Passing on the TTC

Location: Bessarion TTC station

Date photo taken: 14 July 2019

Again this week an image that references people. Sort of. The work is by Montreal born, Toronto based artist Sylvie Bélanger. The tiled photo collages which together are called "Passing" are found throughout Bessarion station. The entrance floor is where you will find this section, and other legs and feet. Go down a level to the platform and you find lots of heads. At first the placement puzzled me, but once I got beyond simple anatomy (head high, feet low) I saw a logic to the presentation. The upper concourse is where people are in motion, coming and going, and there is space to move. On the platform, things can get more crowded, and more often than not, your view is limited to the backs of the heads in front of you. Although from what I hear, crowding isn't exactly a problem at this particular station.

Fun fact: In the 2018 ridership statistics (the latest currently available on the TTC website) Bessarion station typically sees 2990 customers coming or going on an average weekday. While this number is pretty low, it's not the least travelled station in the system. Ellesmere, Midland and Downsview Park all see fewer patrons. 

Toronto Trees

Location: Allan Gardens, Gerrard close to Sherbourne
Date photo taken: 18 August 2015

There are several areas in the city where it is possible to visit some truly spectacular trees. In honour of Earth Day, here is a personal favourite. Allan Gardens, along with being home to a beautiful conservatory, also houses over 300 trees. Not bad for a modestly sized urban park.

The City of Toronto has embraced its urban forest and is attempting to grow its tree canopy. Permits are required to remove trees, even, in some cases, on private property, and in the decade between 2008 and 2018, the city invested over $600 million in maintaining and growing its urban forest. City estimates put the overall canopy at approximately 30 percent. Treepedia, a project by MIT's Senseable City Lab, uses a different metric. Rather than measuring the tree cover from above, they take a pedestrian view to measure how many trees can be perceived on city streets. They call their score the Green View Index. By this metric, Toronto scores 19.5%. The lower number likely reflects the relatively large percentage of Toronto trees that grow in parks, ravines and backyards. For comparison, New York has a score of 13.5% and Montreal scores 25.5%.

City People

Location: Beside the RBC building, Front and Bay
Date photo taken: 3 November 2012

I think the selection of this image was definitely influenced by a slight case of cabin fever. I have been avoiding going out lately. Even my short morning walks were forsaken a few weeks ago because in my neighbourhood, there are just too many people to dodge around. And yet, I am still drawn to people. I especially like to stand on my balcony and watch people walk their dogs. There is a terrier in my building and his morning walk is easily the highlight of my day.

Enough about me. This piece is called City People and it's by the American artist Catherine Widgery. It's an early public work for her and it varies quite significantly from her more recent installations, which is perhaps why it has been excluded from the catalogue featured on her website. I love these figures however. They are basically to scale and just so normal. And despite having been installed in 1989, they are just vague enough to remain timeless. There is extra charm to viewing them in person, as a few are on poles and change their routines based on the wind.

Concourse Building Entrance

Location: Adelaide St. W. at Sheppard St.

Date photo taken: 11 February 2018

This gorgeous entryway graces 100 Adelaide Street West, also known as the Concourse Building, which opened in 1928. Canadian artist and Group of Seven member J.E.H. MacDonald and his son, artist Thoreau MacDonald, designed the decorative elements of the building including the colourful mosaics which adorn the entrance. Depicting the four elements and various Canadian industries, these mosaics, along with the rest of the south and east facades, were retained when the rest of the building was demolished to make way for the new 40+ storey EY Tower.

Heckle and Jeckle

Location: Laneway off Denison Avenue

Date photo taken: 16 August 2013

In these days of social distancing I was drawn to this image of casual closeness. I was never a fan of Terrytoons stars Heckle and Jeckle but I may spend some time in the next few weeks revisting them on YouTube. I am curious to see how the original cartoons from the 1940s compare to the versions created in the late 1970s and 80s.