Kirsten McCrea | Eyes on the Streets

In Peterborough Ontario the Hunter Street bridge crosses the Otonabee River. The west end of the bridge is in downtown while the east ends at James Stevenson Park. It’s in the park that you’ll find the paintings.

Back in 2015 and 2016 two of the arches under the Hunter Street bridge were painted. Nogojiwanong is an Ojibwa word for “place at the end of the rapids” and it was their name for the area that is now Peterborough.

Hunter Street bridge fromJames Stevenson park, grass in front, picnic tables under the arches

Facing the Nogojiwanong mural, and not visible in the above photo, are three animals – deer, beaver, and lion. Now the town is referred to as Electric City. Why? Because on May 24, 1884 Peterborough was the first town in Canada to have electric street lighting on downtown streets. Power was provided by the London Street hydroelectric water plant, also built in 1884.

arch under a bridge, street art painting of jumping deer with magenta antlers, a beaver, a log, and some leaves,

The murals on this arch were painted by Kirsten McCrea, with the help of Vicky Jackson (at least that’s what it looks like in the bottom right of this photo).

a street art painting of a lion with a curly mane and long tail, painted by Kirsten McCrea in yellow and black

from a mural in Peterborough Ontario by Jill Stanton, a picture of bloodroot plant, leaves, flowers, and roots under the ground

Bloodroot is a plant native to the Peterborough area. It gets its name from the fact that it bleeds red when the stems are cut. According to the text in the mural (bottom right, below), bloodroot propagates through a process called myrmecochory which is seed dispersal by ants. The seeds have external “appendages” that are rich in food that ants like. Once this food is consumed, the seed is discarded and can germinate.

This mural was painted in 2016 by Jill Stanton with the help of Andrew Ihamaki.

Photos taken September 2022

The Wabash Arts Corridor, founded in 2013, is a portion of Wabash Street in downtown Chicago. It is now the home of many large murals in a wide variety of styles. I know that I didn’t find them all, but here is a large selection of them. I’ve also included some smaller pieces that aren’t necessarily part of this project.

two murals on a wall on Wabash street in Chicago, on the wall Columbia college, beside a parking lot with a little bright orange car as well as other cars

below: A peacock painted in black and white by thedailydrizz aka Andrea Dunn

mural of a peacock done in black and white paint and made to look like it was done on 4 pieces of paper, on an old brick wall, by Andrea Dunn, a k a the daily drizz

below: Slime Mountain by Heidi Unkefer

mural in pastels tones, a reddish triangle, point down, and a light blue triangle, point up, meet in the middle, face on blue one, hands and little creatures too,

below: by Jordan Nickel, aka POSE

a bright collage-like mural

below: Many faces on the walls at this corner. On one side are colourful abstract faces by Kashink,

two level parking structure on a street corner in Chicago, the short walls are painted with street art faces. On one side are colourful abstract faces by Kashink and on the other side are black and white faces from the project called Stop Telling Women to Smile.

below: “Stop Telling Women to Smile” is the title of the series on the other walls of the parking structure, a series of women’s faces in grey tones by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

on the walls of a parking structure, a line of realistic faces in grey tones, a man sits on a bench beside it

on the walls of a parking structure, a line of realistic faces in grey tones, two rows high

below: A mural by Darryll Schiff, “Descending into Heaven”

mural on a wall, black people in silhouette walking towards numbers in LED lights that look digital

below: By Lady Lucx and Sarah Stewart, an untitled piece on a parking structure wall.

walls of an elevated parking structure painted in an octopus mural

close up of the eye of an orange octopus in a mural by a parking structure

2 murals on Balbao street in Chicago, a blue one by a parking lot and one by asup on the side of a restaurant,

below: Mural called “Make Your Own Luck” a group of cyclists by asvp on the side of the South Loop Club Bar & Grill
mural by asup on the side of a bar and grill on Balboa street in Chicago, in red, white and pale blue

below: “High Tide” by Amuse126

a large watery blue mural

below: Sticker, Lucky Gnome proclaiming happy changes in his life.
a sticker made with a USA postal sticker, picture of a gnome with words,

below: A paste up on a post, Andy Warhol
paste up of Andy Warhol on a post

below: “X Marks the Milky Way” by Renee Robbins, 2016

X Marks the Milky Way, a mural in a Chicago alley by Renee Robbins, abstract colours and shapes on a teal background

below: “Gift to the Class of 2016” by Don’t Fret

mural on wall above mollys Cupcakes in Chicago, a man with hands by mouth

below: On “The El” where orange & green line trains pass by

large murals on walls surrounding a parking lot that has an elevated train passing over it

below: Just the “Y” at the end of the word “Harmony” in a mural by Ben Eine beside a silver and grey mural by Marquis Lewis aka Retna

part of two murals, the letter Y and one in silver and grey

below: “Moose Bubblegum Bubble” by Jacob Watts

large mural of a moose blowing a big pink bubble with bubble gum

below: “We Own the Future” by Shepard Fairey in the same style as his “Obey” series

mural by obey in red, black, and gold, on upper storey of a brick building in Chicago

below: Watching over black horses on grey, a mural by Ricky Lee Gordon called “I am You, You are Me”.

horizontal mural of a woman's head in profile and horses, in black on grey

below: by Hera, “Imagine if we could Tolerate Each Other’s Differences”

on the upper storeys of a brick building in Chicago, a mural by Hera of a woman holding some birds in her hand, a small white figure stands beside her

below: A redheaded woodpecker. This is only a part of a larger mural that has been covered over by a large ad. It was “From Boom to Doom” by Collin van der Slujis. Seems like doom has won.

part of a mural, a large red head woodpecker, but rest of mural has been covered over by a large ad

below: “Impossible Meeting” by Marina Zumi
a mural by Marina Zumt of a doe and a buck, two deers, meeting nose to nose, painted in blues and purples

below: On the far right, by antckone aka Anthony Lewellen

four vertical panels close together, the two on the left are portraits, then an elephant and then a cartoon character by antckone

below: Butterflies on the corner. There are many butterflies in this mural by Hector Duarte. It is a representation of Mexican immigration.

a butterfly painted on the corner of a building

below: Within the confines of a small dog run, Melanie Vazquez‘s “Contra Todo Siendo Resistendo”

a mural behind a fence, pink, with yellow sun and green cactii

below: A large mural in a small space. “Standing Wave” by Justus Roe

large abstract mural beside a parking lot, small area, also in a fenced in space

below: Part of “Listen to Learn” by Hello Kirsten aka Kirsten McCrea. Using an old telephone receiver to shed light on life. The fence was a barrier.

car parked beside a mural, large hand holding an old fashioned telephone receiver but using is as a flashlight

below: The other side of the fence and the other side of the mural

mural by Hello Kirsten on the side of a brick building with a blue exterior metal staircase

below: A second rate photo I’m afraid. It’s taken through the window of a moving train… and I forgot to go back and find the mural after I got off the train. It is 8100-square-foot mural painted by Italian street artist Never 2501 in 2015.

seen through the window of a train, a large mural in Chicago

below: Ruben Aguirre, “Drowning City”

orange shapes on black, mural

below: Sun bum is winning. J.C. Rivera’s “The Bear Champ vs Sonny” two cartoon-like characters wrestling of boxing, one has shirt on that says sun bum

mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, and across the street are portraits of musicians done in tile shaped pieces

on the corner of a building, on both sides, a mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, with a realistic hand as well,

mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, with a realistic hand as well, people walking past it, one man with hand out pointing at something