Last summer, Chatham Ontario held its first mural festival event, Can Jam, and these are some of the murals that are now on some downtown walls.
below:Meghan Kehoe (aka MCK Studio) and Sarah Steele painted this very large woman behind the Capitol Theatre in downtown Chatham. Most of her hair is a bird’s nest with three shiny pink eggs. A small black and yellow bird stands on the nest.
below: A version of the Tooth Fairy, by Fel3000ft. Winged teeth and butterflies.
below: Rather plump, and very bright – blue, red, and purple birds sitting together on a red branch, by Crz Prz (aka Caesar Perez)
below:Sarah Steele also painted this musician duo.
below: Sunflowers, daisies, and a bee on a purple background in a mural by local artist, Sarah M. Robbins
There are 2 older murals in Chatham Ontario that depict some scenes from yesteryear. The first is at least 25 years old and shows a line of stores and businesses. Even the upper windows are part of the artwork. Just this week (mid June 2025) it was announced that a new mural would be painted here this summer. I have just discovered that there is a video on Facebook of this old mural being dismantled and removed. I must have been in Chatham the day before it was removed!
So…. for a limited time only, here it is (in two images)
below: People enjoying meal at the Savoy cafe while others are tempted by the desserts on display in the window.
below: Also in the row of businesses is Heintzman & Co Pianos, Lyons Tailoring, and Thomas Stone & Son (clothing?). People mingle on the street and a car drives past.
below: Ladies checking out what’s on display at the tailors, window shopping.
below: A girl plays a tune on a Heintzman piano while a family out for a drive, passes by.
The Historic Downtown Chatham Business Improvement Area (BIA) have chosen a design for a new mural that was created by local artist Ruth Ann Pearce. Apparently history will still be part of the theme but beyond that, a surprise awaits!
The second mural is newer but was painted by the same artist as the one above, C. Penelope Duchesne. Help was provided by Nancy Foulis, Bonnie Cernenac, Shannon Lindsay, Amy Maynard, Terry Nelmes, and John Reimer.
The mural is in three parts – on both the right and left side is a market scene.
“The old town hall at north end of the market, 1905” The central panel of the mural features the old Town Hall which was built in the 1850s. The market stretched out behind it. The city sold it in the 1950s; it was demolished some thirty years later.
Once upon a time, a very long time ago in fact, it used to be a shoe store on Barton Street. Now it provides exhibit wall space for street art artists. Almost two years ago I showed some photos that were taken here for the Wheat paste anti-gallery, (September 2023). The building still stands and the doors and windows are still covered with plywood. But now that plywood is taking on a life of its own as old wheatpastes fade and tear and new papers are added on top. This is how it looked mid-June 2025.
below: Oakwood Place and the old shoe store at Barton E and Ottawa.
This is the second post about the murals found in the Hertel Ave area of Buffalo NY; it is a follow up to the previous post, “the answer is love“.
There are two large murals on Hertel Ave that feature well known people. The first is the Buffalo NY based rock band Goo Goo Dolls and the other shows author Mark Twain in conversation with John T. Lewis.
The Goo Goo Dolls were painted by Philip Burke whose illustrations have appeared in many magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. John Rzeznik the band’s is the lead vocalist and guitar player while Robby Takac is the bassist as well as another vocalist (there have been other rotating members as well). Goo Goo Dolls appeared on the rock scene in the mid 1980s.
Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens) and John T. Lewis were painted by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra in his now well-known coloured shapes such as stripes or diamonds. Both Twain and Lewis were born in 1835, Lewis as a free Black in Maryland, Twain in Missouri. Lewis eventually settled in Elmira NY which is where Twain’s wife was from and where the lives of the two men first crossed.
Photos taken April 2025
I’ve just learned that I missed murals of Jerry Garcia and of the ‘Rat Pack’ (with Frank Sinatra). If you are in the area, don’t forget to keep an eye open for them!
below: Hertel Alley Gallery – the “gallery” encompasses three blocks of Hertel Alley (runs parallel to Hertel Ave between Traymore and Colvin). It is the scene of the Hertel Alley Street Art Festival, first started in 2019. At present there are more than 20 murals. I haven’t presented all of them here, instead I have featured the ones on this building. The others will follow in subsequent postings.
below: A royal looking lion painted by Michael Che Romero. This Lion King mural was painted back in 2019 and was sponsored by Vivache Designs (note, Romero is/was their Creative Director).
below: Like most of the black and white stencils on this page, this is the work of King of the Clowder.
below: A closer look at two of the photos by monomelbourne that are seen in the vertical column in the above picture. On the bottom – Looking from Alexandra Gardens, across the river to St. Pauls Cathedral.
below: Joined together under a ring of thorns or barbed wire.
below: Many Melbournes with 3 posters with slightly twisted humour. Top – “What’s yours is mine”, Middle – “Mortgage Stress? Sell your kids (& mum), Bottom: “Last Christmas I gave you my heart, Give it back!”
below: Disease, but upside down
below: Dating from at least 2019, another King of the Clowder artwork that looks very Freddie Mercury-ish
below: The original King of the Clowder piece of the headless hoodie has been added to and now has a scowling face on a big fat head. A can of “squirt black” is still adding to his features.
below: mmm
below: “Anyone can be any gender”… whether or not you agree, the world goes on.
below: Tintin, with something red in his hand, makes an appearance here too.
below: Tweety bird and his More Magikal Alphabets including Persian Hieroglyphics from Tweet (tweet_streetart)
below: Multiples
below: A weird and wacky green creature by Lukas Kasper
below: Am I my own actions and intentions, or others perspectives? An interesting question posed by Current Remains.
below: Skateboard art – Putting an old skateboard to good use!
Along a stretch of wall in the Cobblestone District, next to the Buffalo River, in Buffalo NY, there is a series of large paintings …
below: by Detour303 aka Thomas Evans
below: Cyrielle Tremblay
below: Jason Brammer, a framed view of the ocean
below: Ellen Rutt, a collage of shapes, colours, and textures
These images are presented by Albright-Knox Gallery and they date from Covid times, 2020-21. From the words on the wall: “The commons are what belong to all of us. In the nineteenth century, this area, so close to the Erie and Hamburg Canals and the Buffalo River and Harbor, was the site of a jostling mix of brick layers and dock workers, deckhands and lock tenders, machinists and millwrights. Producers of all kinds walked down cobble streets alive with the energy and pleasure of other people’s company. The commons are the exciting site of diverse perspectives and unexpected communions, shared together.
below: A patchwork couple standing together, by Lauren Mckenzie-Pearce aka Lady Noel
below: Obsidian Bellis, human? floral?
below: Karle Norman
below: by Monet Alyssa Kifner
below: A jumble of houses and other buildings, by Miriam Singer
below: “Be happy” by James Moffitt
below: Colourful cyclists by Morgan Blair
below: Rough and tumbling pastel people by Bradd Young
The Albright Knox Gallery sponsored another set of artworks during Covid that still hand the wall in a downtown Buffalo lane. You can see them at “Locked Down but Still at Work”
Visitors to Langs Lane (at Little Bourke) are greeted by a very large blue insect thanks to artist Louis Moore.
Langs Lane is a short alley that ends in a very narrow passage as it approaches Bourke Street.
At the narrowing of the alley there is a pink angel with curly black hair and red wings.
There is another blue painting here by Louis Moore – an image of a fish. Or more correctly, part of a fish as the fleshy part of its middle is missing. Just the spine and bones of the center section are still intact.
A man in a cap seems to survey the alley
This poor flower was trying to say something but someone had the audacity to rip her face.
There are a few other remnants of artwork on paper that had been on display here. From what I can tell, there was a series of photographic works titled “Phobias”. It was presented by the Stills Co-op back in 2018 and featured works depicting some of our deepest fears. Unfortunately, very little remains but of course that is what happens when art is left to the elements. It takes on a life of its own, beyond our control. Until someone comes along and paints or papers over the old – you may have noticed some of the Phobia papers behind Louis Moore’s blue fish.
Sometimes the resulting fragments that are still visible can catch our attention.
It was an interesting, and quite extensive, exhibit. Like many art exhibits, the originals live on the internet. See the video at Gavin John Photoography
Some of the other graffiti in Lang Lane is cartoonish. Some with known cartoon, or animated, characters such as Marge Simpson
… or Odie the dog from ‘Garfield’ (with more paper fragments behind).
Eyes on the Streets 