Tag Archives: mural

The Original Family

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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 Original family, a mural by Philip Cote based on indigenous Anishinaabe creation story, thurnderbird, man, woman, moon, animals,

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).

scaffolding and hoardings beside a vacant lot where a building has just been demolished, large mural on the other side of the fence, by Philip Cote, Original family,

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

scaffolding and hoardings by a construction site, end of mural above hoardings, thunderbird in first nations style painting

animals on the walls of Montreal

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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.

street art painting of a red rooster

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

graffiti sticker on metal, a squirrel wearing a turquoise hat

below: Giraffes

part of a mural of animals, 2 giraffes, on a wall with windows with circular tops

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.

Daffy Duck in a street art throw up

below: Dog (wolf?) with laser eyes.

street art

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.

Montreal street art

below: Buzzzzzz……

little yellow bee with open wings, graffiti

Photos taken September 2024

Nostalgia

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… 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.

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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.

a street in Toronto, St. Clair Ave., with an older nine storey building with concrete facing, on the side, above the level of the stores beside it, is the outline of the start of a mural. All painted white, a seated figure.

below:  Photo from 19th July, 2016

a verylarge mural on the side of a building is in the process of being painted. An white outline of a seated person with their knees drawn up, one leg has been painted with a design in black

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

below: 21st July

a very large mural on the side of a building is in the process of being painted. An white outline of a seated person with their knees drawn up, one leg has been painted with a design in black

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

large black and white mural by phlegm of a seated person with their knees bent up, made of tiny houses and buildings and other structures

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?

close up of mural made up of toronto landmarks like the cn tower and the gooderham flatiron building, by British artist phlegm

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?

the bottom part of a mural, man in scaffolding is still working on it, black on white, pictures of buildings.

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

head part of phlegm mural

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

knees part of the mural

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

feet of a person in a mural made of paintings of trees and buildings, roots growing out of the heels. satelite dish in the mural and on the building beside the mural

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.

Vhils and flowers

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One of the joys of exploring cities that have organizations and programs that promote good street art, is finding walls that have been a canvas for artists with global reach. In this case, the city of Chicopee (that I suspect many people outside of Massachusetts have never heard of) has a mural by Vhils, aka Alexandre Farto, a Portuguese artist whose work is now found in over 30 countries.

On the side of a residential building, a large mural by Vhils of a man's face with the word chicopee on the top and the year 1848 on the bottom, like a coin. On a lower section of the wall is a mural of different types of flowers on a bright blue background - poppies, daisies, foxglove, and more

below: A better look at the Vhils work – He hasn’t painted this mural. Instead it has been created using a bas-relief carving technique. The colours in the mural are the colors of the different layers on the wall.

below: A garden of color. Bright red poppies with white and yellow daisies….  Blue hollyhocks and yellow delphinium (I think!) too.

Photos taken July 2024

La cultura es poder

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Culture is power.

La Cultura es Poder was painted by the Colectivo Morivivi in connection with the “Race and Visual Cultures” project of UMASS Amherst. In this mural, swirls of coloured music unite the elements of the story. From the website for Colectivo Moriviví – “the different musical genres can be seen in the mural coming out of the windows and merging in a trail of colors that leads us to a Bomba circle. With this image, we wanted to evoke the connection of the most contemporary rhythms with ancestral traditions. Bomba is very present in the activism of the diaspora and its community practices. As such, culture is resilient and it is power.”

Colectivo Morivivi is an all-women artistic collective, democratizing art and bringing the narratives of Puerto Rican communities to the public sphere. Holyoke Massachusetts has the highest population of Puerto Ricans, per capita, in the continental United States.

Photos taken July 2024

threads

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The brick and window facade of the old American Thread Company provides a backdrop for the playful and colourful mural by Golden305.

mural by Golden 305 in Holyoke, beside old brick factory and warehouse

The artist, Venezuelan artist, Cristhian Saravia (aka Golden305), is an illustrator and muralist originally from Venezuela but now based in Miami, Florida.

mural by Golden 305 in Holyoke, bright colours, purple background, unicorn wearing converse shoes, spool of thread with a needle bee, blue diamond,
close up of part of mural by Golden 305 in Holyoke Massachusetts, brown unicorn with white t shirt and ice cream cone as horn, green comb in his curly black hair , wearing converse all star running shoes
part of American Thread com mural in Holyoke, blue clouds with happy faces, and a few blue rain drops, pink heart, rainbow,
close up of part of a mural by golden 305
mural by golden 305

Photos taken July 2024

Holyoke Bordalo2

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The morning after I posted the photos of the Bordalo2 mouse and bear in Lynn, I saw this on Clemente Street in Holyoke (also Massachusetts)…

It is “Father and Baby Moose”, also by Bordalo II

This is another Beyond Walls project; this time in partnership with the City of Holyoke, El Corazon de Holyoke, and Nueva Esperanza. Clemente Street is in a section of the city with a large Hispanic population.

below: A close up look at baby’s hind leg and all the metal pieces that went into creating it.

Photos taken July 2024

Beastie Boys in NYC

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large mural by shephard fairey in the village area of new york city, featuring the music group the Beastie Boys. An image from one of their album covers, Posse In Effect in mostly red and blue. Men standing beside a large ghetto blaster and one man crouching beside it. Looming over stores on 14th Ave near the corner of Avenue A.

A large mural featuring the Beastie Boys looms over 14th Ave and Avenue A in New York City.  The Beastie Boys started rocking in 1981. They recorded and performed their version of hip hop/rock for more than three decades. 

part of large mural by shephard fairey in the village area of new york city, featuring the music group the Beastie Boys. An image from one of their album covers, Posse In Effect in mostly red and blue. Men standing beside a large ghetto blaster and one man crouching beside it.

The mural was painted by Shepard Fairey (aka Obey) as part of the NYC Hip Hop 50 celebration in October 2023.