small town Ontario murals

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Mary C

As I find more, I will add them here in alphabetical order by town name.

Burnt River: Two halves of the same mural. Rural life – cows, horses, and the old CN train that no longer runs here. The land where the railway tracks ran has been repurposed into a walking trail in summer and a snow mobile trail in winter.

part of a mural on exterior wall of Burnt River post office, some houses, a cow, and a horse

part of a mural on exterior wall of Burnt River post office, a train stopped at a station, a snow mobile.

Campbellford: Sunrise over the water. Campbellford is on the Trent River.

Goderich: Butterflies and rainbows on the corner of Courthouse Square and Montreal Street, downtown.

butterflies and a rainbow in a large mural on the side of a brick building in downtown Goderich

Lafontaine: Profile of a wolf… Legend of Loup Lafontaine – part legend and part true story, written by Thomas Marchildon, a parish priest, in 1955. Since 2002 the town has held an annual Festival du Loup.

Parham: “59th Annual Exhibition of the Parham Agricultural … A glimpse into the past – just some of the people who made the 1950 Parham Fair another memorable event.”

large mural on the side of general store in Parham Ontario, image of a group of people at the 59th annual Exhibition and Parham agricultural fair, early 1900sm

Sharbot Lake: “The Final Journey”, On June 6, 1891, Sir John A. Macdonald died at his residence in Ottawa. After a state funeral, his body was taken by train to Kingston from the mainline to the K&P at Sharbot Lake.

mural on wall in sharbot lake, portrait of Sir John A Macdonald as well as a train, tells story of Macdonald's trip in the train after he died

Sharbot Lake: Kingston and Pembroke Iron Mining Company. Incorporated 1887. The Railway’s Influence: with the arrival of the railway in 1876 came new prosperity. Sawmills and mines now had easy access to markets. Sharbot Lake soon had several stores, hotels and 3 doctors. This building, built in 1901, was originally the Farmers Bank of Canada.

mural about Kingston and Pembroke iron mining company incorporated in 1887, and the railway's influence in the area, saw mills and mines and easy access to markets. On the side of building from 1901, the Farmers Bank of Canada

Tiverton: The Watchman – this was the name of the local newspaper. At the top of the oval, “Incorporated in 1879” and at the bottom, a portrait of John Patterson, one of the first settlers. Also shown, the Masonic Lodge, local church, an old car and pickup truck at the B A gas station, horses pulling a plow, and an old fire wagon on the main street. It was originally painted by Allen Hilgendorf in August 2001 then restored by Ruth Hurdle in 2010, and by the looks of it perhaps it is being restored again (photo taken June 2025). Other notes: Although the town was incorporated in 1879, it took the name Tiverton in 1860 when the post office opened there. “The Watchman” newspaper was founded in 1874.

large mural, outdoors, black watchman plaid background with large interior oval containing many images of pioneer life, horses pulling a plow in a field, men playing hockey outside, a church, a wagon on a street with a couple of stores,

Tiverton: Tiverton Platoon 1917, group picture

large photograph of men in uniform, 1917, group shot, about 50 men, title is Tiverton Platoon 1917, on brick wall, outside

Wallaceburg: The S.S. Superior, a large boat. “1889-1960, Typical of the Great Lake Steamers that visited Canada’s Inland Deep Water Port, this 250 ft package freighter, a familiar sight loading local products, made it’s last call in 1958 thus ending an important chapter in local heritage. “

painting on an exterior wall in Wallaceburg, a large image of the S.S. Supperior, a package freighter built in the 1880s.

Monopoli’s Millo

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Mary C

There is one large mural in the old seaside town of Monopoli (Italy).

on a street corner near the waterfront in the southern Italian town of Monopoli, a mural on the side of a building by artist Millo shows an oversized young boy holding onto a large leaf as he sits among residential buildings with his feet in the water

It is “Beyond the Sea” by Millo and it was painted in the summer of 2020.

Millo mural in Monopoli showing yung boy sitting among black and white apartment blocks, with his feet in the water. Lower levels of buildings are also under water, a large blue fish swims past.

There is another Millo mural in the nearby city of Lecce; if you are interested, it is included in another blog post, 167B Street Lecce.

Photos taken February 2024

Along the Riverbank

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Mary C

There is a new mural (2022) in Toronto by Nick Sweetman featuring animals and plant life commonly found along Ontario’s rivers, especially the Don River that flows nearby. It adorns a wall/fence that runs the length of a new park, Riverside Square, which is southeast of Queen and the Don Valley Parkway.

below: The east end of the mural

part of mural by Nick Sweetman, Along the Riverbank

below: A blue-fronted dancer damselfly (A very long name for a very small creature!)

below: Mink, toad, and a water insect called a water strider.

below: Catfish

below: A raccoon eyes the fish swimming past

below: A happy dog among friends, a raccoon and a cotton tail rabbit. If you look closely, there is a bridge in the background by the fox – Torontonians might recognize this bridge as one of the many that cross the Don River.

below: Red fox, coyote

below: In the middle

below: Egret diving for fish

below: White-tailed Deer

below: North American beaver

below: Painted turtle

below: Northern Leopard Frog

Tensoe2 and Moises (Luvs) also contributed to ‘Along the Riverbank’

Photos taken January 2024

Turtle Island, essential workers, and others

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Mary C

in downtown Belleville (Ontario)

five cars parked in front of a large mural of a green shelled turtle walking beside a large body of water, many animals are on the turtle's back, fox, bear, deer, moose, wolf, bobcat, beaver, rabbit, many birds are flying around,

The mural was painted by Allan Bender, John Nobrega, and Stacey Kinder of Blinc Studios.

closer up view of the turtle's head and some of the animals, turtle's front feet are in the water

The name Turtle Island comes from creation stories told by a number of indigenous groups of North America. It represents North America (or the Earth).

animals in a street art mural, mother bear and cub, wolves, bobcat or cougar, beaver

There is another large mural in downtown Belleville. It is a much more literal representation of the city and includes a few of that city’s landmarks.

A mural with images of Belleville landmarks

below: The mural and the street it is trying to depict. The tall tower in the background is Belleville City Hall.

below: The white semi circle things on the right side are the Moira Bridge, an old double arched bridge built in 1930.

part of a mural with images of Belleville landmarks

below: Belleville water tower, a Monarch butterfly, the old train station, and the Quinte Skyway Bridge.

below: A train pulls into the station. Artwork by Christopher Bennett.

And last, there are other paintings by Chris Bennett around Belleville including this tribute to Essential Workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spirit Stories under Old Mill

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Mary C

In Toronto, subway tracks cross above the Humber River at Old Mill station. The concrete pillars that support the subway bridge have been covered with many watery blue First Nations themed murals.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar

below: The artist, Philip Cote, described the story behind this image on the ArtworxTO website (see link); like all cultures, the Anishinaabe have an origin story. In the beginning there was just Spirit. “And that spirit decided to send signals out into the universe and waited for a response. And when no response happened that spirit called the signals back and said, “As you come back to me, create light in the universe”. And at that moment they had light and dark in the universe. And that is the beginning of the Anishinaabe cosmology. Everything for Anishinaabe is made of light and dark. Everything we look at has a spirit, everything, the ground, the rocks, the sand, the trees, the birds, the plants, everything is… and even our sun and our Mother Earth and the moon, they all have a spirit.”

The blues of the water, the Humber River, were painted by Kwest. Water is the Underworld in Ahishinaabe cosmology and the Guardians of this Underworld are the fish. Another artist, Jarus aka (Emmanuel Jarus), painted the fish.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, large grouper fish in the water surrounding the central medallion

Most of the paintings have a well defined circle. This is the boundary between water and earth, between the spirit world and the physical world. But there are connections between the two worlds – all living things are connected and we are all connected to the Spirit World.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a mountain of ice in the background

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a male and a female figure

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, an otter swimming in the water, looking below the surface

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a turtle shaped animal with a bear head with open mouth trying to catch fish

bom.k on blvd Vincent Auriol

Posted on June 18, 2022 by Mary C

Trying to hide some trees on blvd Vincent Auriol is a large mural by Bom-K. A girl, wearing bright pink gloves seems to be trying to spray something orange – an aspiring graffiti artist?, or is she picking up garbage?

large vertical mural painted by bom k also known as da mental vaporz, of a young girl wearing pink gloves, with a green robot beside her

Are her eyes closed? Is she in distress? Or crying?

bottom part of bom k mural with blvd vincent auriol street sign

photos taken June 2022

Wabash street and vicinity, Chicago

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Mary C

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

carol taking a picture of a row of murals of black musicians done in little squares on a brick wall in Chicago

mural of a black man singer made in tiles in blacks and white with shades of blue

photo (or photo like picture on a wall of a man looking at a tornado made of objects

London Police in Hollywood

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Mary C

As part of the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project (in Florida) there is a playful mural by The London Police, painted in 2014.

full mural by The London Police on a wall beside a parking lot in Hollywood Florida

The main character is one large smiley face astronaut and the supporting cast consists of numerous miniature astronauts.

close up of big smiling astronaut face looking at a tiny astronaut, in a mural by The London Police

in a mural in Hollywood Florida, five small astronaut characters with ropes as they try to climb up

a pipe comes out of a wall, painted on a mural, small astronaut characters are coming out of the pipe

in a mural, a large black wrench that syas adjust on it T L P signature on mural, 2014, Hollywood FLorida

The above photos were taken in July 2017 .

around Bernard Shaw

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Mary C

The Bernard Shaw, in a building built in 1895, is a pub on Richmond Street South in Dublin. I had heard that there was some street art in the vicinity, so a detour was made to that part of Dublin. The building looks like it needs a coat of paint!

an old black building, the Bernard Shaw pub, built 1895, with street art on either side of it.

below: A brightly coloured bird flies on one side of the pub

mural of a blue and dark pink bird in flight, with a long yellow beak

below: A peacock continues the bird theme on the other side of the Bernard Shaw.
Perhaps that’s him on the wall above?

a large mural of a colourful peacock onwood construction hoardings.

below: Don’t forget to look up too.

murals on a wall and on the upper storey of a pub behind the fence, a tug boat, fowers, a woman's head

below: “Our bodies, our lives, our choice” mural. Part of the “Repeal the 8th” campaign, an abortion rights campaign to call for a referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland. The 8th amendment criminalizes abortion in all cases except where to continue a pregnancy would result in death of the mother.

two people walking past a mural covered with pictures of flowers and leaves and the words, in cursive writing, Our bodies our lives our choice

small street art painting of a man's face high on a wall

In the same area there was a car park… or construction site… or just a series of walls covered with street art and graffiti. Not much of it was noteworthy but here are a few pictures just the same.

construction hoardings covered with street art and graffiti with cars parked beside them.

below: This one accompanies a happy birthday and I love you message written for Angela, presumably written by Caolan.

graffiti that says angela & caolan. Angela is in pink letters and caolan is in blue. the e in angela is a lock and the L in caolan is a key. The key fits into the lock.

a little black and white striped, wavy stripes, stylized face creature.

blog_graffiti_street_art_alley

street art of three male faces, jester like hats, in subdued tones of blue and pink and beige . Line drawings but with realistic lips and tongue

graffiti and street art on fences, with sunlight shining through

graffiti and street art on building and fence, with brick rowhouses behind, Dublin

text street art and graffiti on walls

street art man's face on a brick wall above a text graffiti tag, people wakling in the alley beside the building

small 3D circle blue with flower in the center and an orange square beside the circle. The square has a face on it with square eyes

murals, Rochester New York

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Mary C

Wall/Therapy

Wall Therapy is now an annual event in Rochester New York. It started in 2012 with 11 street artists painting 16 different walls in the city. From their website, Wall Therapy is “a public community-level intervention using mural art as a vehicle to address our collective need for inspiration.” The Wall Therapy website also has a map of the locations of the murals. They are spread around the city. It is possible that some of these murals are not actually a part of the Wall Therapy project.

photos taken in June and September of 2015

below: ‘Anabel’ by Faring Purth, on 4th Street.

below: ‘Rhapsody’ by Faith47 with a close up of the skull below it. Pleasant Street.

below: Jimi Hendrix, by Ernest Shaw Jr., 2014, on King Street

below: ‘Untitled (Eagle and Wave), by DALeast, on West Main Street.

below: ‘Etty’ by Faring Purth, under the railway bridge at Brown and Silver Streets.
The bridge is in a dark spot and the mural is long. (4 photos)

below: `From the Ruins` by Mr. Prvt and Msshaftway on the side of Cook Iron Store, Andrews Street

below: I Got You, by Elicser, West Main and Canal

below: ‘Avery’ by Jarus, 2014, on Palmer Street (Fedder Industrial Park)

below: ‘The Red Dress’ by Jarus, Seward Street.

below: ‘Love is Sacrifice’ by Jeff Soto and Maxx242, at Rochester Public Market

below: `Martin Luther King’ by Case, on Park Avenue.

below: by Troy Lovegates, 2014, Fedder Industrial

below: by Conor Harrington, on the wall of Historic Houseparts, on South Ave.
On a photo of the original mural there was no red colour.

below: by Cern, 2012, Pennsylvania Ave.,

below: by David Walker, 2014, on Goodman St.

below: Untitled (Fish Market) by Alexis Diaz, West Main Street

below: Fox and Rabbit by Mr. Pvrt, 2013, on Comfort St.

below: Armand from House of Guitars, by John Perry, 2014, on Pennsylvania Ave.

below: Pixel Pancho, 2013

below: Sea Creature, by Bile, on the wall of Stanley Steemer, South Ave.

below: Mermaid, by Case, 2012, on Pennsylvania Ave.

below: by Liqen, 2012, on Pennsylvania Ave., by Public Market

below: by Mike Ming, South Ave. on the north side of Personal FX Hair Studio

below: by Sam Rodriguez, 2014, on Greenleaf St.

below: by Omen, on Greenleaf St.

below: by HowNosm, on Pitkin St. by Harts Local Grocers.

below: Understand, by Adam Francey, South Ave. on the south side of Personal FX Hair Studio

below: Discount Evolution by DALeast, 2012

below: by Omen, July 2014, on East Main St.

below: The World is Yours, by Queen Andrea, 2014, on Greenleaf St.

below: by Thievin’ Stephen, 2012, on Pennsylvania Ave.

below: `The Giant Storybook Project` by Herakut, Oct. 2012, on St. Paul Street

below: It rained the day that I was there and I didn’t realize that my pictures of this building were taken with raindrops on my camera lens.

below: A bear by Mr. Pvrt at Rochester Public Market

below: ‘Sleeping Bears’ by ROA, on St. Pauls Street,

below: Luong Mural by Addison Karl, 2014, on Palmer Street (Fedder Industrial Park)

below: Untitled (REXY) by St. Monci and Justyn Iannucci, behind 700 South Avenue.

below: ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ behind South Ave near Gregory (and next to the one pictured above).

below: The next four murals were on the side of the same building. I am fairly sure that it was at the end of Flint Street. It is definitely on the west side of the Genessee River by a street that dead ends at the Genessee Riverway Trail.

by LaShonda Davis

by Myron Hall

A mural on the side of a building. Blue background. A young man with an Afro hair style is wearing red boxing gloves. The words on the mural say " To be once defeated is to find cause for an everlasting struggle to reach the top" It is a quote attributed to Marcus Garvey. The mural is signed by Lujar.

by LuJar

below: The next three photos are at 400 Atlantic Avenue.

below: ‘Together We Fall’ by Aaron Li-Hill

below: At 430 Atlantic Avenue – this building was painted on three sides by four different artists, Daze, Nate Hodge, Eder Muniz and Vexta. Daze’s contribution is on the east side:

below: Vexta painted this face on the northeast corner 430 Atlantic

below: The southeast corner of 430 Atlantic Avenue.

below: ‘Untitled (Boy on Heart)’ by Icy and Sot, South Avenue.

I haven’t found any information on the remaining murals.

below: I haven’t been able to find any information yet about the next two murals either. They were both on South Ave. Liquor Store, to the south of most of the other murals that I saw. By the way, it was a nice little store with an interesting selection of wine.

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.

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