Chatham history

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Mary C

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.

history of Chatham mural, older, peeling and faded a bit, a line of businesses, including the Savoy Cafe

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.

history of Chatham mural, older, peeling and faded a bit, a line of businesses, including Heintzman Pianos and Lyons Tailoring.

below: Ladies checking out what’s on display at the tailors, window shopping.

history of Chatham mural, older, peeling and faded a bit, a line of businesses, two women looking in the window of Lyons tailoring where a woman is adjusting a dress on a headless mannequin. A man about to get on a bike is also in the picture

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.

part of a mural by Penelope Duchesne of a market scene from early in the 1900s

part of a mural by Penelope Duchesne of a market scene from early in the 1900s, a white chicken in a cage, a bunch of sunflowers

“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.

painting of the old Chatham Town Hall, a large brick building, in a mural

down a dark alley

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Mary C

…. Finlay Lane, a short lane with a dead end, in Melbourne’s CBD (Central Business District).

below: Graffiti on an alley wall

below: Urban Cake Lady, with the red hoodies and blue and white striped pants that she likes to use in her artwork.

below: Human? Devil? An impish blue character with a long red satanic tail.

blue skinned character with long red tail

below: This isn’t the clearest image, but what you looking at here is a character putting on a mask. Its face is black and its two eyes look like lights (and are barely in the photo)

putting on a mask, part of a street art painting

mural in a Melbourne alley, throw up style, red tag on blue background

below: With all the wrong lighting, a large painting by Ling, for Flash Forward Melbourne whose line is “40 Artists, 40 Acts, 40 Laneways”. The image is too dark, but it’s a man in blue shirt, red robe, holding out one hand. A better picture can be found at the Flash Forward Melbourne website.

part of a mural, high up on a wall in a narrow alley, man wearing red and blue robes, with his hand reaching out

below: Very stylized and abstracted but I think I see a motorcycle helmet, and perhaps a black hand reaching upwards.

street art, or urban art, painting in melbourne australia,

below: “Free Yourself”

a wall in an alley covered with urban art and graffiti

tags, text, and spray paint, in a melbourne alley or lane

Photos taken in March 2025

Joe’s Deli

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Mary C

Joe’s Deli is on the corner of Hertel and Colvin in Buffalo (north of downtown). Two sides of the building are covered with large colourful murals.

below: On the Colvin Street side the mural consists of a lot of stylized flowers mostly in blues and purples.

mural by Bonnie Reiss, stylized floral motifs in blues and purples on a bright turquoise background, on the side of Joe's Deli in Buffalo

part of mural by Bonnie Reiss, stylized floral motifs in blues and purples on a bright turquoise background

below: The other side of the building has a second mural. It too has a turquoise background and some of the same floral motifs as the first mural. Both murals were painted by Bunnie Reiss.

large mural on the side of Joe's deli, a brown buffalo decorated with lots of stylized flowers and floral motifs, painted by Bunnie Reiss

the head of a buffalo in a large mural on the side of Joe's deli, a brown buffalo decorated with lots of stylized flowers and floral motifs, painted by Bunnie Reiss

part of a mural, large mural on the side of Joe's deli, a brown buffalo decorated with lots of stylized flowers and floral motifs, painted by Bunnie Reiss

below: The old blue sign on the building says Mastmans Kosher Restaurant. Mastmans deli and restaurant closed in 2005 after 60 years in the business.

Photos taken April 2025

near Balaclava train station

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Mary C

below: On the corner of Nelson and Carlisle streets, near Balaclava station in St. Kilda East.

below: Black panther roaring with mouth open wide, fangs and teeth ready….

below: The railway crosses over Carlisle street at the north end of Balaclava station

below: Praying. Painted by Pawtl

below: Two women hanging out with a white rabbit and a white cat, by Deb.

below: Come Alive Melbourne

below: A rainbow lorikeet

below: Owls by the door

below: More owls

below: Continuing the bird theme – a very old and weathered stencil of a pigeon

below: Another oldie, a paste-up of many people. One person in a red and white striped shirt, holding a toddler. A girl with long hair wearing a checkered red and white dress; she’s holding something like a brown box in her hands. Beside her is a girl who is wearing a white top and a blue skirt. Who else can you see?

The next few pictures are a selection of paintings on the upper level of some of the stores on Carlisle.

below: Dana’s Patisserie

below: Many hands

below: Flowers and faces

below: “TAKE” or perhaps “TAK E” above a painting beside the walkway to Balaclava station, southbound trains.

below: On the platform, Balaclava station, “Shake was here”

below: Gradients in blue and orange cover the ground floor level of a new development beside the station – seen from the station platform.

below: Also seen from the platform, street art on the back of a building by the tracks.

below: Raise a steaming cup to the coffee culture that is strong here in Melbourne! Cheers!

Photos taken March 2025

Adnate on Albany

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Mary C

This large mural by Matt Adnate was painted in support of the Melbourne Zero campaign to end homelessness. The very much larger than life portraits of mother and child can be seen on Albany Alley in Melbourne’s CBD.

Photos taken March 2025

Utopia and smiling faces

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Mary C

trees on sidewalk beside mural on a wall, by Toni Espinar titled the big lie, triptych of consciousness

On Via Regina Margherit in Stornara there is a large mural by Toni Espinar. It’s title is: “La gran mentira” (Triptico de la Consciencia) which translates to “The Big Lie (Triptych of Consciousness). Triptych refers to the fact that the mural is in three sections/scenes, each under its own arch. The arches resemble stonework found in church architecture.

The first frame is dominated by large purple creatures with big white teeth and shiny red eyes. Green biohazard symbols are in their mouths. A gargoyle-like human head with eyes closed is at the top of the arch.

Under the word “Utopia” is a very pregnant man with a tattoo that says “Respect” on his tummy. On his shoulder is another tattoo that combines the symbols for male and female. He is looking skyward, or perhaps heavenward. Is there a comparison to Christ that can be made here? Is there a resemblance to how the face of Jesus is often portrayed?

hairy gremlins with big ears and impish grins, and happy faces, in a mural

Tiger mom seems to push little tiger son into the boxing ring. The white words above the gremlins say “La grande bugia” which can also translate to “the big lie”. Across the top of the arch it says “cambiare mondo, non follia ma giustizia”, or “change the world, not madness but justice”

part of mural, La gran mentira (Triptico de la Consciencia)

The chest tattoo is a winged red heart with the equation e=mc2, Einstein’s theory of relativity. There is also a series of keyholes on his chest.

On the far right of the mural, a school of green fish swim together.

Photos taken February 2024

The Original Family

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Mary C

Sometimes there are silver linings when buildings get demolished. Until recently, this wonderful mural was difficult to get a good look at. Now that there is a vacant lot next door I was able to get a much better picture of it.

The title of the mural is “The Original Family” and it is based on an Anishinaabe creation story. The artist, Philip Cote, has been telling Anishinaabe stories through his mural painting for at least twenty years, including a series of images on the concrete supports of a bridge at Old Mill subway station (see Spirit Stories Under Old Mill in this blog).

Once construction starts on this new building, the mural will become partially obscured again.

animals on the walls of Montreal

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Mary C

below: “Siamoises” – What looks like twin cats in red dresses is actually a row of identical kitties, but the spotlight is on those two. A mural by Mono Sourcil, aka Maxlie Martel.

mural on a red brick wall in Montreal, circle, night with moon in the sky, two identical cats standing, wearing identical red dresses

below: SBU One’s red rooster, or red chicken.

below: Designed by ANYO – squirrels with different coloured hats. I have only shown two, red and turquoise, but there are many more out there….. how many have you seen?!

graffiti sticker on metal, a squirrel wearing a red hat

below: Giraffes

below: A wish for peace and love, amor et paix, for Ukraine.

yellow and blue background, a white dove with word paix which is french for peace

yellow and blue background, three white dovess with word amor and paix which is french for love and peace

below: A small portion of a large mural by Pantonio showing two of the many birds in the mural – a large bluish black bird and a cute little purple and white bird.

part of a larger mural by Pantonio,two birds, one is small purple, and white, the other is larger a blackbird

below: “Mechanic Bird” by Dede Bandaid & Nitzan Mintz, with text: “Of my dozens of keys, the smallest one opens home”

black and white mural on side of brick building, a bird with large wings

below: This rendition of Daffy Duck is the work of Simon Beaulieu – throwup “text” says Simple.

below: Dog (wolf?) with laser eyes.

below: It’s an animal, right? The blue creature on the left. It was painted by Cryote and the whole panel was a collaboration with Labrona and Waxhead.

below: Buzzzzzz……

little yellow bee with open wings, graffiti

Photos taken September 2024

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.

Phelany23 painted the mural, with the support of Positive Street Art.

below: A Wonderful Life, Christmas 1946 with James Stewart and Donna Reed

below: Gone with the Wind – Cary Grant and Vivian Leigh

below: The Three Stooges in The Blob – Larry, Moe, and Curly

Phlegm’s progress.

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Mary C

British mural artist Phlegm has been painting a large mural on the side of 1 St. Clair West. The first time I saw it, was on the 14th of July, 2016, when it looked liked this:

below: The white background of the mural was painted first.

below: Photo from 19th July, 2016

As it turns out, there is a lot of detail in the mural! It slowly took shape.

below: 21st July

below: Fast forward to August 2016 when the mural was almost finished. …
but wait! Isn’t that the CN tower on the shoulder?

below: Hey! It is the CN tower. And isn’t that the Gooderham/flatiron building? And that building with the little dome, isn’t that on Yonge street?

below: There’s the ROM and its ‘crystal’ too! This is the ‘bottom’ of the figure and in this photo two things become clearer. First, the scale of the project and just how big the mural is becomes apparent. Second, the mural is of a person coming out of the earth, being pulled out by the roots almost. But is it a person? Or is it a living city?

below: The head part – play ‘spot the building’! Is that old city hall?

below: Scalliwags is on one of the knees along with a lot of trees.

below: And last, the feet with more roots at the heels

This project is also a part of the STEPS Initiative program.

Photos taken back in 2016
This post also appears in a blog about Toronto, As I Walk Toronto.

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: mural