Cleaner's Action

Location: 1628 Dundas Street East, just west of Brock Avenue

Date photo taken: 9 July 2022

Apart from the size, you could almost describe this mural in Little Portugal as understated. The faded appearance is the result of the way in which it was created - not painted, but rather excavated. The artist, known as Vhils, creates his murals by chipping away at the layers already in place, revealing what is underneath. Which is a perfect fit for the theme of the mural. It features faces and scenes drawn from archival photos and reports, of women, predominently Portuguese immigrants, who worked as cleaners at Queen's Park. In the 1970s they came together and organized to demand better pay and working conditions and sparked a major labour movement that would become known as the Cleaners' Action. 

You can learn more about the labour movement and the women behind it on this site. For more information on Vhils and his creation of the mural, there is an interesting article by David Ganhão.

Signal box by Natalie Very B

Location: Lakeshore at Thirty Seventh Street

Date photo taken: 10 July 2021

Image #20 in the Traffic Signal Box Series

In honour of International Women's Day this Friday, here's one of Natalie Very B's gorgeous everyday goddesses. She painted it in 2020 as part of that year's crop of signal boxes prettied up through the city's Outside the Box program. Her boldly beautiful depictions of body positivity and self-love caught the attention of CBC and in 2020 they commissioned her to create a CBC Arts logo for Women's History Month. You can check out that logo, and read the article and interview here.

Berry buddies

 

Location: Laneway north of Dundas, just west of McCaul

Date photo taken: 4 September 2018

I wanted something spring-like for this week and have opted for this mural by Sarah Cannon (@nightarcade). With the plucky mouse figure and its unlikely partner, it just makes me happy. It's yet another mural in the laneway transformed back in August 2018 by a WomxnPaintTO event.

Divine Femininity

Location: Laneway south of D'Arcy, east of Beverley
Date photo taken: 4 September 2018

In honour of International Women's Day next week, I'm sharing yet another fabulous mural from the Womxn Paint's laneway event back in 2018. This one is by Désiré Betty, and believe it or not, it was her first mural and her first time working with spray paint.

Tahlequah

Location: Laneway south of D'Arcy, east of Beverley
Date photo taken: 4 September 2018

This mural, the second to be featured from Womxn Paint's 2018 laneway event, is by sisters Chief Lady Bird and Aura. It is a tribute to Tahlequah, an orca mother living off the Pacific coast of Canada, who mourned her dead calf by carrying it with her for 17 days.

The next #womxnpaintto mural jam is happening soon, this time in North Etobicoke. Watch for artists at work on Finch between Kipling and Islington on the weekend of July 12-14.

Lacey and Layla Portrait

Date photo taken: 4 September 2018
Location: Laneway north of Dundas, west of McCaul

In August, Womxn Paint hosted an event in the laneway that curves between D'Arcy and McCaul, just north of Dundas. They invited female identified artists to come out and transform the garages along the lane with art. The organization's goal is to empower women through art, and in the process, to diversify the public art experience throughout the city. This mural was done by Lacey Jane and Layla Folkman, a professional art duo based out of Montreal. Check out their Instagram feed for some images of the event in progress.

Mary Pickford

Location: University Avenue just north of Elm St., outside the Hospital for Sick Children

Date photo taken: 11 November 2014

This small bronze sculpture pays tribute to silver screen icon Mary Pickford who was born in Toronto and maintained her ties with the city even after becoming a Hollywood darling. It is located on University Avenue near the site of the house in which she was born, Glady Marie Smith, in 1893. It was commissioned by the Mary Pickford Foundation, created by Finnish-American sculptor Eino, and unveiled in 1983.

Pickford was a screen star and an inspiration for countless women within the film industry and around the world. She was also a woman with vision. She ensured the preservation of her films by placing them with the Library of Congress and prior to her death, her personal photographs, documents and other memorabilia went to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library. Film clips and lots of other Pickford-related material is available on the Foundation website.

The Bluffs as Viewed by Elizabeth Simcoe, ca 1793

Location: Kingston Road, east of Sharpe Street
Date photo taken: 9 September 2013
Image 13 in the Mural Series

This picture represents about half of the mural that appears on the west side of the building at 2384 Kingston Road. Painted in 1992 by Risto Turunen, it shows Elizabeth Graves Simcoe in a small boat, viewing the Scarborough Bluffs, or the highlands of Toronto as they were then known. As the wife of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, she took the opportunity to explore much of Upper and Lower Canada. With a keen eye she documented what she saw, creating hundreds of watercolours and keeping a diary, which has since been published. To learn more about this remarkable woman, visit Travels with Elizabeth Simcoe, an online exhibit by the Archives of Ontario.

This mural was painted as part of the Heritage Trail project which saw 12 murals relating to Scarborough history painted along Kingston Rd.

Female Masc – St. James Cathedral

Location: St. James Cathedral, Church and King
Date photo taken: 20 April 2013
Image 4 in the Mascs of Toronto Series

In a previous post, a crowned man's head was featured from the Cathedral Church of St. James. While the majority of figures on the building are male, there are some women represented. As with the men, they appear to represent different stages of life and ranks in society.