Prancing reindeer

 

Location: Royal Bank Plaza South

Date photo taken: 16 December 2023

Happy holidays! 

Water Refill Station

 

Location: PATH, under Bay Adelaide Centre

Date photo taken: 7 September 2023

Noticed this in PATH today and it gave me hope. It's a small thing perhaps, installing a water station, but it's enabling every person who chooses to opt for a refillable water bottle and encouraging those who are still just thinking about making the switch. Plus I love how they're trumpeting its presence with this lovely water scene. This installation is part of Breaking the Plastic Habit, a program by Brookfield Properties, which aims to influence positive change across their Canadian properties.

Two Circles

Location: Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

Date photo taken: 11 July 2023

While grand in scale, Two Circles is a seemingly simple installation at the Bay Adelaide Centre. As the name implies, it is comprised of two circles, identical in size and placement on the wall. The circle at the south end of the lobby is solid black, the one on the north, just an outline. Interesting enough, but it's when you get close to the work that you realize there is so much more to it. Which is where this photo comes in. The walls, which look smooth and unremarkable from a distance, are actually comprised of over 800,000 small ceramic sticks, each of which has been broken near the mid-point. That break line is visible and forms "a line drawing that is reminiscent of heartbeats, stock market graphs and sound waves", all very apt for the location of this piece, in the heart of the city's financial core.

Ornamental Seating

 

Location: Scotia Plaza, concourse level

Date photo taken: 21 December 2021

Happy Holidays! May you find the time to stop, rest and recharge while surrounded by things that bring you joy.

Pucks

 

Location: Tim Horton's in Brookfield Place, Front & Yonge

Date photo taken: 3 December 2019

Despite the ongoing closure of the Hockey Hall of Fame, hockey fans can still browse some pretty interesting exhibits of hockey memorabilia, thanks to Tim Horton's. Opened in 2017, the franchise in Brookfield Place, which shares the atrium with the Hall of Fame entrance, was designed to function as a mini-museum. There are displays of pucks, sticks and helmets on the walls and near the entrance, and standing in what is normally the seating area in the atrium are large custom cases displaying jerseys and artifacts, one for each of the Canadian teams. They have even served a special Hall of Fame donut for Family Day. 

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.

Businessman Walking

Location: Commerce Court South, Wellington, between Yonge and Bay
Date photo taken: 5 April 2018

This striding fellow is one of several bronze businessmen scattered around the city, mostly in the downtown core. Each one sports an overcoat, hat and briefcase and all are of the same portly dimensions. Captured in mid-stride, in thought or acknowledging a fellow, their placement and selective variety creates the sense, at least for me, that you are encountering not different figures, but rather the same one, just going about his business. They are the work of Canadian sculptor William McElcheran.

To find this guy, enter Commerce Court from the Wellington Street side, near the coil-mounted Jump sign, and go up to the upper level. As a bonus, it's sitting next to a scale model of Commerce Court.

Waterfall

Location: Inside atrium of Scotia Plaza, 40 King St. W.
Date photo taken: 19 March 2019

The next time you're passing near King and Bay, pop into Scotia Plaza, the unmistakable red granite building near the north east corner. The south wall of the atrium features a soaring 15-storey artwork made up of 69 individual oil on canvas panels. Together they depict a waterfall, specifically the falls in Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park, Alberta. It's by Canadian artist Derek Besant and it was specially commissioned for the space by Scotiabank for the opening of the Plaza in 1989. What's particularly cool about this piece is that it is to scale, being a faithful representation of the size and look of the falls at the time Besant created the work.

If you want to see more by Besant, he currently has a text and photography project on display in 54 sites throughout the TTC as part of Myseum Intersections, which is on until March 31.

Commerce Court Model

Location: Public space, Commerce Court South building

Date photo taken: 5 April 2018

This is a close-up of the top portion of a scale model of the Commerce Court North building. It is part of a larger model depicting the entire Commerce Court complex, complete with cars, trees and people. There's even a streetcar sitting on a miniature King Street. It was built between 1969 and 1970 and has been adjusted over time to reflect changes on the ground. I think miniatures and models are really cool and this is a perfect example of how they can inform as well as entertain. Seen from the ground, the carved faces set around the 32nd floor observation deck are pretty impressive. Given the chance, through the model, to compare their size to the size of the people on the adjacent deck gives you a more proper sense of how massive they really are.

To find the model, enter Commerce Court from the Wellington Street side, near the coil-mounted Jump sign, and go up to the upper level. As a bonus, it's sitting next to one of William McElcheran's businessman statues.

Christmas at MetroCentre

Location: MetroCentre, 225 King St. W.

Date photo taken: 16 December 2015

Usually holiday displays for me are all about the lights, but for this display at MetroCentre, the lights are only part of it. I love how the elongated structure of the lights mirrors the decorative column which is normally the focal point of this space. Lovely.

Gust

Location: Brookfield Place

Date photo taken: 17 December 2014

These illuminated snowflakes are part of a large, two-part art installation which is currently gracing the Allen Lambert Galleria and the lobbies of Brookfield Place. According to the posted signage, Gust "is inspired by the architectural motif of the Allen Lambert Galleria, the geometry of a single snowflake, and the falling of snow through a gentle breeze." The other piece, Frost, is a 20 foot tall snowflake which visitors are encouraged to touch and interact with. 

Thanks to Arts Brookfield for making the Galleria and Brookfield Place a great destination for art in the city.

Holiday Moose

Location: North side of Scotia Plaza Tower, on Adelaide just east of Bay

Date photo taken: 16 December 2014

Moose have come back to the city, and these ones have retained their antlers. Done in beautiful white lights to match the hanging ornaments, this bull and calf sit outdoors on the north side of Scotia Plaza. Inside the building, the holiday theme is continued with more decorations and a series of festive free concerts. 

Polar Bear and Walrus

Location: HSBC Bank of Canada building, 70 York St.

Date photo taken: 3 April 2014

If you're wandering PATH trying to avoid the weather, you might run across these figures. They are part of a group installation featuring five large pieces, all carved from Baffin Island rock. The polar bear is white marble and was created by Philip Pitseolak from Pond Inlet. The walrus is carved from gneiss, a granite-like stone, with marble tusks and it was carved by Taqialuk Nuna from Cape Dorset. Together with the other three pieces they represent figures from the legend of Sedna, but more about that in another post.

The work was commissioned by the Royal Trust Company in 1990 and installed the following year.

Tom Lamb, Bush Pilot

Location: ground floor, 777 Bay St.
Date photo taken: 14 Jan 2014

With the cold weather we've been having of late I'm spending a lot more time exploring the indoor spaces of our city and finding interesting things every where I look. While I'd noticed this figure before, I had never stopped to read the plaque. From a distance, I had assumed it was an Inuit figure. Turns out it's a sculpture of Tom Lamb, a legendary bush pilot whose company, Lambair, flew for 46 years without ever suffering a fatality. Their motto was "Do not ask us where we fly, tell us where you want to go." CBC's Telescope did a profile on the flying Lambs back in 1966, by which point Tom had been joined in the business by all six of his sons. The Western Canada Aviation Museum also has a page on Lamb on their website, with a great story about one of his trickier cargoes.

The artist is Leo Mol, a Ukrainian Canadian who is known as much for his work in stained glass as for his sculpture. Over 300 of his works, including one very much like this, can be found in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden in Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, which Mol called home.