Eagle V.1

 

Location: The Esplanade at Yonge

Date photo taken: 12 May 2021

Through the Percent for Public Art Program, the City of Toronto encourages the inclusion of art in new developments across the city. Sometimes these art works are placed inside or add subtle interest to courtyards or passageways. That can be nice but I really love it when a work makes its presence felt. Eagle V.1 by sculptor Dean Drever definitely falls into this latter category. It's huge and it graces a thin portion of wall adjacent to Yonge Street. That means that there are great sightlines, but it also means that you can appreciate this piece from a variety of angles and distances (here it is seen from further away). I find that its character, or the effect on the viewer, changes depending on where you are. The eagle may be a protector of peace but it's also a mighty predator and standing this close, you can't help but feel a bit like prey.

Fabricated by Lafontaine Iron Werks Inc. from designs by Drever, the giant bird is made of aluminum, fibreglass, polyurea/polyurethane hybrid and lacquer, and painted to match the stonework of the building. It was installed in 2018. The artist's statement can be read here.

Typha

Location: Leslie Street at Lakeshore

Date photo taken: 26 February 2021

Typhus is a relatively new sculpture, installed in December 2020. Designed by artist Dean Baldwin with fabrication work and installation by Lafontaine Iron Werks, it stands at the edge of the Leslie Spit. I love everything about this piece. It's rough and wild and beautiful and cattails are a perfect tie to nearby Tommy Thompson Park, an area described as an accidental wilderness and now designated as an Environmentally Significant Area. There's more to it than that though. With the spit and park looking the way it does now, it's easy to forget that it is in fact man-made, the result of years of dumping construction materials and material dredged from the harbour. If you wander the beaches, you're likely to glimpse bits of rusted out rebar and other bits of scrap. Some people have created mini sculptures from them, and this inspired Baldwin. If you look closely, you'll notice that threaded throughout the sculpture are smoothed bits of brick and even some marine floats. Finally, many of the upright stalks you see are reclaimed track rails from Toronto's streetcar system, It's both an example of creative re-use and a nod to the Leslie Barns just next door.