Turtle Island, essential workers, and others

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Mary C

in downtown Belleville (Ontario)

five cars parked in front of a large mural of a green shelled turtle walking beside a large body of water, many animals are on the turtle's back, fox, bear, deer, moose, wolf, bobcat, beaver, rabbit, many birds are flying around,

The mural was painted by Allan Bender, John Nobrega, and Stacey Kinder of Blinc Studios.

closer up view of the turtle's head and some of the animals, turtle's front feet are in the water

The name Turtle Island comes from creation stories told by a number of indigenous groups of North America. It represents North America (or the Earth).

animals in a street art mural, mother bear and cub, wolves, bobcat or cougar, beaver

There is another large mural in downtown Belleville. It is a much more literal representation of the city and includes a few of that city’s landmarks.

A mural with images of Belleville landmarks

below: The mural and the street it is trying to depict. The tall tower in the background is Belleville City Hall.

below: The white semi circle things on the right side are the Moira Bridge, an old double arched bridge built in 1930.

part of a mural with images of Belleville landmarks

below: Belleville water tower, a Monarch butterfly, the old train station, and the Quinte Skyway Bridge.

below: A train pulls into the station. Artwork by Christopher Bennett.

And last, there are other paintings by Chris Bennett around Belleville including this tribute to Essential Workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lovegates faces

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Mary C

On the side of Fat Pasha Restaurant at the corner of Howland and Dupont there is a large mural of ten local Annex residents painted by Troy Lovegates.

whole Troy Lovegates mural, faces of 10 Annex residents both male and female

part of Troy Lovegates mural, two faces of young men in a variety of colours

Troy Lovegates mural, faces by a red door with word kitchen over the top of it, blue face of a woman, also an upper storey window

Troy Lovegates mural, faces by a red door, and two upper level windows, a line of light green garbage cans beside wall, two bikes,

Changes at Broadview and Eastern

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Mary C

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.

below: A blue pigeon

below: A pinkish marroonish reddish raccoon

below: A coyote with a dead leaf and new buds.

Funding provided by Streetcar Developments

below: The houses to the north….

Photos taken 25 May 2023

history on the streets

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Mary C

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.

black and white photo by The Photographic Stores, Dave Sproul, of a band, 3 members, one on drums, one man on guitar and third man singing with mike on a stand

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.

Photos taken May 2023

on the funeral home wall

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Mary C

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.

car parked in front of a large mural on the side of a funeral home, two storey brick building, on left side of mural is man in uniform cap hands to mouth as if calling, over one of the double garage doors are two men's faces side by side, one pink and one black, on far right is the start of another mural with birds

close up view of mural, man with hands by mouth as he is calling, paint peeling on the concrete and wood

below: Apples and currants in the corner

mural on an exterior wall, blue background, two large red apples with two bunches of yellow currants,

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).

mural on side of beige brick wall, painted by two people, on the left is realistic raven head, on right side is a bird with many feathers in yellows, pinks, and blues,

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)

street art on Dalhousie street in Byward market of Ottawa, on the side of funeral home, a man looking like a train conductor calling out with hand beside mouth, two faces close together, one pink and one black. Also a Drippin' soul black bird head with beak pointing upward, some triangles in the background

Smiths Falls

Posted on May 2, 2023 by Mary C

below: A large mural by Dom Laporte featuring a Locomotive 2037 pulling a long freight train. The history of Smiths Falls was always closely tied to the railways. In February 1859 the first train arrived in town – on the B & O (Brockville & Ottawa) railway, pulled by a wood burning locomotive. In the 1880’s B & O was amalgamated into the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway)network. a few years later a second rail line, the Canadian Northern, came to town.

a large street art mural by Dom Laporte featuring a large locomotive pulling a train, a train station, a water tower, and many flowers

street art mural, a locomotive, by Dom Laporte

below: Smiths Falls railway station with its distinctive turret – built in 1912 for the Canadian Northern line on their Toronto to Ottawa route. It is now a National Historic site.

mural, train station, old Smiths Falls station now an historic site

below: High above the street on scaffolding, working to “renovate” the lawyer’s office – a twist on the historic mural. Ryan, Knott & Dixon would probably be quite happy with the facelift that Craig Campbell and Chris Addy have given their brick building.

mural showing man painting the front of a two storey brick office building, standing on scaffolding

close up of mural, front door with scaffolding beside it

below: An older mural painted on wood and then attached to the wall. A winter scene on a downtown street.

small mural on the side of a building, an history scene of a street in winter, horse drawn wagon, people in period clothing

Tunnganarniq

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Mary C

Tunnganarniq: An Inuit word that means fostering good spirits by being open, welcoming and inclusive. It is also the title of this large mural painted by Inuit youth artists from Kinngait (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) along with the Embassy of Imagination in partnership with Ottawa School of Art. It was completed in 2017.

large horizontal mural on a wall beside a parking lot featuring a blue whale on a pink background. Some other marine animals are also in the mural

below: At the head of the whale.

Upside down head of walrus or seal in orange beside the head of a blue whale in a mural.

below: Tusked orange walrus

below: A tusked orange walrus swims along side.

below: At the tail end

Artists:
ᕼᐊᓕ ᔫᓯᐱ- Harry Josephee,
ᑭᐊᕙᓐ ᕿᒥᕐᐱᒃ- Kevin Qimirpik,
ᔮᓂᔅ ᕿᒥᕐᐱᒃ – Janice Qimirpik,
ᓯᑯᓕᐊ ᐋᑕᒥ – Christine Adamie,

Photos taken April 2023

at Croft and College

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Mary C

Painted in the summer of 2020.

below: “Protect your energy”

a painting on the side of a wall on Croft Ave., by elicser elliott, of two people with text protect your energy

below:A raccoon in pinks and purples, by Jeff Blackburn

mural featuring a large raccoon head in shades of pink and purple

part of a collaboration mural on a wall, yellow popsicle by Jeff Blackburn and an ebony jewelwing damselfly on a leaf by Nick Sweetman

below: by Nick Sweetman – two ebony jewelwings, a male and female along with a partially submerged frog with its tongue ready for action. Jewelwings are a species of damselfly.

mural on a wall by Nick Sweetman, ebony jewelwing damselfly, frog with long tongue partially submerged in water

below: GETSO (or Getsofacto)

street art piece with trash bins in alley

below: A larger than life grinning Cheshire Cat by Christina Mazzulla.

below: Some people by Elicser Elliott hanging out in a doorway.

below: Love in the alley short metal pole in front of hydro meters painted purple, a sticker on the pole along with the word love in paint

Photos taken January 2023

‘Out and About’ in Weston

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Mary C

‘Out and About – Windows of Time’ is a large mural by Christiano De Araujo that features scenes from the social history of Weston village. Unfortunately, the (painted) young man who is sitting on the sidewalk and playing a guitar is hidden by the (real) car parked in front of the mural.

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Mary C

January 23rd is Lunar New Year as we enter the Year of the Rabbit (except in Vietnam where apparently it’s the Year of the Cat).

below: Although this mural has nothing to do with rabbits (or cats), it is found in Toronto’s Chinatown. Three dragons cavorting on the wall on Oxford Street, painted by sightone in 2016.