Davenport Diamond Design Visuals and Public Open House Meeting

Metrolinx recently unveiled the winning art concept for the Davenport Diamond Guideway. Created by Canadian Artist Alex MacLeod, the mural when complete will be the largest digitally printed image in the world. You can find more more images and information about the artist and design by visiting: http://www.metrolinx.com/en/projectsandprograms/integratedart/artwork/secret-park-gate.aspx.

Metrolinx is also holding a public meeting to share more details about the the new artwork and Davenport Diamond Project on Tuesday March 27, 2018 from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the Casa da Madeira Community Centre (1621 Dupont St).

This new public art is the result of the incredible work done together with residents, organizations and stakeholders and I look forward to continuing this work to ensure our community's vision for a strong public realm and community space is realized!

The first mural of our community's Create Your Path public art project is now complete! Created by renowned artists Bacon and Que Rockford's the artwork is inspired by Indigenous culture and Street Art language. I encourage you to check it out along the north side of the underpass near Dupont and Dundas.

The Create Your Path initiative is about transforming the West Toronto Railpath through new public art and the next set of murals will be painted in 2018 at the Wallace Station Lofts and the Canadian Red Cross Building, where crews have already primed the wall in anticipation!

We will be hosting more meetings in 2018 to discuss the next set of murals. I want to thank everyone who has been involved and shared their feedback on this project. I look forward to sharing more updates with you!

Small actions. Big CHANGE.

What if hundreds of people united, each taking one small action to improve their city, all on the same day?

100In1Day is a global festival of civic engagement returning to Toronto for its second year on June 6, 2015. Imagine the possibilities for our city if hundreds of people united to participate in small initiatives to spark change. Share your vision for a better city.

Join the movement today by submitting your intervention, participating in a workshop or helping to spread the word.

Co-presented by Evergreen and United Way Toronto.

BUZZ ON THE BRIDGE

by Mark Thompson

Create a space for neighbours of all ages to engage with each other, have some fun and think about ways to improve our community.

10:00 am to 7:00 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

Bring some life, laughter, nature and colour to the space for a day. Community party with local artists playing music and showing their art, bridge decorating and mural painting for kids and adults and other community building activities.

These materials will be part of my intervention:

paint, poster boards, streamers, sidewalk chalk, small plants

It would be great if participants can bring with them:

bridge decorations, small plants, art supplies

WTRAILPATH/GOT MILKWEED? PLANTING DAY

by Friends of West Toronto Railpath

Raise public awareness for the Railpath as a Car~free, multi mobile corridor and biological diverse public park .

9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

All are welcome to celebrate the West Toronto Railpath Park, learn about the diverse plants that grow along the path and to plant milkweed- the main food source of the Monarch butterfly in association with the David Suzuki Foundation/Homegrown National Park Project 'Got Milkweed' Campaign.All we need are your hands to plant milkweed in a pre chosen site near the Ernest Ave. Railpath access. Explore the entire phase 1 stage of this unique linear park and learn more about the plans for the phase 2 Railpath extension.

These materials will be part of my intervention:

Plants

It would be great if participants can bring with them:

Gloves

FANTASTIC FERAL BENCHES

by Josh Allen

More colour and more people-centred infrastructure in neighbourhoods.

11:00 am to 12:00 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

There are not enough places to people-watch for free. This open source idea is for all - join in by making your own fantastic painted bench or picnic table. Release it into the wild (ie. a neglected space). Enjoy using it, watching people, or watching people use it!

These materials will be part of my intervention:

1) Picnic table. You can get picnic table kits, for example: http://www.rona.ca/en/picnic-table-p0237004 http://www.homedepot.ca/product/picnic-table/862470 2) Primer. 3) Exterior Paint. 4) Friends/Neighbours. Each can take a section and paint a design. 5) Let it dry overnight. 6) Put it together and release it to the wild!

It would be great if participants can bring with them:

Encouraging you to make your own :)

CHILDREN MASSAGE PARENTS!

by Tanya Pillay

I'd like to see wellness and bodily care resume its place in the home among family members.

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

I will be teaching children aged 7-17 how to use their body weight to massage family and friends without getting tired. Key components are body weight/gravity and learning communication skills to ensure that all parties feel comfortable. I hope that participants leave feeling motivated to give and receive touch in empowering, compassionate ways.

These materials will be part of my intervention:

I will bring a stool, spare blanket, spare yoga mat, and a 1-page, double-sided handout listing the basic techniques.

It would be great if participants can bring with them:

2 yoga mats or 1 blanket personal drinking water personal sun protection comfortable clothing with no sharp parts or thick seams no wrist/arm/neck jewelry Each parent-child pair will need 1-2 yoga mats or a large blanket. Ideally you will have a surface area that is about the size of a double bed. Please bring your own water to drink as well.

PORTRAITS BY KIDS

by Mirjana Risek 

To get more people to appreciate the art of children & to sit down to talk to one if they don't do so regularly

11:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

Get your portait drawn or painted by amazing artists, all under 12! 

You may get it done by the next Picasso, so hold on to it afterwards! 

Organized by the Parent council of Givins Shaw Public School as part of the East Kids Zone at Dundas West Fest on June 6, 2015

These materials will be part of my intervention:

Tent, chairs, table, paint, colouring pencils, Paper 

NEIGHBOURHOOD FAN MAIL

by Sarah McPhail and Alison Bates

People are encouraged to examine and discover new places and people in their community and praise those who make a difference.

11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

Neighbourhood Fan Mail is a community letter writing project that relies on the participation and involvement of the people in the neighbourhood it is parked in. Participation is open to everyone. It doesn’t even necessitate that writers reside in the community. Participants must however acknowledge the neighbourhood’s greatness.

First Rule of Fan Mail: In order to write a fan mail people MUST FIRST PROMISE to deliver someone else’s fan letter. Once this commitment is made, they can write/draw/decorate their fan letter. When they are finished, they drop their letter off in “Outgoing Mail” (attach letters to the hanging display using a clothespin), where they can also pick up someone else’s mail. Then they are expected to deliver the mail while they are walking through the neighbourhood. Keep it positive. Be creative. Have fun. For more info visit: www.neighbourhoodfanmail.com.

These materials will be part of my intervention:

paper, pens, craft supplies

It would be great if participants can bring with them:

Bring your letter loving selves!

SLOW DANCE: MASQUERADE

by Sarah Couture McPhail and Alison Bates

To highlight how parks can be used in non traditional ways and celebrate community.

7:30 pm to 10:30 pm on Saturday June 6th 2015

Slow Dance: No Excuses was so successful last year that we want to do it again this year with Slow Dance: Masquerade!

Dress up, dress down, wear a mask if you want to, be a super hero, your favourite animal, or just be your best self and come dance with us.

This is a community, family fun dance and everyone is welcome

Keep checking the Facebook page for upcoming pre-dance mask making workshops

These materials will be part of my intervention:

masks, face paint, music, dancing, lighting, decorations, costumes

It would be great if participants can bring with them:

We'd love people to come in costume and bring lanterns (solar or battery powered preferred) 

LOVE TORONTO BONFIRE- W/LIGHT PATROL

by C3 Toronto

We would like to have the people who come out to this event to leave with full bellies, fun memories and know that they are loved and have worth and potential.

‘Dot_JPG’ chosen from handful of submissions to be displayed in three places along the West Toronto Rail Path

Originally from the Ottawa Valley, Mitchell Chan first moved to Toronto in 2006 with hopes of making it in the city as an artist.

“I had this notion I was going to pursue art as a career, and I really had no idea what I was doing,” he said.

He spent his first couple of months in the city on the second floor of the Gladstone Hotel on Queen Street West. Fast forward six years, and Chan will have his artwork displayed across the street from where he began his art career, thanks to an open call for public art pitches from Metrolinx and the City of Toronto’s StreetARToronto program.

Chan’s concept, a series of mosaic murals titled Dot_JPG, was a collaborative effort with his partners at Studio F Minus, a public art and design firm, Bradley Hindson and Michael Simon. Dot_JPG was chosen from a handful of submissions to be displayed in three places along the West Toronto Rail Path, around the Douro bend and Queen Street West noise wall.

“To be able to go from some anonymous wide-eyed artist to being able to leave my mark here is really exciting,” Chan said.

The art will be a series of tile mosaic murals that will mirror the landscape directly behind it.

The tiles, made of glass, will transform the Liberty Village and Queen Street West neighbourhood into “brightly coloured, pixelated patterns” that will give an effect of a glitch in technology, he said.

“We’re creating awareness of the digital filter of our perception, but we’re documenting it in a way that we view the world right now and that’s important because that’s going to change,” Chan explained.

“It will exist as a digital record of 2014; as the neighbourhood changes this will no longer line up with the background and that becomes another kind of glitch.”

The mosaics will work as a kind of optical illusion that will shift and change as people get closer or farther away from the mural.

“It’s kind of a tactile interactive thing that people can figure out on their own by interacting normally with it. You don’t push buttons, you don’t tweet at it, you just walk,” Chan said.

The concept was inspired by how society’s connection and near dependence on technology has framed our perception of the world around us. According to Chan, we’re constantly viewing it with a technological filter, which can be a phone or tablet. He added he’s not here to comment on whether it’s a positive or a negative for society.

“What we (Studio F Minus) want to do is always make sure we’re aware of it (the technological filter) and draw attention to it,” he said.

The art submission was well received by the jury, who on the Go Transit website said the concept “pushes the definition and expectation of street art in Toronto, mixing contemporary and traditional techniques and materials to create three vibrant murals that are as instantly pleasing as they are rich with deeper artistic meaning…The jury feels these visually arresting wall treatments will be thoughtprovoking and pleasing for years to come, reflecting the complexity and creativity of the community.”

The concept was first brought to the community in November during a consultation night. According to Chan, the community liked it enough and they made some changes from their comments, but wasn’t offended, he couldn’t think of a better crowd to show the art to.

“If there’s any neighbourhood where you’re going to pitch a conceptual public art piece this is it,” the former Parkdale resident said.

“You have a very sophisticated audience here, an audience that’s been living with art for a long time.”

He said the submission is a bit conceptual and doesn’t fall in line with the majority of public art splashed around the city that serves as “eye candy” he said. Chan said he hopes the approval of his art project will encourage more conceptual art to be showcased through the city’s StreetARToronto program.

“It’s a real struggle to inject discourse, concept and dialogue into public art projects,” he said.

“So to start making headway on that it’s really exciting.”

The mural’s construction will begin in spring.

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This article originally published in the Parkdale Villager

Residents view designs, hear about concepts at gathering hosted by StreetARToronto and Metrolinx

A few local residents who braved Monday’s wind storm got a sneak peek of potential artwork for an outdoor mural project along the West Toronto Railpath.

StreetARToronto ((StART) in conjunction with Metrolinx held a community consultation meeting, Monday, Nov. 24, so residents could view preliminary artwork by the short-listed artists. The art installation would be on the south side of the railpath’s Bloor West entrance and on a popular piece of land at the foot of Ritchie Avenue.

Artists presented their initial concepts for comment and feedback and will take the information into consideration as they work towards a final submission.

“These are two areas near and dear to my heart,” said Metrolinx spokesperson Kelly Thornton. “This is the celebratory phase for us. Your thoughtful comments will be taken into account as the artists finalize their designs.”

The mural project will help combat graffiti vandalism, said Carolyn Taylor of StART while helping to “bring out the character of neighbourhoods.”

Each artist was given 10 minutes to present their ideas during the community consultation held at the Crossways Employment and Social Services on Dundas and Bloor Streets West.

“It’s an honour for me to present my work,” said artist Paul Aloisi, who says he takes a site specific approach to his work while taking into account the context and conditions of a place. “Each of my projects are pretty different from one another.”

With 20 years experience painting murals, Aloisi said he uses diverse mediums to create public art. Research is key to each of his projects. He says he has reached out to the Friends of Ritchie Avenue Parkette, a group that is “really involved in engaging the community.”

Aloisi said his mural would be dependent on input from the community. He’d use recycled materials. His talent is finding beauty in the mundane, he said.

Veteran graffiti artist Elicser Elliott has been painting for the past two decades.

“I work with the community every time I paint,” he told his small, but attentive audience.

Since he spends so much time painting within a particular neighbourhood, he says he can’t help, but incorporate real life characters into his paintings.

“I like to delve into the history of what happened there,” he said of each site.

Matt McNaught or KWEST as he is known, got his start painting freight trains.

“This space along the rail corridor was unoccupied. That was our place to express ourselves as kids,” he recalled.

McNaught, who lives and works in the area, said this project is his chance to give back to the community. His approach, he said, was to think ‘What do my kids want to see?’

Colour and animals. He is proposing a mural of colourful abstract.

Oliver Pauk is proposing a mosaic of coloured and mirrored Plexiglas that will provide a different experience in both daylight and after dark. It will rely on LED technology and solar power.

“We’re excited about the opportunity,” said Pauk, who lives in the neighbourhood.

Residents were curious about the longevity of the solar power and asked about the durability of the Plexiglas. Batteries for the solar power would likely have to be changed at some point, Pauk said. The Plexiglas durable, yet if one piece was damaged, it could be removed and replaced, he said.

If you couldn’t attend the meeting, visit www.gotransit.com/gts to view the concepts. Send in your comments to gts@gotransit.com 

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This article originally posted online at insidetoronto.com as part of Bloor West Villager publication