in the area and was originally created by Aurelio Diaz with the help of 20 children from St. Procopius Church in 1976. It was restored in 2016 by Sam Kirk. The men’s heads at the west end are 10 feet tall.

On the west side:

part of a mural by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi of five large women's heads

part of a mural by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi of large women's heads, some trees in the way

On the east side:

mens faces in profiles in different colours, large, about 10 feet tall, mural on a wall beside the railway tracks in Pilsen Chicago, Galeria del Barrio. One face is green and has a red tongue that is sticking out

mens faces in profiles in different colours, large, about 10 feet tall, mural on a wall beside the railway tracks in Pilsen Chicago, Galeria del Barrio

Galeria des barios, a mural of men's faces in profile, different colours, different emotions,

More information about the mural

J-DEF Peace Project, mosaic, Pilsen

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Mary C

Near the 18th Street CTA stop on the pink line, and in the Pilsen area of Chicago, is a mosaic mural by the J-DEF Peace Project.

purple background, mosaic mural, words that say J DEF peace project

mosaic mural outside on a wall at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, an arm raised with a fist along with the words paz, talk to your neighbors

part of a mural at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, by J-DEF peace project, a portrait of Jeff Maldonado Jr. for whom the project is named after, as well as a picture with the theme of create safe places away from gun violence

The J-DEF Peace Project by the parents of Jeff Maldonado who was shot a day after his 19th birthday. It is a program that works towards ending gun violence among Chicago’s youth. They have made a safe place for young people to come together to participate in art projects and other programs.

moasaic mural of tiles with words create safe places. A picture of a body outline on the ground with three red hearts, also shadows of two people with long hair on swings. A man plays a drum with the words Rudy Avina

below: A tribute to Ana Mateo, Francisco Mendoza, and Javier Merino.
Pilsen wall of honor part of mosaic mural, pictures and names of three people, young girl Ana Mateo, and two men, Francisco Mendoza and Javier Merino.

below: Police officer Brian Strouse is also on the Wall of Honor.

mosaic tribute to policeman, Brian Strouse, along with the words we need to work hard to make the world better

The words under the four portraits say:
“We need to work hard to make the world better
Stop killin’ each other, start comin’ together
But the things you want in life like the cars and the bling
Got you blinded by the fact that its only a dream.”

below: The end of the mural, “make smart choices”.

part of a mosaic mural, J DEF peace project, back of a car, with words make smart choices

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

historic scenes, Midland

Tegel Art Park, Berlin

new murals on West 15th Street,

new murals on South Wood Street, Chicago

en masse on West 16th Street, Chicago

men and women beside the bridge

J-DEF Peace Project, mosaic, Pilsen