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Showing posts with label Works of Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Works of Art. Show all posts
Friday 10 January 2020
Toronto Man
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 101 St. Clair Avenue West
Date: Nov 2019
Website: 101stclair.com
A man holding what looks like part of a condo building is one of the newest works of art to appear on Toronto streets. This sculpture was chosen as it is said to embody the present moment in the city's evolution. If that means that every time you turn around a new building has sprung up reaching for the sky then they are exactly right.
The sculpture is called Toronto Man and stands over 25 feet tall. It was created by artist Stephan Balkenhol. It is located outside of a Starbucks so you can't miss it.
The man stands on top of coloured building blocks. Perhaps this reminds Toronto Man of when he was just a Toronto Boy playing in his room. Now the city is his playground.
From the side angle it looks exactly like Toronto Man has stolen a slice of suites from the building behind him. Is Toronto Man creating something new or turning one suite from every floor into Air BnB's?
From a slightly different angle Toronto Man is in shadow cast by the buildings behind him. We can still see some sky behind him where the buildings have not yet risen. Maybe that is where he is headed next. Toronto Man sure does raise a lot of questions which is probably why he exists in the first place.
Map of Our World
Toronto Man
Post # 274
Monday 30 December 2019
Make Way For Ducklings
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Address: 4 Charles Street
Date: Sept 2013
Website: friendsofthepublicgarden.org
Mr. & Mrs. Mallard are looking for a nice place in Boston to start a family. While they are searching for the perfect place Mrs. Mallard hatches 8 little ducklings. Mr. Mallard looks for a new home and arranges to meet Mrs. Mallard in Boston Public Garden. Mrs. Mallard has to lead her ducklings from the Charles River through traffic and other obstacles. Fortunately, the police help out so that everyone will make way for ducklings.
Make Way for Ducklings is a best selling children's book written by Robert McCloskey back in 1941. In 1987 the bronze sculpture arrived in Boston Public Garden and has become almost as popular as the book.
The sculpture shows Mrs. Mallard leading her children towards the pond that they will eventually call home. Her children are called Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack.
A large number of ducks call the garden home so every spring there is a new group of ducklings following their mothers around on a new adventure. The rest of the year Mrs. Mallard will always be there to the delight of visiting children.
Map of Our World
Make Way For Ducklings
Post # 273
Saturday 30 November 2019
Portage & Main
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Address: Portage & Main Street
Date: October 2014
Website: history.bmo.com
Portage & Main is possibly the best known intersection in Winnipeg, Manitoba. On Sunday, November 24th the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup after a 29 year drought. Winnipegers flocked to the intersection to celebrate their Canadian Football League victory. We found ourselves standing at this intersection back in 2014.
On one corner stands the Bank of Montreal building. It has been there since 1913. In front of the bank stands a monument to Bank of Montreal employees who died in World War I. The statue is modelled after Wynn Bagnall who worked for BMO, went to war and was lucky enough to return to continue working.
To cross the street you need to take a pedestrian underpass. Once on the other side of the street we encountered some more sculptures. The first sculpture is called Tree Children and shows four children playing in a tree. The intersection of Portage & Main is often said to be the coldest and windiest intersection in Canada. It wasn't too cold but it was windy when we arrived. Hold on tight children!
The next sculpture depicted a herd of caribou which are no strangers to wind and cold. The caribou are navigating the fast moving waters of a river.
The sculpture is called Seal River Crossing. Seal River is located in northern Manitoba but thanks to artist Peter Sawatzky we can witness the caribou migration at a lower latitude.
The final statue we encountred was called North Watch. North Watch features a man wearing big boots, sitting and supposedly keeping watch. The sculpture is created by Ivan Eyre and is similar to another of his sculptures called Icon North.
The main difference between the two sculptures is that North Watch features a dog which sits behind the man. The dog is also keeping watch. One thing we noticed about this sculpture is that the man is facing south. We wondered if the sculpture had been placed the wrong way around. We figure that the artist intended the man to be watching from the north. When visiting Portage & Main be sure to dress warmly and prepare to be blown away. If not by the architecture, history and sculptures then certainly by the wind.
Map of Our World
Tree Children , Seal River Crossing , North Watch
BMO Building (Portage & Main)
Post # 270
Sunday 10 November 2019
Vessel
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Address: Hudson Yards
Date: September 2019
Website: www.hudsonyardsnewyork.com
The High Line in New York is a repurposed elevated railway that passes through the west side of Manhattan. At the northern end of the High Line is Hudson Yards. Hudson Yards has grown to include a large shopping center, apartments and a concert event venue. In the middle of it all stands the Vessel.
Before we reached the Vessel we had to walk past The Shed. The Shed is a huge metallic looking building on wheels so that the amount of covered space can increase in size. When we walked by, someone was rehearsing a song which to us sounded like "Bye, Bye Macaron" repeated over and over. We found out later that the event was for World Central Kitchen so maybe those were indeed the lyrics.
The Vessel really is something to see. It is a hollow open structure that stands almost 16 stories tall. It is made up of a series of steps and landings and one elevator. There are 154 staircases and 80 landings inside the structure. It looks like a giant vase sitting in the middle of the square.
Climbing the Vessel is free but requires a reservation as only a limited number of visitors are allowed inside at any given time. The first day we arrived and were told to visit one of the kiosks surrounding the structure. From there you can use a QR code or be sent a text to get a link for reserving a time slot. Unfortunately, all of the times were later than our other afternoon plans would allow. The next day we returned and tried again. We booked a time for later in the afternoon and went off to explore New York.
We returned within our designated entry window and were allowed into the Vessel.
At the bottom of the Vessel was a glowing purple light where people were placing their phones to get a perfectly round image with their faces and the surrounding buildings.
The photo would look something like this photo above except with the view ruined by goofy faces.
We started to climb the stairs. There are no seats or benches anywhere so be prepared to climb up and down without a break. There is one elevator if you wish to wait for it.
The stairs go up in multiple directions so you kind of move around the sculpture as you climb up. If you wanted to stay on one level but move to the opposite side you would go up one staircase then across a small platform and then down again. You would repeat this until you got where you were going.
We moved around the structure as we worked our way up to the top. The staircases full of people made for interesting photos from any angle. The whole structure had a metallic bronze exterior to it which reflects. We felt like we were in some futuristic space station. We expect it may not be too long before someone films a movie inside this structure. If you can, we recommend you visit The Vessel and take the stairs.
Map of Our World
Vessel
Post # 268
Monday 30 September 2019
Holodomor Memorial Project
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: Canada Blvd.
Date: July 2019
Website: https://www.explace.on.ca
On the grounds of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in the Ukraine is a statue of a small girl. There is now also a copy of this statue in Toronto just steps from the Princes' Gates. Other Canadian cities have a statue too, such as Winnipeg and Regina. The statue represents a horrible event where millions of Ukrainians starved to death in 1932 and 1933. Canada believes that this genocide was caused by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin who created a man-made famine in the region.
When you see the face of this thin girl you can't help but feel for anyone affected by hunger. The statue is called Bittersweet Memory of Childhood. Millions more people continue to die of starvation all around the world. Hopefully this memorial causes us not to forget what has happened and to see how we can help those in need right now.
Map of Our World
Holodomor Memorial
Post # 264
Tuesday 30 July 2019
Safety Orange Swimmers
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: Harbour Square Park
Date: July 2019
Website: annhirschstudio.com
S.O.S usually stands for Save Our Souls and is a cry for help. In Boston, in the fall of 2016 it stood for Safety Orange Swimmers. It is still a cry for help. The art exhibit included 22 bright orange people holding onto inner tubes. It was created by artists Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier.
The art exhibit will be in Toronto until September 2019. It now includes 25 orange swimmers. Each person represents more than one million refugees. There are estimated to be nearly 26 million refugees risking their lives crossing oceans and dangerous terrain to reach safety and freedom for their families.
The orange figures all look identical and are only torsos. As they get caught in the wake of a boat you can clearly see that there is no mid section or legs attached. The figures cling to their inner tubes but are anchored so they do not drift away further into Lake Ontario.
The artwork represents people who are so desperate to flee their country that they leave everything behind and risk death by drowning or dehydration as they cling to homemade rafts. A boat approached and we imagined what these orange people would be thinking as they faced an uncertain future in a new land.
Map of Our World
Safety Orange Swimmers
Post # 258
Wednesday 10 July 2019
Washed Ashore
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 2000 Meadowvale Road
Date: May 2019
Website: washedashore.org
Each year thousands of pounds of plastic wash ashore on one Oregon beach. A group of volunteers have been cleaning this debris from the beach. This plastic has been made into artwork that reminds us that we need to stop our plastic consumption. We visited the Toronto Zoo to see the giant animal ambassadors created by Washed Ashore. The exhibit runs until November 2019.
On the day we visited, Angela Haseltine Pozzi was there to talk about the organization. She founded Washed Ashore in 2010 and is one of the main artists. Since 2010 she has worked with volunteers to put in countless hours, collected over 40,000 pounds of plastic from the ocean and turned it into over 70 works of art. There are eleven sculptures on display at the zoo. Angela is standing beside Sebastian James the puffin.
This sculpture by the zoo entrance is Flash the marlin. Marlin are one of the fastest swimming fish in the ocean and travel many miles through the water. They need the water to be clean and free of plastic that gets in their way.
Sebastian James the puffin stands outside of the zoo's main gift shop. Just inside the doors to the gift shops hangs a jellyfish made out of water bottles.
Outside of the Australasia pavilion is another jellyfish. This jellyfish is also made from plastic water bottles. We should try to drink from reusable containers and at home drink Brita filtered water from glasses. The large packs of bottled water are a huge plastic waste, not to mention breaking your back by lugging them home. Sea turtles like to eat jellyfish and sadly cannot tell the difference between floating plastic and a swimming jelly. They end up filling their bellies with plastic instead of food.
Just around the bend from the Australasia jellyfish is Grace the humpback whale. Humans almost hunted humpback whales to extinction but today they can be found in all of the world's oceans.
A closer look at Grace shows some of the plastic from toys, umbrellas and other items. Sadly, the real humpbacks are forced to swim through this garbage every day.
Poly the polar bear was made with the help of staff from the Toronto Zoo. Poly's name comes from polyethylene, polystyrene and other names for plastic. Poly is supporting the idea that we all try to reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse when dealing with plastics. The best option is to refuse single use plastics.
Poly is also made from plastic trays, containers and more garbage which came from the Rouge Valley surrounding the zoo.
Nora the salmon is found near the Kid's Zoo. Salmon travel up streams to mate and spawn. The new salmon swim back to the ocean. Unfortunately, millions of pounds of plastic polution also head downstream into the ocean each year.
Octavia the octopus was sitting outside the Americas pavilion. One of her arms was around the neck of a plastic Canada goose, but it should be trying to shake some sense into people who don't realize the consequences of their actions.
In the African savannah you can find Sylvia the silvertip shark. Sharks eat other small fish who eat plastic and this means the sharks end up eating the plastic too.
Rufus the triggerfish is near the Indian rhino house. He is made up of children's beach toys, flip flops and even parts of chairs.
Triggerfish have sharp teeth and strong jaws that let them eat urchins and mollusks. Plastic has been found with their bite marks, which means they are also eating this harmful human product.
Oil pollution is the main threat to penguin populations. Next to the black-footed penguin exhibit is Gertrude the penguin.
Gertrude looked down on us as if to say "You can do better!". We all need to think about how we can help the animals. Washed Ashore vows to keep on spreading their message as long as there is debris floating up on their beach. They dream that they will one day run out of supplies for their art.
Click here to take a virtual tour and see our collection of Toronto Zoo animal photos.
Map of Our World
Toronto Zoo
Post # 256
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