Located at the very foot of Yonge Street at Queen’s Quay East/Lake Ontario sits a curious sculpture entitled Between The Eyes. Established in 1990 by the artist Richard Deacon, this enormous piece resembles a mangled egg beater on steroids. Its gentle curves and angles make for an inspired photoshoot; the structure looks interesting from any direction.
The sculpture is called Between the Eyes. The idea for it developed after my preliminary site visit at which point the site was just an empty lot. I don’t know if they even started breaking ground yet. And there were a couple of things that kind of struck me kind of forcefully at the time. The one was the location at either the beginning or the terminus of the longest street in Canada – Yonge Street – which goes for two thousand miles as an old fur trading route. And, also across from the square is the departure point for the ferries going out to the Islands. So, the site had an implicit kind of focus to it. And the title of the sculpture, Between the Eyes, is somehow reflected ideas about centrality, about distance travel as you came down Yonge Street with your sled load of beaver furs ready to raise trade.
Richard Deacon, Sculptor
The sculpture’s huge but I hadn’t wanted to make a huge lump. So that’s why it’s a skeletal structure, to lighten it, to make it something you can look through rather than it always being something you look at. And the seed of the idea was probably as much to do with just some idea about walking as anything else. The sculpture was intended to look itinerant on the site – that it had arrived and could depart or was going somewhere or had just arrived from somewhere. And that seemed to be the essence of the place, that it was a point of arrival and departure.
In front of Regis College at 100 Wellesley Street West there resides a bronze statue inspired by Matthew: 25. Homeless Jesus – aka Jesus the Homeless – was installed in 2013 by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz. It highlights how Christ could be mistaken for a marginalized individual living on the street.
The Christ figure is shrouded in a blanket with His face covered; the only visual indication the figure is Jesus is the visible wounds on the feet.
At the doors of Regis College, U of T, is a bronze sculpture by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz depicting Jesus as a homeless person, sleeping on a park bench.
Worldwide Versions
There are multiple versions of the sculpture located worldwide, including the Vatican, New York and Madrid. In Canada, there are five other locations, including Ottawa and Hamilton.
Here are a few versions of this sculpture from around the world. Photos courtesy of the sculptor’s website:
The sculpture Michael is located at St. Michael’s College quadrangle at Queen’s Park Crescent East. Michael was commissioned by the Collegium in 1977 in commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the Foundation of St. Michael’s College. The sculpture, by artist Anne Allardyce, was completed in 1978, using stainless steel and granite.
Michael stands as a monument to Saint Michael – the namesake of the college. It may be slightly difficult, though, to make out Saint Michael from such an abstract form. At best, with the help of your imagination, you may see hints of wings and clothing in the triangular metal sheets. At the very least the statute is imposing and evokes a sense of grandeur.
A sculpture by Lea Vivot entitled The Endless Bench sits outside the main entrance of Sick Children’s Hospital at 525 University Avenue. It was donated to the hospital in memory of the artist’s son.
Two young women seated on the round bench are conversing; one, a young mother, nurses her infant, while the other is heavily pregnant. Two children play in the sand within the circle of the bench.
There is an inscription on the bench which reads:
“The Endless Bench” by Lea Vivot. Unveiled July 7, 1984 in memory of her son Morris, July 7, 1977-October 18, 1979, in appreciation of the excellent care received by him and countless others from the Hospital for Sick Children. May our children play in peace.
Engraved along the bench are 476 supporting messages and images from sympathetic people as the sculpture was being created. These messages include heart shapes, images of toys, hands, maple leafs, and hand-printed inspirational thoughts. Along the outside rim of the bench the word Peace is inscribed in different languages.
The sculpture is made of bronze and was installed on the site in 1984.
I’ve always enjoyed the annual Bloor-Yorkville Icefest, and it was great to see it return this past weekend after being waylaid for a couple of years by COVID-19. Despite that, though, I was so incredibly disappointed in this year’s offering – the energy and effort just weren’t there. I think ice sculpture placement had a lot to do with it – unlike previous years the event this year was decentralized, the activities and events scattered throughout Yorkville and Bloor Street West. Usually, Icefest lines Cumberland Street from Bay Street to Avenue Road; considerable energy and vibe is generated as a result.
Here’s how this year’s sculptures and activities were presented:
Ice sculpture and event map
Ice Sculptures on Bloor Street West
There were 6 or 7 works installed along Bloor Street West:
“Second Harvest: Coast to Coast”“The Chess Knight”“Sparkling Crystal”“Climbing At Clouds”“Young Cerberus”“Friends of the Forest World”
Later That Night…
As I’ve done during previous Icefests, I returned later at night with expectations of catching some of the sculptures softly bathed in coloured spotlights. No luck on that score this year; all that was offered were these four figures on Bloor Street West at Bay Street, starkly lit by what appeared to be LED or florescent tubes:
“The Melancholic Mermaid”“Etheric Pegasus”“Whimsical Castle”“The Princess Dress”
Meanwhile, Over at the Village of Yorkville Park…
Leaving Bloor Street behind me, I ventured over to the Village of Yorkville Park on Cumberland Street, which traditionally serves as the epicentre of the event. With camera and enthusiasm at the ready, I was let down: there were no ice sculptures at the site, only people wandering aimlessly about looking for said sculptures.
“Ice Wall Projections” According to the organizers, this ice wall was to serve as a projection screen for colourful lights. All I saw was a blank wall with a swarm of Instagrammers vying for space to take their selfies.
Organizers promoted the ice wall by saying:
Enjoy the sights and fantasies and immerse yourselves in a whimsical experience, as ice comes to life through a magically carved Ice Wall. As the sun goes down, take a glance at hidden dreams as Icefest offers you tailor-made projections on ice artwork, located in the Village of Yorkville Park.
Huh? Was this the same event?
I wandered the Park to see what else might be happening:
LED lights (not ice)Balzac’s was there, serving ice coffee from their ice counterI thought the Balzac ice tables were kind of interesting
All in all though, it was good to see people out and about again. Here’s hoping next year’s festival will be a little more inspiring.
On the waterfront, behind the Canada Malting Co. towers on Eireann Quay, sits Ireland Park. The Park commemorates the Irish Famine migrants who arrived on Toronto’s shores between 1846 and 1849.
An Unfortunate End
During 1847 alone, at the peak of Ireland’s Great Famine, some 38,500 Irish men, women and children landed at Dr. Reese’s Wharf in Toronto, then a city of about 20,000. Weak from hunger and stricken with illness aboard overcrowded sailing ships, approximately 20% of those who embarked upon the long voyage perished at sea or shortly after their arrival at sites along the St. Lawrence River, including the quarantine station at Grosse Île, Québec.
Within months of the migrants reaching Toronto, the city recorded 1,186 fatalities due to contagious disease, including the deaths of compassionate local clergymen, government officials, and medical workers who came to the migrants’ aid. Their names are inscribed upon the park’s sculptural memorial columns, which are composed of limestone from Kilkenny, Ireland:
Memorial ColumnsThe Fatalities
The Park Opens
Ireland Park was opened on June 21, 2007, by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and Robert G. Kearns, Founder of Canada Ireland Foundation. The park was designed by Jonathan M. Kearns, Kearns Mancini Architects.
Arrival
Situated within the park are five bronze sculptures commemorating the migrants’ arrival in Canada. The sculptures are collectively known as Arrival, created by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie:
Departure
The Arrival sculptures form a companion group to seven bronze sculptures, entitled Departure (image below), situated on the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin.
Departure Banks of River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland (Image in Public Domain)
This mysterious statue stands guard at the townhouse complex on the northwest corner of Irwin Avenue and St. Nicholas Street.
There is absolutely nothing to identify it, its purpose or its artist. I have a sneaking feeling, though, that it’s created by the artist Robert Bowers, as it has such a similar look to another sculpture I’ve featured here on TOcityscapes:
“Untitled Sculpture” on Bay Street at Irwin Avenue
What do you think – similar or not?
Click here if you’d like to read my post on this untitled Bay Street sculpture.
By creating this blog I’ve discovered the Toronto sculpture works of Canadian visual artist and novelist Eldon Garnet piece by piece. As it turns out, over my years of photographing Toronto I’d been unknowingly capturing shots of Eldon Garnet’s work. Going through shots both old and recent I realized I have enough to publish a post focusing on Eldon Garnet’s collective sculptures in Toronto, soooooo… here we go.
Eldon Garnet is a true Torontonian; he was born here in 1946. His prolific sculptures and photographic work has been held at the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and the Amsterdam Center of Photography. He is also a Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design located in the city’s core. Eldon Garnet is represented by the Christopher Cutts Gallery in Toronto and the Torch Gallery, Amsterdam
The Toronto Sculptures
To Serve and Protect
To Serve and Protect is a three-part sculpture surrounding the Metropolitan Police Headquarters in downtown Toronto. The three pieces are located at the main Headquarters entrance at 40 College Street, the southeast corner of Bay and Grenville Streets, and the Grenville entrance. The sculptures were erected in 1988.
The first part of the “To Serve And Protect” trilogy is a policewoman with a police radio and trowel in her hands.“Little Glenn” is the second part of the set. He’s depicted 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.The third sculpture in the “To Serve And Protect” trilogy is a male figure balancing books and blocks on his shoulders.
If you’d like to read my post dedicated to this 3-piece sculpture, click here.
Time And A Clock
This bridge on Queen Street East, which crosses the Don Valley Parkway, bears an inscription across the top which reads:
This river I step in is not the river I stand in
The text is based on a quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus who said: You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you. Basically, change is the one constant in life.
The overall textual theme of the work is Time, its substance and ambiguity. Time And A Clock is 1 part of a 3-site art piece, with the second part appearing as words embedded in the 4 corners of the Broadview Avenue and Queen Street East intersections. The last part of the work appears on 4 metal banners further east at Jimmy Simpson Park. Unfortunately I have no shots of the other 2 pieces of the installation (I’m thinking there just might be a further post on these), but as a whole the work is presented like this:
1) At the location Queen Street East/DVP location:
THIS RIVER I STEP IN IS NOT THE RIVER I STAND IN
2) Each of the 4 corners at the intersection of Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue, bear 1 of the following text embedded in the sidewalk:
TOO SOON FREE FROM TIME
TIME IS MONEY : MONEY IS TIME
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
TIME = DISTANCE X VELOCITY
3) Near Jimmy Simpson Park (872 Queen Street East) 4 steel poles hold banners which read:
COURSING
DISAPPEARING
TREMBLING
RETURNING
On a less artistic note, this current steel Truss bridge crossing the Don Valley was built in 1911 by the Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company of Darlington, England.It was higher in elevation than previous bridges at the location and streets on each side of the river were graded higher to meet the level of the bridge. The bridge was opened for streetcars on October 8, 1911, and for other road traffic 5 days later.
The bridge was renovated in the 1990s; Eldon Garnet’s public art was added at the top of the bridge in 1996.
Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial
Created by Eldon Garnet and Francis LeBouthillier and erected in 1989, this monument is located at the intersection of Blue Jays Way and Navy Wharf Court.
The sculpture depicts 2 life-sized Chinese workers precariously moving a beam into place to complete the construction of a railway trestle. The boulders at the base are from the Canadian Rockies. Three pairs of rocks from the original transcontinental rail route are parallel to the pedestrian pathway and contain a small plaque stating One by One the Walkers Vanish.
Between 1880 and 1885, 17,000 men emigrated from China, most from the province of Kwangtung (Guangdong), to work on Canada’s burgeoning railway. By some estimates, more than 4,000 workers died during the construction. In addition to facing racist discrimination, the immigrants were often given the most dangerous jobs in the already dangerous task of blasting through the Rocky Mountains to lay the Western section of the track. Many were killed by landslides, cave-ins, disease and explosions. Despite the high risk involved in their work, Chinese were paid half as much as other workers.
The Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial was erected to commemorate the contribution and sacrifice of these workers, who remained nameless in the history of Canada. After the railroad was complete, many of the immigrants who survived could not find new jobs. To that end, a plaque on the memorial reads:
With no means of going back to China when their labour was no longer needed, thousands drifted in near destitution along the completed track.
Equal Before the Law
This sculpture is located at 21 Osgoode Lane, behind the Courthouse and adjacent to Nathan Phillips Square. It features the scales of justice on which balances a lamb (left) and a lion.
The text on the piece reads:
Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination
A description from the artist’s website:
The lamb often signifies purity, innocence, meekness. It often represents either pure thought or a just person. The lion is rich in symbolism. In common correspondence, the lion is the “king of beasts,” the “natural lord and master,” the possessor of strength. It also can represent earth and at times “philosophical fire.”
The context in which the lamb and lion appear in this sculpture direct the interpretation of these two symbolic representations. One is large, one is small and yet the scales balance. The mis-weighted yet balanced scale invites us to question why and how. The answer is simple – on the scales of justice each individual is equal. One is strong and one is meek, one is powerful and one is weak, but the law treats both equally.
To borrow some further explanatory text from the McMurtry Gardens of Justice website:
The scales are also represented symbolically. The tower and the platform are constructed symmetrically yet askew. The tower is twisted to a 60 degree angle to the back of the courthouse, to which the platform is parallel. The ends of the platform are cut at 30 degree angles in correspondence to the support tower. The tower is constructed such that the dimensions from the top to the bottom are angled.
Everything about the mathematics of this scale is calculated to be in perfect proportion, balanced, but turned or angled 60 or 30 degrees, as are the proportions designed to range from 1 to 2. The final effect is a scale that is balanced yet in a complicated fashion, possibly a metaphor for the law itself.
The scales are constructed of brushed stainless steel. The lion and the lamb are life size, realistically rendered in bronze.
Inversion
In Inversion, you will see upside down moose, foxes and wolves in front of the James Cooper Mansion condos, 28 Linden Street (Bloor/Sherbourne area). Placed in 2011, they are made of bronze.
But what exactly does it all mean? From Eldon Garnet’s website:
This sculptural work is a comment about our current, local relationship with the age-old Canadian, and particularly urban, interaction with nature. Simply put, nature has now been turned on its head. The threat has gone, the desire is not to fortify our existence against the wilderness which has been tamed to disappearance, but rather, it is now a nostalgic desire to embrace what no longer exists. Our current longing is to return a sense of nature to our environment, not to build walls against its presence, but rather to embrace nature.
Artifacts of Memory
Near the corner of Yonge and St. Joseph Streets stands Eldon Garnet’s sculpture Artifacts of Memory. Unveiled in 2016, it consists of 5 lines of text stretching out into interconnected yet disparate strands:
FROM ONE NARRATIVE TO THE NEXT IF NOT TOMORROW TOMORROW LUCKY ENOUGH TO FLY INTO THE FLAME SLOWLY SURELY DISAPPEARING FOLLOWED BY MOMENTS OF EQUILIBRIUM
The piece highlights the conditions of living in the modern world with a focus on the passage of time. The sculpture is meant to captivate the observer’s curiosity and reflection as they walk toward and under the artwork.
Eldon Garnet has expressed that Artifacts of Memory materially espouses the difficulty of coming to terms with history, time, and death.
Art critics have commented on Artifacts of Memory:
Sprouting a multiplicity of civic narratives, the sculpture resists the comfortable and easy sense of resolution – of certainty – often dispensed by less playful and less daring public art.
Well, that’s about it for Eldon Garnet’s sculptures in Toronto – at least the ones I know about. If you know of any I may have missed please let me know.
Outside the Kelly Library, St. Michael’s College (U of T) at 113 St. Joseph Street, resides Untitled by sculptor William McElcheran.
This bronze sculpture was installed on June 6, 1973 as a plastic piece before being bronzed a few years later; it was sent to Italy for that process.
This is a 2-sided sculpture: the street side shows a crowd of people, many clinging to the others, while the library-facing side shows historical figures involved in intellectual discussions.
The Street-Facing Side (crowd)
The Library-Facing Side (historical figures)
McElcheran deliberately included the faces of many contemporary and ancient scholars and teachers on this side of the sculpture. Some of these individuals, such as Einstein or Gandhi, are easy to make out. From left to right, you can see the following figures:
James Joyce Stephen Leacock T. S. Eliot Geoffrey Chaucer Marshall McLuhan Dante Alighieri Germaine de Staël George Bernard Shaw George Sand Leo Tolstoy William Shakespeare Sigmund Freud Jean-Paul Sartre Rene Descartes Etienne Gilson Søren Kierkegaard
Georg Hegel Immanuel Kant Eugène Ionescu Jacques Maritain St. Thomas Aquinas Sir Isaac Newton St. Theresa of Avila St. Augustine Albert Einsten Eldridge Cleaver John Henry Newman Barbara Ward Karl Marx Charles Darwin Mahatma Gandhi Herman Kahn
Some of these scholars – for example, Marshall McLuhan and Etienne Gilson – have taught at St. Michael’s College and even used the Kelly Library.
Symbolism1
So what does McElcheran’s statue symbolize? The interpretation of Reverend Edward A. Synan (1918-1997), a noted philosopher and medievalist with the Pontifical Institute at the Medieval Studies at St. Michael’s College, was printed in the September 7, 1973 issue of the U of T Bulletin:
There are people outside and inside the Library, all of them gratifyingly different. … Some hurry by and will never go in. … Some will go in, but why hurry? Stand around and talk awhile. After you are in, ideas, facts, perspectives, are all hard to come by. One side of Bill’s sculpture says this and much more.
The other side in this artist’s report on the inside of our Library… (he) has reached the people whose books guarantee them survival. … Bill has put in conversation men and women who met only in libraries and in the intellects of those who use them. … Not all the figures are historic — at least not yet. Look carefully and — who knows? — you may find yourself.
Synan also observed that the head of Jesus can be seen on the side of the statue facing the street. Synan said McElcheran was trying to show that Christ overhears the talk of those waiting outside the library and that He can like what He hears. Knowledge is what a library is all about and it means hard work so a lot of struggle goes on, for first you must get in.
Father John Kelly speaking beside the McElcheran statue outside the Kelly Library, 1973 (I can’t help but wonder if the dude in the front left still has those groovy plaid pants…)
1Analysis from the Kelly Library’s site
Want to see more works by William McElcheran? Click here to read about another of his sculptures I’ve profiled on TOcityscapes.com.
This 2016 monument of James Till PhD and Ernest McCulloch MD, created by artist Ruth Abernethy, resides at the MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street.
James Till PhD and Ernest McCulloch MD are globally recognized as the Fathers of Stem Cell Science for their research in the 1960s at the Ontario Cancer Institute and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. They received Canada’s Gairdner Award in 1961, and were inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2004. They also won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2005.
I came upon this by accident with a friend when it was under construction. At the time we said we…