On the Move (Toronto)

Posted on September 1, 2026 by Mary C

If you walk east on Bloor from Dundas West, you will encounter a railway bridge.

man pulling a suitcase as he walks on the sidewalk on Bloor street, eastbound, with GO train on railway bridge in the distance.

A section of the walls of this underpass have recently been painted by 40+ artists. The south side is now covered in new murals.

cyclists in bike lane on Bloor West, traveling eastbound and about to go under the railway tracks just west of Perth. Street art on the walls of the underpass

This underpass has been painted previously – back in 2015 both the north and south walls were painted in a Wallnoize project (see post from 2015). Some of the same artists appear on this updated version. This time it was StreetARToronto that sponsored the artworks. Let’s take a look at some of the murals (in no particular order)….

below: Stay young! An old man on a bike that he outgrew years ago! by Adrian Hayles

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West painted by Adrian Hayles - an old man in yellow suit and hat, riding a very small yellow, or gold, bicycle

below: Opola Karim painted this Toronto skyline scene, a view that is well known to anyone who has visited the Toronto islands.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West painte by Opola Karim, showing Toronto Harbour and Toronto skyline in a very stylized design, loon in water, beaver on a rock, Canada geese flying overhead

below: Peaceful, loving hands joining together by Phillip Saunders aka Loveishere

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, by Phillip Saunders, a k a Love is here. Four hands in shades of beige and brown, 2 with peace sign, one holding a round object with a red heart on it,

below: Close to the west end of the underpass is this colourful section. The collection of birds on the right side were painted by two artists, Just J. Art (the hummingbird and the hibiscus flower) and Ambsoul Art

two street art murals on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West. On the right side is collection of birds on the right side were painted by two artists Just J. and Ambsoul. BJR painted the let side, first nations symbols and objects like a bear with a fish in its mouth,

below: The left part (of the above image) BJR aka Bradley J. Reinhardt

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, byBJR, or Bradley J. Reinhart, bear with a blue fish in its mouth and a red heart on its side

below: Ambsoul Art’s feathery bird.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, bird head, part of a larger mural, by Ambsoul

below: From under the bridge, glimpses of colour between the steel girders and concrete barricades.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West as seen from across the street metal girders supporting bridge, traffic on the road,

below: Three of the artworks

three street art murals on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West. Artists were Curtia Wright, Phillip Saunders, and Artistic Perception.

below: Curtia Wright – a portrait with yellow flowers

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Curtia Wright, portrait of a brown woman with yellowy brown eyes, yellow flowers on either side of her

below: More women’s faces – some with no mouths? – have they been silenced? By Artistic Perception aka Kanisha

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Artistic Perception. three black women with short curly black hair, clothes in grey shades, with a garland of daisies

below: The Toronto Railpath runs beside these tracks.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West where it joins Wallace street entrance to the Toronto Railpath

below: By Getso – it’s green, it has sharp teeth and a tail, and it can stand on two legs (he’s standing in a boat)….

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Getso, a green crocdile, standing, with tail wrapped around a brown pole, beside water

below: EGR (with the help of some high school students) painted these cool glasses …. and the young woman on the skateboard.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by EGR, woman with sunglasses that reflected Toronto skyline and a person cycling past, red rims and blue glass

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by EGR, a young woman skateboarding

below: Precious cargo in the old milk crate in a mural by Wenting Li aka Wenting Things.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Wenting Li, A cyclist riding a green bicycle past a stylized blue neighborhood skyline, transporting a growing branch with clusters of red fruit in a bright orange milk crate.

below: Another cyclist pedaling along, this time by Isabella Fassler

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West

below: Caitlin Taguibao and Andrea Manica created a mural of people and flowers.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, a mural of people and flowers created by Caitlin Taguibao and Andrea Manica

below: A boy on the water and a blue jay watching him by Bunso, aka Night Owl Drawings

below: Adrian Hayles’ man in yellow again, with a 26 cent stamp by Frannie Potts.

below: A closer look at the bird and flowers on the stamp.

below: Part of the Nick Sweetman mural showcasing fish.

below: Visible Noise, aka Andrew Patterson

below: A pink cat with spots is the result of a collaboration between Muys and Chris Perez. Or is it a leopard?

below: Timmifuk removing not one mask, but two.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Timmifuk, young man with green face is removing two masks, one is blue and the other is a demon red

below: Rowell Soller

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Rowell Soller

below: StephVonAwesome aka Stephanie Avery

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West cartoon llike characters by StephVonAwesome aka Stephanie Avery<

monsters having a tea party, mural by Stephanie Avery, including three eyed orange guy and purple furry guy

murals on wall of Bloor street railway underpass by , Isabella Fassler, Caitlin Taguibao, Andrea Manica, and Stephanie Avery

below: “Water is Life”, Bubzart

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, water is life, pregnant woman

below: A peace dove in a swirl of calligraphy, by Medeio

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West A peace dove with an olive branch in its beak, in a swirl of calligraphy, by Medeio, monotone grey

below: Danilo Deluxo, a woman in an elaborate helmet, futuristic pilot.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, by Danilo Deluxo, a woman in an elaborate helmet, futuristic pilot.

below: Facing each other, Danilo Deluxo and Drippin’ Soul

two street art murals on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, Danilo Deluxo and Drippin' Soul

below: Using shades of black, teal and magenta, Drippin’ Soul has created a very metallic looking profile

below: That’s one creepy red eye! Or is it two red eyes? Ahhhh…. the red eye and brass (bronze?) pieces are part of a mask and the design was apparently “inspired by the taotie motifs of the Shang dynasty” (Quote is from MonkYi’s instagram page). The Shang dynasty dates back to between 1600 BC and 1050 BC; it marked the beginning of the Bronze Age in China. A taotie was a mythological creature that represented greed and gluttony.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Monk Yi, woman wearing a mask that has one red eye

two men walking past street art murals on the wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West

below: Ghazaraza‘s ladies are sharing a pot of tea.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Ghazaraza, two ladies are sharing a pot of tea, seated on the ground facing each other. Pink flowers in the middle

below: Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere… Oh, I don’t know just why
She simply caught my eye…. Or you can all it by its title, “Wildlife in Bloom” by Lula Lumaj.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Lula Lumaj, woman with long dark hair, flowers in her hair, monarch butterfly, bee, other flowers around her

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, a butterfly and a bee by some small pink flowers

below: A cute little grey cat with green eyes.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, a grey cat with green eyes and a little pink nose

three street art murals on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West. an image of a GO rain engine is in the middle

below: GO train – definitely On the Move!

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, image of a GO train engine

below: “The Lookout aka the Fruit Bandits” not letting a fence get in the way! by Jim Bravo

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, by Jim Bravo, a group of children is picking fruit from trees that are on the other side of a fence, title is fruit bandits

below: Mother and daughter watching the traffic in a mural by Colin Tea.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, Mother and daughter watching the traffic in a mural by Colin Tea, girl is called Violet

three muralon a railway underpass, bloor street , street art, urban art,

below: Greetings from West Toronto by Rage WIlliams

Greetings from West Toronto is the text in this white, gold, and pink mural by Rage Williams.

below: Reboser’s athlete – a football player sprinting down the field.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, football players by reboser

below: From the The Graffiti Studio ….

below: Jeff Blackburn‘s young person on the move with drink in one hand and backpack in the other.

below: Two dogs and a stack of old tires, a painting by Megan Oldhues

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, two dogs and a stack of old tires, by Megan Oldhues

below: Hummingbird by an orange flower.

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, hummingbird

below: Three animals by a river from Waskwane Designs – beaver, bear and wolf (with a few bees and butterflies too)

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, by Waskwane Designs, animal, beaver beside a river

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West by Waskwane Designs, bear with a butterfly

street art mural on wall of railway underpass on Bloor street West, by Waskwane Designs, animal, wolf in black and white

below: Not for Sale, letters and flowers in a small square of concrete at one end of the wall.

below: A lone pigeon watches me as I pass by.

below: The wall of the underpass peters out by the time Bloor Street reaches Perth.

Link for more information on StART – StreetARToronto

Photos taken August 2026

downtown Clearwater

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Mary C

The previous blog post was about a large mural in Clearwater that was on the Pinellas (bike and walking) Trail as it passed the downtown area, “See yah later Alligator”. Slightly to the north of that alligator, but still on the trail, is this mural….

mural by illsol, large, blue background, bicycles, oranges, locomotive, about history, orange belt railway, now on the pinellas trail in clearwater

It was painted by Illsol, a husband and wife team of Michelle Sawyer and Tony Krol and is titled, “One hundred years before J. Cole”. In 1885 the Orange Belt Railway, a narrow-gauge railway, was opened. This was also the year that the bicycle (with the same design as modern bikes) went into production. Today, the Pinellas Trail runs along the route of the Orange Belt Railway. The reference to J. Cole is because of a song of his called ‘1985’ about change and history.

part of a large blue mural, painted by illsol, steam locomotive from the orange belt railway, some oranges, and some bikes

bike, in a mural by illsol, clearwater, palm tree trunk in front of it, muralsofclearwater,

below: “Ikebana”, a flower arrangement. The word ikebana is Japanese and it refers to a style of flower arranging. It was painted by DAAS.

mural with many colorful flowers in ikebana, japanese flower arrangement, painted by D A A S

large white flower in a mural by d a a s

below: “Elysian Days” by Cecilia Lueza, rainforest inspired colours and shapes.

swirls of colours, a mural by lueza, shades of greens that look like leaves, some pinks and oranges too

below: History at the corner of Garden and Cleveland.

right hand side of a mural showing part of clearwater in the past, old truck with sign on side that says Jewelers Baskets Salon,

part of mural showing history of clearwater, Garden Avenue, old cars, brick streets, some pedestrians, a row of stores, inclusing a restaurant

below: “Communidad” by Theic Camilo Nunez and Florencia Duran.

mural, larger than life size people, title is communidad, people are reaching out and touching their neighbours

below: “Avenue du Jardin” is quite faded (I’ve played with the colours and enhanced them a bit). The plaque on the wall says, “This mural is dedicated to the citizens of Clearwater in celebration of our history and our future.” It was originally painted in 2002 and then restored not too long ago by Ana Livingston.

below: United We Stand, signed by four artists: Maria Chang, Jennifer Vallieres, Miriam Vallieres, and Laurie Anopach,

patriotic mural, american flag, words united we stand, kids, firemen, police, medical people, community

below: A bit of colour on the sidewalk brought to you by the Clearwater Arts Alliance.

below: With drips and bubbles and great shades of blue, a tree by Candy Schultheis

Eastside Gallery, Berlin

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Mary C

On 12 August 1961, the Soviets began building a wall around West Berlin to separate it from East Berlin and East Germany. By the next morning, the wall was complete. More than 90 miles of wall made an island out of West Germany.

people and parked bikes in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

Eastside Gallery – This outdoor “gallery” is a section of the Berlin Wall that has been left standing along Muhlenstrasse. It is just over 1300 metres long and has been covered with 105 paintings and murals on the side that faced East Berlin. It was first painted in 1990 just after the wall fell. Some sections were repainted in 2009.

below: “Diagonale Lösung des Problems” by Michail Serebrjakow 1990. Diagonal solutions.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, thumbs up sign, with a string tied to the thumb pulling it backwards and holding it up

below: A Trabant (the only East German make of car) comes through the wall, painted by Birgit Kinder, 2009. The date on the licence plate, 9 November 1989, is when the wall was opened and East and West Germans were allowed to cross freely. Demolition of the wall began in June of 1990.

a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: The orange bridge in the picture is Oberbaumbrucke (Oberbaum Bridge) that crosses the River Spree near this wall section. This wall runs parallel to the River Spree as the river was part of the ‘border’ here.

a woman walks her bike past part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: Part of “Doin it cool for the East Side” by Jim Avignon, Miriam Butterfly, and Tomas Fey (similar to above).

below: actors Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - faces of two people,

below: Jumping over the wall (He looks a bit too relaxed?)

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, a man in a red jacket jumps over the Berlin wall

below: ‘Tolerance’ by Mary Mackey of Denver

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, Tolerance by Mary Mackey of Denver Colorado

below: A small part of ‘Joint Venture’ by Margaret Hunter.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - lots of graffiti, a pasteup of a couple kissing under an umbrella

below: Es gilt viele mauren abzu bauen = There are many walls to build. There are lots of walls we need to break down. Painted by Ines Bayer and Raik Hönemann

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - es gilt viele mauern

below: By Schamil Gimajev (or Gamil Gimajew), a very large mural with the words Freedom and Perestroika incorporated into it.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: A gate in the wall, now with locks on it.

people hanging out in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: Some of the locks

Some locks attached the bars of a metal gate in the old Berlin Wall on Muhlenstrasse, Eastside gallery

below: by Christine Fuchs

writeen words, brown on white, large letters, How's God she's black

below: Batman and The Joker.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - Batman and Joker

a young man playing a guitar in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: No mans land barbed wire. “Niemandsland” by Carmen Leidner.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - barbed wire

below: Theodor Cheslav Tezhik – The Big Kremlins Wind. The winds of change.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

a young muslim woman in a head scarf walks past part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: I painted over the wall of shame so freedom is ashamed no more. Inferno ruled too many years until the people chose the light. I put my faith in you, Berlin, and give to you my colours bright.” Fulvio Pinma. The text is also written in Italian (larger letters above) and in German (at the bottom).

words in a mural by Fulvio Pinma, in Italian, German, and English, on part of the Berlin wall, Eastside Gallery

below: Not in the picture, the other end of the chain is in the mouth of a white dove. This mural is by Andrej Smolák

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery with a lot of pink and black graffiti scrawled on top of it

below: A comment on censorship in art by Willi Berger – “Der Maler Hans Meissel (1888-1969) sowohl im Dritten Reich als auch in der DDR mit Ausstellungsverbot belegt wegen seiner expressiven Malweise setzte mit ‘GOTT ALLEIN DIE EHRE’, J.S. Bachs letzter Komposition der Kunst der Fuge ein Denkmal. [blue] Mit der Kopie des nun erstverottenthaten Bildes mochte ich meinem Lehrer Donk abstatten.” It’s a copy of a painting by (and tribute to) Hans Meissel whose artwork was banned by the Third Reich. The title of the painting is “Soli Deo Gloria” and was a tribute to the last composition by J.S. Bach, ‘The Art of the Fugue’.

a man stops to look at part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, tribute to painter Hans Meissel by Willi Berger

below: Thierry Noir

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, large faces by Thierry Noir

below: Mikhail Gorbachev drives a car with a hammer and sickle steering wheel.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, picture of Mikhail Gorbechev driving a car with a hammer and sickle shaped steering wheel.

below: Selling black and white portraits in front of an untitled work by Ana Leonor Madeira Rodrigues. Floating ghostly figures in black and white.

a man sells black and white drawn portraits in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: Spacemagik, by Gabor Simon

people in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: A line of wanted posters. Bloody Vladimir. Putin of course.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - posters with the face of Putin, Russin leader, with words, Bloody Vladimir, wanted poster

below: A painting of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing as painted by Dmitri Vrubel. It was first painted in 1990 and re painted in 2009. Honecker was the East German leader in 1989 whose rise to power was aided by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. By 1989, Brezhnev was dead and the more liberal Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet leader.

two women stand in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

people reaching up high to write things on the wall, part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

people walking past part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

A full list of the original artists can be found on Wikipedia.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

between Brunswick and Anstey stations

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Mary C

It’s a short walk north from Brunswick station on the Melbourne Metro train line to the next station, Anstey. A bike and pedestrian path runs beside the train tracks. Some of the following photos were taken along that path while some of the photos were from nearby lanes.

The likeness of a man wearing a hat. All in blue with black details, A mouth, a nose, and many many eyes, on a brick wall, street art

street art of what looks like a tall red fire hydrant with at least two faces, on on the front and one on the side. Arms are hoses, smiling,

wheatpaste on a metal box that is bolted to a concrete block beside the railway tracks. The picture is on white, black line drawing of a cat on two legs, outlined in purple. Cat is wearing a jacket with batman logo on it, also belt and one glove . Not a real cat, but drawn to look like a cat that has been sewn together with fabric - stitches in the face,

A wall of a brick building beside a train track. It is covered with street art including a very large skull with a gold crown tied to it, a laughing man's face, and a lot of geometrics.

two bikes parked against a metal railing beside a bike path. on the other side of the railing is a two storey L shaped brick building with the lower level covered with two large tags, one says ETAM. FBS is written on the second storey.

small wheatpaste poster on a metel support. The picture is of a spray paint can made to look like a person. The top (where you push down) is the head. Cylinder shaped body. It has two arms and it is holding a small spray can in one hand.

street art of wolf head on person beside a real door with a white metal grille

large mural of a girl with short black hair and black dress writing on the wall.

graffiti on a brick wall beside a bioke path and train tracks

blue man's face, he is scowling, wearing a hat and smoking a cigar.

wall beside a bike path and train track, with a blue tag that includes 4 hearts

street art painting of a yellow fish head with a sad face

large red brick industrial building beside the train tracks, large windows consisting of many small panes of glass, around the windows there is a lot of graffiti

cartoon painting of a red fire hydrant (or maybe fire extinguisher) with a big mouth, several teeth, and a tongue, two eyes, and hoses for arms.

a large ugly purple face with small eyes and a very large mouth, teeth bared, drool coming out of mouth

knitted square attached to a chain link fence, beige cross on grey background. Wall of graffiti out of focus in the background.

old wheatpaste that is peeling off the wall. It was a person holding an ax over its head and it looks like it is attacking a real air conditioner that is mounted on the wall.

street art on a wall that includes a woman in a gas mask who is spray painting.

exterior wall, old sink in the corner, on the wall are some posters that say SH [heart] DW as well as David and Siobhan sitting in a tree

David and Siobhan sitting in a tree k i s s i n g

in the foreground is part of a corrugated metal fence with R I P in black that is part of a black, yellow, orange and red street art piece. In the background is a fence by some new houses. On the fence are a couple of tags, one of them is for SPED

page from a book written in German that has been pasted onto a wall that is painted with multicoloured graffiti. The book page is about chinchillas and has a picture of a chinchilla on the top third of the page. Someone has written in black marker over it,

The walk to the wishing tree
The giving tree swaying high in [illegible]

wall, two windows with old and dirty awnings one of which is broken. Graffiti tag says pork in large light blue letters, also redrum dwis,
street art painting of a very blue older man's face, wearing a head band, with mustache. Three other faces are around him as well as a lot of tags