in the alleys of Owen Sound

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Mary C

Owen Sound is a small pleasant Ontario town that is nice to wander around. It has more street art than one might expect from a town its size.

parking lot and alley behind shops in Own Sound, three storey brick buildings with street art murals along the bottom third.

below: Back in 2013, the Bleeding Carrot Cafe decided that the alley adjacent to the cafe needed some art and thus the Bleeding Carrot Alley Project was born. That summer, the exterior walls of the cafe (in the alley) were painted with street art murals. Most of them still exist. Although the Bleeding Carrot doesn’t seem to be in business any more, it has left behind a colourful legacy. The first part of this blog post is dedicated to those murals.

below: Brilliant red poppies painted by Andree Levie Warrilow

a young woman's face and some bright red poppies, a mural

below: This was the first mural that was painted in the alley, a boy and his toys.

below: Another from 2013, painted by Alan Glicksman … where everybody seems to be talking.

below: Keep on rockin’ downtown, bright yellow by Robert Menzies (also 2013).

below: More 2013 – a surreal scene by Marc Matei with a purple octopus (with more than 8 legs!) makes a headpiece for a surly looking man who has a shaggy beard and one big tooth.

street art mural, purple octopus, orange donkey, man with beard,

below: Portrait of Jim, by Jennifer Crawley (2013)

below: Logan Pellerin’s trippy trees and a rocky road that leads infinitely into the distance

below: Jana Miller painted these wavy rays of sunshine.

below: In later years (post-2013), the other side of the alley was also painted.

alley behind shops in Owen Sound, three storey brick buildings with street art murals along the bottom third.

below: An orange skull

below: “Vida” is a collaboration between artist Billy Goodkat and local high school students. Vida is the Spanish word for Life.

alley behind shops in Own Sound, three storey brick buildings with street art murals along the bottom third. Purple stripes

brown turtle partially submerged in water, face is above water street art painting

below: A large section of wall in Carney’s Lane is covered by this Owen Sound mural which is also known as the Koodoo mural.

street art mural with words, Owen Sound, and a pink bunny and a blue fish

below: The south wall of the Grey Gallery is covered by “Transformation” a large mural by Raquell Yang that was painted in the summer of 2020

mural painting along one wall, exterior, outdoors, of the Grey Gallery Garden. Two large blue whales across the top, two male portraits below with a large eye with butterfly wings between the men

below: There is a large mural behind the Roxy Theatre that was painted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the theatre. It is composed of a number of theatre related vignettes. It is the result of a collaboration between a number of artists under the leadership of Billy Goodkat.

car in parking lot, parked in front of a large theatre themed mural painted on the back of a cinema

below: And last, I found a wall covered with Emily May Rose’s raccoons.

blue raccoon with a microphone, Emily May rose mural in Owen Sound

pink and blue raccoons, one playing a guitar, the others dancing on the stairs.

Photos taken July 2025.

WIFF Alley

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Mary C

WIFF = Windsor International Film Festival

sign that says create made to look like a reel of film on old style film projector

below: Silhouettes in the window – Willy, Edgar, Dorothy, Toto, and Edna

on a brick wall, onld windows have been bricked over and in each of the 4 windows is a black silhouette that looks like a famous film character, Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy and Toto from the Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, and the little spymaster woman Edna in the "The Incredibles' movies

below: In autumn 2019, Daniel Bombardier a.k.a Denial or Enjoy Denial, painted this movie themed mural

below: Jessica Rabbit from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ is portrayed on the far left side of the mural. She stands under a “Danger 10,000 volts” sign. Popcorn anyone?

below: Action! Charlie Chaplin and

Charlie Chaplin with black hat and mustache the blue emotion emoji character from Inside Out, in a mural by Denial

below: More moments in cinema including Rosebud from Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’

Princess Leia from Star Wars, Marilyn Munroe, Rosebud, The End, censored, fist from Superman, Jack Nicholson's head on door, all in movie themed mural by Denial

below: “Life is Cinema” by Derkz

large mural in an alley by Derkz, shades of grey, very realistic, people with movie cameras, one modern, one slightly older, hand held cameras,

below: Complete the sentence….

Rainbow coloured paint covers metal staircase in alley, with text is one place that says Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my

three d sign or sculpture at the start of an alley, windsor theme images on the sculpture,

below: Rose City mural

Rose City mural, red and white roses on purple background, with an open with a palm full of rose petals

below: Mr. Toon hangs around in WIFF Alley too

Mr. Toon, 3D artwork, on wall under sign that says WIFF alley

below: Cheerful and cheering, Chris Haven characters on a pole in the alley.

two graffiti stickers on metal pole, both by Chris Haven, small pyramidal shaped character with stick arms, triangle shaped mouth, both cheering with arms up

Nostalgia

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Mary C

… is a mural on Main Street in Nashua that takes a look back at three of the highlights in the history of American movies – The Three Stooges, Cary Grant and Vivian Leigh in ‘Gone With the Wind’, as well as James Stewart and Donna Reed in ‘A Wonderful Life’. It was painted on the side of on the Chase Building on its 100th anniversary. Once upon a time this building was home to a movie theater with a few different names – the Tremont (1917-1927), State (1927-1973), and Star (1973-1980) Theaters.