This is “Vibe Mantra Scroll”, a collaboration between two Toronto artists SOWL (aka Rowell Sowell) and Flips as a shout out to hip hop culture and its global appeal. It is on the southwest corner of Coxwell and Gerrard.
On the back side of the same building there is another SOWL mural
Photos taken March 2024
This post also appears in As I Walk Toronto blog
There is a new mural (2022) in Toronto by Nick Sweetman featuring animals and plant life commonly found along Ontario’s rivers, especially the Don River that flows nearby. It adorns a wall/fence that runs the length of a new park, Riverside Square, which is southeast of Queen and the Don Valley Parkway.
below: The east end of the mural
below: A blue-fronted dancer damselfly (A very long name for a very small creature!)
below: Mink, toad, and a water insect called a water strider.
below: Catfish
below: A raccoon eyes the fish swimming past
below: A happy dog among friends, a raccoon and a cotton tail rabbit. If you look closely, there is a bridge in the background by the fox – Torontonians might recognize this bridge as one of the many that cross the Don River.
below: Red fox, coyote
below: In the middle
below: Egret diving for fish
below: White-tailed Deer
below: North American beaver
below: Painted turtle
below: Northern Leopard Frog
Tensoe2 and Moises (Luvs) also contributed to ‘Along the Riverbank’
Photos taken January 2024
A walk down Graffiti Alley on a rainy night.
below: Unfortunately, one of Uber5000’s large Toronto/Canada themed murals has been defaced (the one on the north side of the alley).
below: Doug Ford running away with the money, stencil graffiti by D. Terra. Our Premier seems rather happy with his haul. Accurate?
below: A dope piece that bears some resemblance to Homer Simpson.
below: A yellow one-eyed daisy standing tall.
below: This portrait has hair!
below: For some reason, a section of one of the side lanes (McDougall Lane? or Rush Lane?) was lit by a red light. Here there was a collection of pasteups and stickers including one with an abundance of flowers in her hair, a skater figure by drecks. She is joined by a bare breasted woman with even more flowers on her head as well as a Snoopy look alike and a cat on the telly.
below: On the same wall as the above – Tweetie bird, from Australia, along with some friends. Because of the red light, this photo is very low contrast and difficult to see. Best to see this wall in the daytime! Second best, would be to check out the instagram page of tweet_streetart
below: Another selection of slaps, mostly birds this time.
below: A little raccoon
below: Mortus figure – his hands are almost big enough to hold all those skulls.
below: On the pavement
below: FP Monkey (aka Julia H), Skamoney, Monster Fan Club, and PP Spray
below: Poser bunny
below: Making a rap music video
below: The east end of Graffiti Alley, the part closest to Spadina, was very dark.
below: As it turns out, the buildings at this end (north side) are now behind a metal construction fence. Darkness equals empty I suspect.
below: Yes they matter but was there no where else to paint this? There’s so much junk in the alley that no one would miss.
below: I am going to end this post with a bit of a rant. Yes, to some extent the art in this alley has come somewhat commercialized especially with the newer buildings on Richmond that back onto the alley. Uber5000 has benefited from some of this as he has painted a few large (and very good) murals here. Also, I understand that street art by its nature is prone to “disappearing” behind the work of others but I reject the notion that one person’s tag is as good as another person’s mural. Anyone can destroy. Anyone can paint their “name” but if you are proud of writing it over someone else’s more talented work then you haven’t progressed beyond the preschooler phase of life.
Photos taken October 2023
This post also appears in mcfcrandall.blog
A group of stickers seen on a pole on Queen Street East recently
has an image from Catchoo combined with a perplexed Sailor dude from Ty Pro in the top place – what a cute balloon! At the bottom are three heads that you might recognize from previous posts. In pink is T-bonez from urban ninja squadron and the chosen few; on the right is a luchadore mask from bruho.
Here catchoo collaborates with c_priority (a k a Christopher Piccinich ) Even within the blacks of his suit there are little catchoo symbols and characters. I was hoping that there were secret messages written on the pieces of paper on the desk but there are just squiggly lines.
Last, feelings boi joins the fun. Is it a sword? or an umbrella? Whatever it is, there are smiles all round.
Photos taken Sept 2023
This blog post also appears in As I Walk Toronto
Take a few abandoned downtown Hamilton buildings and add large size artworks by a diverse group of artists and you have the makings of the Wheat Paste Anti Gallery. No artist’s statements, no words on the wall. This is the project has been brought to life by jumblefacefoto, aka Jeremy Lynch (including the producing, printing, and pasting of all the images in the installation).
In this blog post I want to show you the artists whose work now on display “in” Hamilton’s first Anti Gallery (in no particular order). First, Invasive Animal has taken over the front of the Oakwood Place building at 1067 Barton Street East where a sign says “Hop Canadian”. Once upon a time it said, “Save our jobs, shop Canadian”. Also once upon a time, this was a restaurant/bar. Now the animals have taken over.
Some of the animals:
Next door to the Oakwood was a Shoe King store. The “king” is gone and plywood covers its windows and doors; now it is a gallery wall for crkshnk (pronounced crookshank), an artist from New York City. All the images across the storefront are his work.
Another artist on display here is 33wallflower33. Her (and I am assuming that!) women and children evoke a previous age and often have a message to deliver.
My body, my choice.
Next, Brazilian artist antype (aka Luciano Costa) and Stephen Conner (from London England) share space on a building at John and Main.
below: A sample of antype’s black and white distorted portrait-like images.
Circles…..
… floppy circles, planetary circles, and planetary hats.
Stephen Conner’s images are also portrait-like but they are darker.
Installed in May 2023, gone by September 2023….. Urban Ninja Squadron’s T-bonez character livened up a stretch of blank wall at James and Wilson.
Last, but definitely not least, a series of images, or firegrams, by Danielle Goshay pasted onto the facade of the old Colonial Hotel building.
As mentioned above, all works were produced, printed, and pasted by jumblefacefoto
For more pictures and information, see the Wheat Paste Anti Gallery website
Photos taken between April and September 2023 by Danielle Goshay (Many Thanks for sharing them !!!)
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.
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.
below: A bit of whimsy, a faded rose bush
in downtown Belleville (Ontario)
The mural was painted by Allan Bender, John Nobrega, and Stacey Kinder of Blinc Studios.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Photos taken May 2023
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)
