This sculpture is located in front of the Penrose condos at 750 Bay Street. As part of this condo’s development in 1999, this waterfall-inspired artwork by Catherine Widgery was installed. Liquid Echo was commissioned by H and R Developments as part of the program of integration of art and architecture for the City of Toronto.
The entire plaza in which the sculpture sits is over 100 feet long by about 33 feet wide and was designed as part of the work. The vent shafts to underground parking across the front of the site, that would have been massive concrete planters in the original plans, were razed and replaced with circular openings that house the supporting structure for the twenty-four spiral cut columns that turn to create the impression of a water fall.
All the language of the elements in this work is a translation of the experience of nature. My goal is to find a language and materials appropriate for the urban environment. Large boulders were cut and reassembled along the grid of the pavers to be seating in the warm weather. Inlaid into the pavers are sections of circles made from stainless steel to suggest the way light bounces off of water that has been disturbed. Small groves of honey locusts (on platforms to minimize the massive planters necessary for this site) frame the space and the stairs provide additional seating.
I love these! There is something incredibly adorable about the characters in this sculpture.
Immigrant Family, a work by New York sculptor Tom Otterness, sits outside the Lanterra condos at 18 Yonge Street. The 10-foot high bronze work was unveiled in 2007.
Selected through an international public art competition, Otterness’ work recalls the experience of visitors and new immigrants to Canada, capturing their sense of wonder at seeing the city and Lake Ontario, while bringing them close together as they embark on their new life.
I think it is a good purpose of public art that it sort of honours being a newcomer in the country and acknowledges it is an important role to play in the society.
Sculptor Shayne Dark, a Kingston native, has three sculptures which dot Toronto’s downtown condo landscape.
I. Double Vision
Double Vision is located on the northwest corner of Jarvis and Charles streets in front of X Condominium at 558 Jarvis Street. The huge red poles jutting out of the sidewalk bring to mind bamboo shoots.
II. Double Take
Just across the street, at 101 Charles Street East in front of The X’s younger sister building X2, sits Double Take. It is characterized by the same monumental poles, but this time they are slightly slanted toward Double Vision as if the two pieces are communicating. You have to be careful when you come out of Rabba at this site, as you could potentially brain yourself or take one of these in the eye… not the best way to appreciate the artwork.
It’s an interesting project because there’s a dialogue between the two pieces across the road from one another. You’ve got the red vertical sticks, then you’ve got the blue horizontal ones and it sets up a dynamic and creates a threshold. They are engaging both in their own right and also with one another. They engage in an interesting artistic and architectural discussion,
Brad Golden, a Toronto public art consultant whose job it is to partner with developers and organizations to help them figure out what kind of art would work for their space.
III. Nova
Shayne Dark’s third condo-based sculpture, Nova, is located at the Tableau Condominium at 125 Peter Street. The piece is completely incorporated into the structure of the building.
“Nova” photo by UrbanToronto
Shayne Dark’s Inspiration For The Pieces
Initially, we’d walk in the forest or along the lakeshore and I’d find these interesting found objects, like a big pile of sticks and pieces of driftwood, and these became my art practice. I think for any artist, where you live is so important. Being Canadian at this point in history, on this day, in this time is an experience and feeling I want to document. I feel where you’re from can not help but influence every artist’s practice to some degree.
The “One Percent Solution”
“Under Section 37 of Ontario’s Planning Act, developers are allowed to have taller buildings or more units and other such concessions in exchange for putting a minimum of one per cent of the project’s construction costs toward public art. The art can either be on-site, on city property nearby, or a combination of both. The guidelines set out by the program ensure that the art is of public benefit and is also visible, accessible and adds to the urban character of the city in a positive way.
Financial investment is a huge factor for anyone who makes their living as a sculptor. Shayne Dark, the artist, says it costs literally tens of thousands of dollars to manufacture the materials necessary to make those big public art projects you might see as part of a condominium development.
‘Those jobs in Canada are few and far between. But luckily, what ended up happening in a few major Canadian cities was this one percent rule where if you were a developer working on a public building, a portion of the construction costs would actually go to art,’ says Shayne Dark”.1
At 1033 Bay Street, there stands this bronze, marble and mosaic monolith. It was designed by Hamilton-based artist Robert Bowers and installed in 1988 as part of the Polo Club condominium complexes that went up at that time on Bay Street.
With all due respect to the artist, I think this thing is Plain Butt Ugly and the face in the circle simply gives me the creeps. The shallow, sad, empty pool with raised and dislodged tiles surrounding the piece is not doing it any favours either.
Flow Blue is created by artist Marlene Hilton Moore. Located at the Encore Condo at 23 Carlton Street, this treed walkway leads from the condo entrance to neighbouring Granby Street. The blue trees were installed in 2008 and are 17 feet high. The design was inspired by the numerous trees on nearby Granby Street.
By night the vault of the Archway is illuminated with blue LED lights, simulating the sky. I have no shots of that, unfortunately… time for another visit – nighttime next time around.
This monument was created by Canadian author and visual artist Douglas Coupland after being commissioned by Malibu Investments, the company which built the condo behind the sculpture. The toy soldiers characterize the combatants in the War of 1812, in which the United States attacked Canada – then a British colony – to remove it from British rule and expand our country into the U.S.
The gold soldier representing Canada stands, while the silver American soldier lies fallen.
The standing gold soldier is wearing the 1813 Royal Newfoundland Regiment uniform, while the silver soldier, lying down, wears the 16th United States Infantry Regiment uniform.
The plaque at the base of the piece summarizes the relevance of the sculpture:
Two abandoned toy soldiers pay tribute to Toronto’s history in this artwork. Without Fort York there would have been no Canada – the British would have lost Canada to the Americans in the War of 1812, and Canada would have been absorbed into the United States.
Commissioned by Malibu Investments and unveiled by Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, November 2008
The Monument To The War Of 1812 is located at the intersection of Lakeshore Blvd. West and Fleet Street, just south of the Fort York National Historic Site. Fort York is home to Canada’s largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings.
The artist, Douglas Coupland, talks about the monument in the video below:
For the last couple of years I’ve walked past this sculpture thinking, “What the …?”, but it all made sense once I learned the backstory of the piece.
This sculpture is called Primrose, and was created by Canadian artist Myfanwy MacLeod. Primrose is located in Clover Hill Park, at the entrance to U of T’s St. Michael’s College (Bay Street and St. Joseph Street). The work is based on an actual baby donkey named Primrose who was born prematurely in 2012 at the Bind Equine Veterinary Practice in Shropshire, England. Primrose’s underdeveloped bones would have led to permanently bowed legs, so local vets put some custom pink casts on her to straighten them out. It took about three weeks for the foal to start walking on her own, but not before she had captured hearts worldwide as the “wonky donkey” from England.
The artist, Myfanwy MacLeod, is known for other large animal sculptures in Canada, most notably the pair of giant sparrows, titled The Birds, in the 2010 Olympic Village in Vancouver.
The head office for Toronto Hydro is located at 14 Carlton Street in downtown Toronto. This wonderful Art Deco building was designed by architects Chapman and Oxley, and completed in 1931. The building is constructed of steel and concrete and faced with Queenston limestone.
Behind the building, in the area bounded by Wood Street and Reverend Porter Lane, there is a parking lot for the Toronto Hydro staff. This is no ordinary parking lot – it has a very unique feature: a black stainless steel fence surrounds the lot and commemorates Toronto Hydro’s history with vignettes from the past 100 years. Featuring stylized photography and plaques, the fence was installed in 2016 and highlights important projects for Toronto such as the completion of the CN Tower and the installation of the urban wind turbine on the Exhibition grounds. As far as I could see during my visit, the fence’s timeline begins in 1910 and ends in 2015. Sometimes when I pass by here I’ll stop to read the interesting historical vignettes on the fence. It’s a great addition to the neighbourhood.
For years I’ve seen the sculptures around the Toronto Police Headquarters at 40 College Street, but have never really stopped to pay close attention to them – until now. I’ve wanted to photograph the sculptures for quite some time – which I’ve finally done today – and post the shots. Posting these shots led me to investigate the works a bit more. As I discovered, the sculptures have an interesting purpose and back-story; looking at them with what I now know enriches the experience, and I understand why they exist.
The sculptures around the Police Headquarters are called To Serve And Protect – the motto of the Toronto Police Force – and were created by Toronto sculptor Eldon Garnet. Unveiled in 1988, the sculptures are a three-part installation with a theme.
[Note: The following commentary and explanation from Eldon Garnet has been sourced from the website Artworx TO.]
Sculpture 1
“This is the central element where all the figures are moving towards. In this location you will see a stepped up pyramid type of device on which there is nothing. The plinth is empty. You will see a bronze representation of a police woman. This is very much an allegorical figure. This is not really a police woman, this is a police man. This is all police. She is stepping on the pyramid type of device and she is building it. She has a trowel in her right hand and in her left hand she has a walkie-talkie. And she has a gun on her left side which is holstered, but it’s a closed holster which is very symbolic. And allegorical. It’s not a gun ready for action; it’s much more suppressed and to be used under consideration, not like the westerner with the gun at his side ready to be drawn. And she also has a baton on her right hip. And that again is another mode of enforcement but again on her hip. And the walkie-talkie on her hand obviously is about communication and talking, that’s what it’s about. And she’s in the process of building. That’s very important that this police woman is not just on guard, but she’s constructing. Constructing what?”
Sculpture 2 – “Little Glenn”
“This boy is pulling an obelisk on a wagon. You can pat his head, you see it’s becoming a little shiny from people patting this gentle boy’s head. He’s pulling an oversized obelisk on an oversized wagon. And he’s just a young boy, just a young child. He’s not a boy or a girl, he’s not white or is he black or Asian, he’s an allegorical figure of a young person pulling an oversized load. And on this wagon is this 20 foot granite obelisk. What does the obelisk represent? The obelisk has a long history of symbolic meaning. And it has first and foremost a symbol of power. It was used by ancient Egyptians to signify their strength and their markers to the entrance to the grand buildings. And it also has a long history of being stolen. It is not uncommon that all these Egyptian obelisks have been removed from Egypt mostly to museums or in front of other buildings. And so there’s this notion of theft involved in an obelisk also, and power. Why is he pulling this? Where is he pulling it? These are questions you should ask yourself. What about the police woman in the central square? The plinth is empty waiting for something. Could it be this obelisk that this boy is pulling towards her?”
Located at the southeast corner of Bay and Grenville Streets, “Little Glenn” is pulling a 22-foot-tall stone obelisk in a four-wheeled cart. On the obelisk are carved the words “To Serve And Protect”, the motto of the Toronto police force.
Sculpture 3
“This is the Everyman. The Everyman is carrying a wooden support on his shoulders which is bronze in this rendering, two bricks and two large oversized books. He’s obviously a representation of justice and equality, and he’s walking, he’s in motion. What are these objects on his shoulder? The books? The books of the law of course, the books of knowledge, the books of engineering. And on his other shoulder are two granite blocks. These two granite blocks are what is missing from the sculpture on the other side of the building. He walks right through the building, past the desk and out the east doors, and will confront the policewoman who is building a base. This man, this Everyman, is also involved in building a base for a sculpture which is to arrive [the obelisk from Little Glenn]. He is the future. He again is an allegorical figure and is part of the construction of the positive nature of building something for the future.”
Artist’s Conclusion
“What I’m asking in this 3 part sculpture is that all 3 components are working together to build, to build something which is a monument but is an incomplete monument which deals with power, knowledge, authority, all the elements that are embodied in the notion of policing. And what I always wanted was the notion that the police were never finished the task of doing what they had to do, that it is much of a community activity, that it has to take place with all these people working together to build something.”
I came upon this by accident with a friend when it was under construction. At the time we said we…