Italian Greyhound - Woofstock 2014

Location: Woofstock, Woodbine Park
Date photo taken: 25 May 2014

I almost missed it this year! Woofstock, Toronto's annual outdoor festival for dogs, snuck up on me. It was held last weekend, a few weeks earlier than usual, and it moved to a new location, Woodbine Park. The park setting seemed much more natural for an event of this type and there was plenty of room for everyone to move around but I missed all the restaurant patios on the sidelines where you could sit, have a cold drink, and watch all the cuteness go by. Despite not spending the hours and hours there that I have in the past, I did manage to pick my "it" dog for 2014. While there was a stunning number of bulldogs and Shiba Inu, I also noticed that there were quite a lot of these diminutive dogs, which I am told are Italian greyhounds. As I don't recall seeing nearly as many in past years, I'm giving them the title this year.

Collective Arts Brewing

  

Date photo taken: 22 February 2014
Location: Back patio of The Only Cafe during their Winter Beer Fest

One of the things I enjoy most about Toronto is our vibrant craft brewing scene. At last count - and it seems to change almost weekly - there were over 30 craft breweries and brewpubs either operational or in the works in the GTA. That's a lot of people making a lot of awesome beer!

I don't like to play favourites so it was hard to single one out to profile first but I've decided on Collective Arts Brewing. They have combined a love of beer with a love of the arts and their labels feature beautiful and innovative work from emerging artists around the world, although with a strong Toronto showing. Their second series of labels was released earlier this year and features 78 different works. Artists featured receive $200, support from the brewery for events and launches, and tons of visibility. Collective Arts even has its own app that lets you scan the label and access additional online content and information about the artists.

If art on the labels doesn't intrigue you, you'll still want to consider Collective Arts. Their Rhyme and Reason is a pale ale with a delicious hop-forward character and their Saint of Cirucumstance Citrus Infused Blonde Ale is the perfect summer patio beer. Both are available at the LCBO and on tap at bars around the city.

Trilliums

Location: Wooded area in High Park
Date photo taken: 12 May 2014

Springtime in High Park means cherry blossoms but there are other treasures to be found at this time of year. If you happen to be walking on any of the wooded trails through the more naturalized parts of the park, keep your eye out for trilliums. Growing singly or in clumps, their brilliant green leaves and glowing white flowers are relatively easy to spot against the brown of last year's leaf cover. The trillium is a perennial and native to the area. It was chosen as Ontario's official flower in 1937. It is slow to grow, taking a minimum of seven years to get to the flowering stage, and if the leaves and flower are picked, the whole plant may die. The plants are now protected by the Ontario Trillium Protection Act, which was introduced in 2009. Anyone guilty of picking, pulling up or otherwise injuring a trillium is liable for a minimum $500 fine.

Fun fact: The trillium also happens to be the official state wildflower of Ohio and since 2008, the Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew, from Columbus, Ohio have competed for the Trillium Cup.

Deeds Speak

Location: Inside front lobby, 60 Richmond St. E.
Date photo taken: 2 October 2013
Image 3 in the Remnant Series

While walking by the condo building at 60 Richmond St. E. I noticed a familiar figure hanging on the wall in the lobby and I just had to pop in to say hello. For years I had passed by this figure, affixed to the outside of a rather drab brick building in the same location, the corner of Berti and Richmond. Dubbed 'Our Lady of York' by Terry Murray, a wonderful Toronto chronicler of architectural sculpture, this was one of two pieces by Jacobine Jones commissioned for the York County Registry Office in 1941. After the office closed in the mid-1960s, the two pieces remained in place. In 2008 however the old registry building was torn down to allow for a new condo building and I was curious about the fate of these sculptures. It turns out, both pieces have remained on-site. One piece, a coat of arms, can still be seen outside, affixed to a parking garage fence. Next to it is a historical plaque which provides context and points you to the building lobby to see this second piece..
For more detail on these sculptures and their relocation, check out Terry Murray's blog.

183 Dovercourt -The Argyle Lofts

Location: Corner of Dovercourt Rd. and Argyle St.
Date photo taken: 19 April 2014

This beautiful building is known as the Argyle Lofts but once upon a time it was the home of the Ideal Bread Company. Built in 1919, each floor was specially designed to house a stage in the bread-making process. The third floor for example was where the baking of the bread took place and it had higher ceilings to accommodate the ovens.

According to the Heritage Toronto plaque on the side of the building "Montreal architect Sydney Comber designed this factory building in Edwardian Classical style... Window design is unique to each level and reflects the original separation - by factory floors - of the processes of bread production. In the final stage, bread wagons were loaded from the ground-level archways on Argyle Street."

The building ceased to operate as a bakery in 1957 and was used for various purposes before being converted to lofts in 2007. It was designated as a heritage property in 2003.

The Walking Red

Location: Outside The Wine Rack, Jarvis & King
Date photo taken: 7 April 2014

Red wine and The Walking Dead, two of my favourite things on one sign. How could I not love it? It certainly caught my eye but it wasn't the first chalk board to grab me at this location. Previously I was stopped dead in my tracks by Audrey Hepburn. These wine-related takes on popular culture are the work of Scott Lucescu, a Toronto-based illustrator who started doing these boards for The Wine Rack about 2 years ago. Check out his website to see the latest Walking Red board and more including Breakfast at Zinffany's and my favourite,Where the Wine Things Are.

Shadow Puppet Rabbit

Location: Bathurst Street, north of Davenport
Date photo taken: 10 April 2014
Image 11 in the Mural Series

This shadow puppet rabbit is one small part of a long thin mural that stretches up the west side of Bathurst Street from just north of Davenport to just shy of Burnside Drive. The mural was unveiled in November 2013 amid controversy, not over its content, which is largely whimsical and nostalgic, but because the City hired Faile, an artistic duo out of Brooklyn, to create it. Many felt that hiring out-of-town artists was a slap in the face to local talent. The City defended its decision in part by pointing out that we couldn't expect other cities to commission our artists if we weren't willing to do the same in return. Another aspect to the controversy was that despite having designed the mural, the execution was not done by Faile but by junior members of their team.