As part of the town’s Bicenntenial (200 years!) celebration, a large mural was created for the side of a building in downtown Prescott Ontario.
The Prescott People’s Place Commissioned by the Prescott Bicentennial Committee and dedicated December 18th, 2010 The Prescott People’s Place is composed of over 3000 pictures from Prescott people. This mural was created by Chuck Street and made in Prescott at MD Signs. Made possible by federal Canadian Heritage funding and the generous Prescott People. Victoria Hall and St. John’s Market The cornerstone for the Old Town Hall was laid on August 13th 1874 and the Market Building built in 1876. Both were demolished in 1960. The clock tower was added to the Town Hall in 1927. The orginal clock works were restored in 1980 and housed in the Rotary Clock Tower which still marks time today on the same corner. The building pictured on the left of the Town Hall is still standing and is home to the Forwarders Museum and Visitor Centre.
below: A white happy three eyed fish swimming among the scribbles.
below: A curly haired woman, or an old lady with a cane, and a monkey face. It looks like someone has a roller ready to paint over this section of wall…
below: Too cool dragon wearing blue shades and a jacket with the Montreal Expos logo on it. It’s been almost 20 years since the Expos played in Montreal.
Another visit to Graffiti Alley to see what’s changed…..
below: Collage on the back of a sign with contributions by many.
below: An orange dragon graces a utility pole.
below:Sentient Cookie with “The words you’ve said to me a decade ago still echo in my brain”.
below: Another section of wall covered with the remains of stickers and slaps.
below: Truth, It’s that simple. Consume daily. “Free through an earnest volition. Side effects include decreased stress and increased mental clarity…. ” Dorian’s House.
below: Who do you love? Apparently someone loves his/her girlfriend while someone else loves, and misses, Stephanie Ann.
below: More ink additions, this time on a bird. Someone has written, “no phone no wife” – either he thinks that without a phone he can’t find/attract a wife (no tindr?) or he has neither a phone nor a wife (lucky man?). Interpret as you want. Also, there is Kone x Roc on his wing as well as Sari D. declaring her love forever.
below: Someone left their shoe behind… and that’s quite the reaction from Tips
below: 33wallflower33 wheatpaste – My body my choice
below: … and another
below: Urban Ninja Squadron running away with an angry bird…. and Adopt by Praxis in bright pink
below: An angry white cloud seems to hover hover a drawing by catchoo
There are a series of 5 paintings by Bone Head nestled between the windows of a building that backs onto Graffiti Alley in Toronto. As the name suggests, Bone Head painted characters with large boney heads or skulls. They also have a penchant for white shirts and striped neck ties!
Athens Ontario that is. This Ontario town has decorated its walls with murals for many years now. Some of the older ones have been painted over and some have been refurbished. Most tell stories about the history and people of the community.
below: Main Street in Athens, June 2023
below: A tribute to Joshua Bates and his founding of the community of Farmersville. Bates was a surveyor and an architect. He donated land and built schools, churches, and stores. The town was renamed Athens in 1888.
below: On the wall of the fire station is a mural titled ‘The Great Fire/Athens 1894’ – “Dawn, May 19, fire broke out on Victoria Street but quickly spread to Main Street. The new fire engine could not be used because its short hose brought it too close to the flames.”
“In an act of great heroism, Mr. J. Rosenbarker braved the flames to climb down into an unused well close behind the burning buildings to hand up water to a bucket brigade. Mr. Rosenbarker stayed at his post until the fire was finally conquered.”
below: The day that I was in Athens there were two large trucks parked alongside this mural so I couldn’t get any proper photos of it. It is a series of medallions showing local landmarks such as the House of Industry, Dr. Giles House, Quaker Meeting House, the mill, and the First Nations Market.
below: ‘The Gathering’ 2020 by Dave Sheridan. This replaces an earlier 1987 mural by Pierre Hardy which in turn replaced a small painting on canvas by Crawford Slack in 1927. The portrait in the oval frame, top right, is Crawford C. Slack. Crawford Chelson Slack was born in nearby Wiltsetown in 1855. He was a painter (and a poet and a musician).
“Needn’t talk ter me ‘bout livin’ in the city with its show, Druther live ‘mong these surroundin’s where the folks are rather slow… Where the golden summer sunset gilds the village church’s dome — There among the slantin’ shadows, I would druther have my home.” by Crawford Slack
below: A lazy afternoon by the lake, “Charleston Lake Picnic” by Noreen Mallory. Granite outcroppings, pine trees, and water, all very Ontario cottage country scenery.
below: Mallory’s family had a cottage nearby and summers spent there helped inspire this mural. Another inspiration was “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe”, a painting by French Impressionist Édouard Manet (except there are no nudes in Mallory’s version).
below: Manet’s picnic painting of 1893
below: At the corner of Victoria and Main streets.
below: A pair of work horses busy on the farm, another mural by Dave Sheridan.
below: Paint cans – the mural was not quite finished the day that I was there. I’m sorry that I missed seeing it painted.
below: Brockville and Westport Railway. No signature. Former Athens railway station. The first train ran on B&W railroad in 1888 pulled by engines built at the Kingston Locomotive Works. The line was 45 miles long and had 16 stops.
It replaces an earlier 1987 mural by Lorrie Maruscak
below: Inside the Main Street Cafe is yet another mural, ‘Step into the Past’. It was painted by Sheila Ballantyne and Sergio Lopes.
below: A copy of an older mural that no longer exists is displayed on a fence. “This mural originally graced the hardware store on this site and was created in 1990 by Cathy McGuire. The border features alternating patterns of quilt squares and historic farm scenes. The center of the mural depicts farmers and a steam engine threshing the grain that separated the grain from the stem.”
below: Two large weathered photographs on display.
below: “Dedicated to the Canadian troops who trained in the Athens area and who served in the First World Ward (circa 1915).
below: Main Street, Athens, 1920.
below: Main Street is also represented by a mural that features some of the businesses that were established here.
below: The flag that the boy is holding is the version of the Canadian Red Ensign that was in use between 1922 and 1957.
below: Main Street 1910 (found on Wikipedia, original source Special Collections, Toronto Public Library. Photographer: H.R. Knowlton). The large brick building with the three awnings in front is home to three businesses, Thompson, Lamb, and Arnold like those in the mural.
This row of old two storey row houses has been vacant for years. Recently the developer that owns the properties provided a couple of Toronto artists the opportunity paint the exterior. This is the result.
If you look carefully, you can see that Nick Sweetman and Luvs (aka Moises) have painted the word CHANGE across the front of the buildings. As a theme for a mural on a redevelopment site in a city bursting at the seams with such sites, change seems very appropriate.
below: I’ve played with the colours a bit to highlight some of the letters. You should be able to see C, H, and A across this image.
But the mural is more than colour and letters. There are three animals featured here – pigeon, raccoon, and coyote – all of which have adapted to changes and now thrive in urban environments.
While walking around the Byward Market in Ottawa, I saw a lot of traffic control boxes at intersections that were wrapped with old black and white photos. This is the result of The Capital History Project, a collaborative effort between Carleton University, the Workers History Museum, and the city of Ottawa. These boxes first appeared 2017 and they are/were all over the city. I am not sure how many there still are …. but here are a few of them….
below: Petigorsky’s shoe repair. Mr. Oscar Petigorsky in front of the store that he and his wife Nina ran, 1930s. The store was at 289 Dalhousie Street.
below: The sign on the side of the horse drawn wagon says “”Tea and Coffee Warehouse, W. Cunningham, Grocer, Wine Merchant”
below: “Ottawa band Modern Rock Quartet at Cafe Le Hibou”, photo by Dave Sproul circa 1970. MRQ was formed in 1967 and over the next few years they played with many top rock groups of the era. According to Wikipedia, their first live performance was at the Prime Minister’s official residence – that would be Pierre Trudeau.
below: Sam’s? Buy & Sell
For a complete story of these boxes, see the Capital History website. There you will find an interactive map showing the location of all the boxes.
In the Byward Market area of Ottawa, you can find a collection of large mural as you look across a parking lot on Dalhousie Street. They stretch along the wall of a funeral home on St. Patrick Street.
below: The darker end of the murals is signed by three. They are Juan Carlos Noria, The Laporte Brothers (Phil and Dom Laporte) and the Higher Ups.
below: Apples and currants in the corner
below: The other part of the wall is for the birds so to speak. The blackbird (raven?) on the left was painted by DRPN (Drippin’ Soul).
below: This is a closer look at the head of the bird on the righthand side. It is the work of Mique Michelle, an artist who work often features feathery birds (or other animals)
Eyes on the Streets 