Breaking Walls in Montreal

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Mary C

Breaking Walls was an Urban Arts and Culture event in Montreal that was held back in June of this year. It was supported by Kolors Worldwide (“Let’s kolor the world”) and MOS Canada – Meeting of Styles Canada. The event was held in a space between rue Moreau and the railway tracks, close to rue Rouen, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood. In hindsight, I realize that I missed a couple of the murals the day that I was there. Additionally, a couple of the smaller pieces that I have included may be graffiti that pre-dates the Breaking Walls event.

below: A Nick Sweetman and Mr. Tensoe2 collaboration

large street art mural with two blue owls

close up view of blue owl painted by nick sweetman, mural in Montreal, on brick wall

below: Vuducat aka Christina Mazzulla

mural by Christina Mazzulla, in reds and pinks mostly, woman's face

below: Jijón painted red and pink figure

mural by mexican artist jijon, pink character

below: I am going to call it a blue traffic circle because it’s blue and it has traffic related items in it such as an orange cone, the front of a car, street signs, and traffic lights yellow. It was painted by Sergio MB. Unfortunately, the red and white tag has already defaced the work.

blue circle shape with traffic related items like orange cone, traffic light,

To the left of this purple dog (by Hank) was a painting of a woman’s portrait in turquoise that unfortunately has already been tagged over. It was painted by Polographe and can be seen on his Instagram page.

below: Arlick Enigma ( Arlick PaXman Team), originally from Mexico, painted this wonderful portrait of a child wearing a parka with a fur lined hood.

with leaves from small trees framing it, a street art portrait of a child's face

below: Monk.E and Luvs (Moise) collaboration

below: Emmanuel Jarus – A blue woman with long braids down her back walks away.

below: The portrait on the back of the truck is the work of Pearl

truck with graffiti on it as well as portrait of a woman on the back, parked beside jarus mural in parking lot

below: “Westbound” by Megan Oldhues.

below: Dodo_ose

below: Keep Going

below: Bryan Beyung

below: by Retro and Raquel Hernandez, both part of 𝑨𝖗𝖙 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝕿𝖊𝖕𝖔𝖟𝖙𝖑𝖆𝖓

below: A Mos Geez face

below: That’s one nasty can of spray paint! Nemo, or n3mo1er on Instagram.

painting in black on a chunk of grey concrete, a face with a very large nose

below: A map of Montreal like a patchwork sock

painting on a double door, exterior, map of Montreal made using different colours of text, text gives name of that area of Montreal

below: Resister

graffiti, all text, largest word is resister in black, lots of words in red too

Breaking Walls was supported by NBQ Canada (makers of NBQ Pro Spray Paint).

Photos taken in July 2023.

animals on rue Ontario

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Mary C

On Montreal’s rue Ontario, close to rue Moreau and the railway tracks, there is a long brick building close to the sidewalk. At one end there is a painting of a squirrel with an object in his little front paws. This nut shaped object has a label that says Courrier Plus which turns out to be a trucking/transportation company and the owner of the building on which the mural is painted.

on rue Ontario, a painting of a squirrel with a bushy tail and holding a small package in his paws

The rest of the mural features a red fire hydrant, a pigeon and a toucan with a beak in rainbow colours.

part of a long horizontal mural on the side of a building, calligraphy and a red fire hydrant and a bluish pigeon sitting on a fence

part of a mural street art in montreal with a pigeon and a toucan

close up of the toucan in a mural with a rainbow coloured beak.

Rouen graffiti tunnel

Posted on July 23, 2023 by Mary C

below: Railway bridge over rue Rouen. One side is being repainted.

looking down rue Rouen in Montreal towards railway bridge, people painting the walls under the bridge

below: Diamond shine bright in my all consuming light. Let every goal glow. Very recently painted by Indiana Brierly.

street art painting under a railway bridge in blues and greens

below: One side of the bridge was being repainted this morning.

a man is using a roller brush to paint over graffiti on a wall

below: He’s ready to paint…. by Sino ( or Sino Duc)

below: A white happy three eyed fish swimming among the scribbles.

graffiti on a wall including a funny looking three eyed fish

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: Hummingbird and calla lily, by Judith Boily Valois.

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.

Photos taken 23 July 2023

La Fresque des Québécois

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

La Fresque des Québécois is the title of a 420 m² mural found on the side of Maison Soumande on rue Notre-Dame in Old Quebec City. It depicts figures from 400 years of Quebec City history. Twelve painters from France and Quebec contributed to the mural.

New France was the name of the French colony in North America beginning in 1593 with the arrival of Jacques Cartier. The French relinquished the colony to the British and the Spanish in 1763, at the end of the Seven Years War

a small group of people with their backs to the camera are looking at a large mural in Quebec City that depicts people from all parts of their 400 year history — Looking out of the upper windows are (on the left) Jean Talon (1626-1694) who was steward of New France; in this position he was in control of the civil administration of the colony. The other man is Louis de Baude Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (1622-1698) was Governor General of New France for many years.

part of the Fresque de Quebecois showing buildings in the old part of Quebec City with two men standing on a balcony

In 1763 what is now Quebec became the Province of Quebec, a British colony. In 1791 this colony was divided into two, Upper Canada along the upper parts of the St. Lawrence River, and Lower Canada, along the lower section of the river. Upper Canada is approximately what is now Ontario while Quebec has grown from Lower Canada. Quebec City was in Lower Canada.