Ice Breakers

On another very cold day on the first weekend in February 2018, I decided to take in two art exhibits happening in downtown Toronto (I don't know what makes me want to get outdoors during these cold snaps - maybe because it's easier to walk? Haven't figured it out yet).

The first was the Ice Breakers exhibit, happening along Queen's Quay. There were five different sculptures in all, set along a very easy-to-follow - and well-mapped out - route along the street.

The overall theme of the exhibit was kind of an environmental one, and, as you'll see, all the pieces are constructed from natural or recycled materials.

I decided to go from east to west, from York Street to Lower Spadina.


First up, in front of the We Brew Cafe, was this piece by two sculptors, titled Root Cabin. As the name implies, it's made entirely of found tree roots, and shaped into a kind of shelter.
At roughly centre of picture, you can see a small electric light that dimly illuminates the interior.
People were going in and out and posing for pictures the whole time.

The interior is spray-painted a kind of purple colour, some if which is visible on the outside, too.
It was interesting to see this group of roots at the rear of the piece, and note that some of them must have been pulled from the ground wholesale, earth and all.

The next piece, set up on the Lower Simcoe Wavedeck, was called Black Bamboo, and is another sculpture made from trees (bamboo, as you can see), and also spray-painted, this time in black.
I got the first shot against the harbour and the sky:

And the next one against the condos along the north side of Queen's Quay.
Apparently, you could go inside this sculpture as well, but I didn't try. It looks kind of fragile, and I suppose that's part of the point.

The most colourful of the pieces was Winter Fanfare, at HTO Park.
It consists of a series of fan-like shapes, made, interestingly, from two-by-fours, and painted (with an airbrush apparatus, I'd guess) these striking colours that move from gold to red.

The piece is designed to be looked at from all angles, its appearance changing as you move around it, so here it is from three more perspectives:

At HTO Park West was this piece, Through the Eyes of the Bear.
This was another one you were invited to enter, and you can see the child in this pic, looking out, as intended by the sculptor, "through the eyes of the bear."

Moving close to one of the "feet," you can see that the outer part is made from a soft fabric.

And, from inside the "head," I'm getting my own view, through one of the "eyes," of another photographer. I never did find out what his picture of me photographing him looked like!

The final piece was a musical one, placed, appropriately, at the east end of the Music Garden. It's called Ensemble, and consists of a wooden frame supporting a series of metal tubes that sound when the wind blows or when someone moves through it. You could think of it as giant wind chime.
There happened to be a child going through it at this moment, so I took a short video of how it sounds. There doesn't seem to be any particular "tuning" to the tubes, but I found their sounds charming anyway.

And, while I was near the harbour, I thought I'd get some pix of how starkly attractive it is when partially iced in.
Looking south, you can see the planes at Billy Bishop Airport in the distance.

More to the west, an ice-locked marina along Spadina Quay, and the slowly crumbling silos overlooking Ireland Park - don't know what they intend to do with those.

Finally, I guess any day is a good day for ducks, whether it's at Tommy Thompson Park (as in my last posting), or here in Toronto's inner harbour. The brutal cold seems to have no effect at all!

And that was it for the Ice Breakers exhibit.
I also wanted to see the Toronto Light Fest at the Distillery District, but had to wait until it got dark for that to have the best effect. So, it was up to a restaurant on lower Bathurst St. for dinner, then on to Trinity St., and the next posting...

Tommy Thompson Park in Winter

Yesterday, I was wondering what to do with myself, and had a notion to make another visit to the extraordinary Tommy Thompson Park, a/k/a the Leslie Street Spit.
I had been there in the summer of 2016, and found it a wonderful place. My blog entry for that walk is here:
https://aproposno.blogspot.ca/2016/10/summertime-at-tommy-thompson-park.html

I don't know what compelled me to go out there on one of the coldest days of the year, but I do know there's something about a clear, cold winter day that would offer some terrific sights, and a chance for some good photos - so off I went.

Ye gods, it was cold! Every time I took my gloves off to take a picture, I thought my hands would never be warm again! But, once inside gloves (and pockets) for a few minutes, they did warm up, and I got some pretty good pics that I'd like now to share.


The paved path was very easy to walk on, even in shoes, as I was. I guess there had been enough vehicular traffic over the last few weeks that the snow had been tamped down to a hard, dry surface, not unlike regular pavement.

If you look closely about mid-picture, you can see someone coming out of one of the paths.
To my surprise, I met at least two dozen people, out for a walk, or taking photographs like I was!

Here's the first view of the city skyline from the baselands.
I liked this pic because it looks like some of the smoke from the stacks at right is coming from the tall stack at the (long-decommissioned) Hearn Generating Station!

The French call it a "trompe-l'oeil" effect
- Mr. Know-It-All

Getting to one of the trails on the lake side of the park, I was reminded that, in winter, however blue the sky, Lake Ontario maintains this grey colour throughout the winter:

This is one of several lookout points along the east side of the Neck.

This next series of pictures I'll refer to as:

A Natural Art Gallery

What stark beauty - and incredible shapes - mundane construction debris, like concrete and rebar, take on when coated with layers of snow and ice, and seen in bright sunlight!

And even natural things, like trees, logs, rocks and bushes, have an eerie, otherworldly appearance:

Moving along from the "Art Gallery," I was pretty amused by these ducks, just bobbing along on the surface of the lake, occasionally diving for food. Just another ho-hum day for them!




Another view of the skyline, across the outer harbour:

And, looking back, a more "honest" view of the twin smokestacks of a local aggregate company, quite separate from the one at the Hearn.
Mainly, though, I wanted to get a pic of the now-deserted marina berths that had been filled to capacity with watercraft during my summer visit.

Farther along, a full view of the outer harbour makes it look like the whole lake is frozen over, but of course, it's not. Don't go out there, kids!

Here's a view of one of the parts of the east-side endikement that juts out into the lake:

Another amusing sight was this port-a-potty, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
I wondered what combination of bravery, foolhardiness and desperation might compel a person to use it on a day like this!

A view similar to one in the summer, of some of the wetlands of the Cell One area:

And, from a distance, the large pond of Cell Three:

Finally, as far as I wanted to go yesterday; the pedestrian bridge between here and the farthest part of the park offers a great view of the Cell Three pond:

Farther along the bridge, the same pond looks like it's been cleared for skating or hockey, but it's only the action of the wind on the snow that's opened up this patch of shining ice.

Again, I wouldn't recommend trying it out.

And, as in summer, one of the greatest views of the Toronto skyline you'll ever see is at this point, looking across Embayment C, through Peninsulas C and D.

Finally, on the way back, the sun was setting (it was about 4:45 pm), and I wanted to get a pic of something reflecting the light, so it was back to that aggregate company's smokestacks.
However  ho-hum the sight, it always looks better in the sunset, doesn't it?

That was my winter walk in Tommy Thompson Park.
I wasn't sure how it was going to go when I started out, and yes, it was bitterly cold, but the sights made the whole effort worthwhile.

This is a terrific place in all seasons, and I'm sure there will be more blog posts from here in the future, so do come back again!

My Fairly Odd Summer

Hi! Well, it's Christmas Eve already! All greetings and such later, but...

In my last post (gee, way back in October!), I mentioned that I had a pretty unusual summer; the main reason is that I spent a lot of it off work. This is why:

In late June and early July, I began to experience bad coughing fits; they were always "productive," as they say, but constantly interrupted my work, my evenings, and eventually, my nights. So, after a few days with not enough sleep, I finally set up an appointment with my doctor.
Sure enough, it was a lung infection, and the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, which I was supposed to take for the next four or five days, along with a cough syrup. "Don't want it to turn into pneumonia," said the doc with a chuckle. I didn't chuckle along - it would bring on a coughing fit, for one thing.

I also see a respirologist for my asthma, and happened to have an appointment around that time. I take the inhaler Symbicort for the asthma (it's not terribly serious), but after looking me over, the doctor said I should increase my dosage fourfold.

But the fun wasn't over yet.
I next developed laryngitis, and could only speak hoarsely, and for a limited amount of time, before my throat got so sore that I had to stop. You may know that I talk for a living, so despite various attempts to go back to work, I could only work sometimes for half an hour before it got too difficult. So there went steady work.

It was pretty frustrating, because otherwise, there was nothing wrong. I was perfectly healthy, and could get out and about as I wished. I just couldn't do my job. To make ends meet, as with my experience with shingles in the past (https://aproposno.blogspot.ca/2015/12/my-fortnight-with-shingles.html), I had to draw on my savings (I've often thought, out of all the decisions I've made in my life, setting aside a fixed amount each month - whatever the circumstances may be - was one of the smart ones).


Well, as with most things, I try to find an upside to a circumstance, and this was no exception.
It occurred to me that, since I was perfectly mobile, and the weather was mostly nice, it would give me a great opportunity to get out and explore "previously uncharted territory" around this city. This certainly had the desired effect of cheering me up, as good long walks always do.

One area I was always curious about was the trail that I knew ran along the Humber River. I had passed this trilingual plaque on the bridge near Old Mill subway station many times, and here was my opportunity to find out where the trail went.

The plaque features thee languages. English and French as you'd expect, but despite an extensive online search, I could find no indication what the native language is!

There's a long stairway down to the floor of the valley, and I struck off south. The trail kind of twists and turns at first, and I wasn't sure I was heading south the whole time, but it turned out to be right.

There's a paved trail for most of the first part, but there are also several footpaths running parallel to it. As I walked along one of them, it occurred to me this may well have been the view of the river an indigenous person would have taken in many thousands of years ago:

As I mentioned, the trail is a little tricky to follow, actually going through an urban park, and a neighbourhood of houses and low-rise apartment buildings, before descending back into a paved path with tall trees and natural growth on both sides.

Yes, this quiet bucolic scene is right in the middle of Toronto's west end.

One thing that took me by surprise was this well-known sight, formally the South Humber Pavilion, better known as "The Oculus." I had heard several things about it in local news reports, and never knew just where it was. Now I know!

It was built as a public pavilion in 1959, with kind of a "UFO" design, and included public washrooms, which you can see as the stone structure in behind:

Here's why it's called "The Oculus," or eye.
They've painted over some graffiti that was on there a few years ago, but that's really the only sign of maintenance. Otherwise, it looks sadly neglected overall.

The original design had a sculpture in the centre, with a base, and three rising bird figures, which at the right time of day, would be lit by sunlight coming through the opening, but that apparently was stolen some time ago.
There are ongoing efforts to restore the site, including reinforcing the metal posts, and demolishing the washroom building entirely, but conservation types would like to leave the stone building alone, and restore the whole site to its former glory. After just this short visit, I must say I'm inclined to agree with the conservationists; this place is far too charming to leave in its present state.

Moving on, I walked for some time more directly south, finally approaching the mouth of the Humber, where the QEW crosses over it.

Equivocal as I am about massive amounts of car traffic, I am always impressed by the engineering feats it takes to accommodate it. This is really a massive structure of concrete and steel under the QEW that many people don't see or appreciate (until it needs repair, that is).

Further along this path, I was struck by these incredible pieces of art on the concrete pillars. As you can see, they're quite beautiful, even moving, and not only did I wonder how on earth they were done, but who thought of such an incongruous place to put them!

I've taken pictures of this beautiful bridge over the mouth of the Humber before, but it's always worth a look from another angle:

From south of the bridge, here's the great view of the Toronto skyline:

And finally, at the mouth of the Humber River, as it empties into Lake Ontario, is another plaque commemorating the history of all the people who have lived on and around it:

I kept walking that afternoon, heading east, as far as King and Roncesvalles, to catch the streetcar back home. That was nearly the longest part of the whole walk, and it really brought home - as only walking can do - the sheer size of this city.


I was to take several more walks throughout the summer - including one along the same trail, from Dundas St. W. down to Old Mill station - but this was the one I got good pictures for.

Eventually, my voice returned, but it was into September before I could return to work full-time again (and thankfully, was j-u-u-ust strong enough to participate with the TWMVC in our very well-received performance at the North American Welsh Festival in Rochester, NY on Labour Day weekend - would have hated to miss that!) And I'm back to my regular once-daily dose of Symbicort.



Anyway, that was my summer.
As I look out my window now, I see snow, and temperatures that are only going to get lower, and I'm glad I was able to post this reminder of a rather pleasant, if definitely unusual, summer.


So, I hope everyone has a great Christmas, and a happy and prosperous new year in 2018. See you soon, I hope!

Nuit Blanche 2017

Hey! I see it's been a while since I posted anything. I had an odd summer, let's say, and perhaps I'll chat about it another time.


For now, I wanted to let you know how my Nuit Blanche experience was this year. So, here we go:

At Nathan Phillips Square, the theme was "The Century of Revolutions," covering movements worldwide, from the Russian Revolution in 1917, up to recent times. The displays were in a series of shipping containers.
Before dark, I got this pic of the whole setup, from the southwest corner of NPS:

After dark, here's what it looked like, from the opposite direction:

Background left is a hot air balloon that took passengers up about 50-60 feet in the air.
It wasn't related to NB - it was a publicity thing for an alcoholic beverage.

There were many slogans like this painted on the sides of the shipping containers throughout the installation.
It covered many of the revolutions over the years (Cuba, China, the Arab Spring, etc), but also included newer or ongoing subjects, like racism and poverty.

This was an interesting booth, where people could choose a slogan, get it printed via a silkscreening process, and have it posted on the wall there.

I met with a friend this year, who had suggested we visit the installations at the Aga Khan Museum in Don Mills. I had never been there, and thought it was a good idea.
There were periodic shuttle buses to the museum from near the Gardiner Museum at the top of Queen's Park, so we quickly took in a few of the exhibits near Dundas St. West.

As part of a larger exhibit entitled Calculating Upon the Unforeseen, there were several installations, including this one, called Embassy.
It was essentially "a building under construction," with scaffolding inside, and people were encouraged to enter and climb around different levels:

Also part of this exhibit was this video installation, 1967: A People Kind of Place, sort of in tribute to Canada's sesquicentennial, of a project from our centennial year, 1967. It was kind of a satirical comment on Canada's immigration policy, where they built a mock landing pad in one of the western provinces for actual "aliens" to land.
Here's a bit of it:

And another piece of the exhibit was this more abstract video installation, entitled The Future is a Distorted Landscape, projected on the wall of a building near Dundas and Centre Streets:

Then, it was a scramble through Queen's Park (sadly, missing several installations there) to catch the shuttle bus just in the nick of time, and up to this amazing Modernist building, the Aga Khan Museum:

I'll take a minute to describe this remarkable place: It is a large plaza, with rows of evergreen trees everywhere, and several large, shallow reflecting pools. The two main buildings are the museum itself, and the Ismaili Centre. I was immediately taken with it, and would encourage anyone to visit, if only to wander the grounds!

The highlight of the visit, and indeed of the whole night, was this breathtaking video installation by Shahzia Sikander, entitled Disruption As Rapture. It was inspired by a manuscript from the 1700's, the Gulshan-i 'Ishq, and the installation seems to be a continually-morphing animation of some of the illustrations.
Here are a couple of videos I took of the piece. I found the piece profoundly moving, and I'm afraid these may not do it justice, but I hope some of its beauty comes across.
In the first video, I tried to shoot the piece, and its twin, in one of the reflecting pools, but it wasn't until I zoomed in that I could get the full effect. I'm leaving the entire thing intact, though, so you can see that reflecting pool, and perhaps make out the tiny coloured lights within it:

(That's the roof of the Ismaili Centre in the background)


This second video is focused more on the screen.
From the distance I was away, the camera picked up more of the crowd noise than the beautiful music that accompanied this piece, but I think some of it comes across anyway.

I couldn't leave the piece without taking more pictures of it. It lasted about 10 minutes, and ran on a continuous loop, so I could stick around until it restarted, and try to capture more.

There is a flight through the sky, possibly on some sort of "magic carpet":

A wedding ceremony, joining these two characters together in an ornate palace:

A multi-headed monster threatens them, but is beheaded by the hero (seen here at left, beginning to fade out as the picture changes):

Then, everything slowly changes, dissolving into a shimmering field of stars.

I was amazed and delighted by this installation, and know these videos and pictures don't do it justice, but hopefully, some of its awesomeness was captured for you.


During the night, we were allowed to see the exhibits in the museum itself, for a small donation. The museum is modest by, say, ROM standards, but still had many amazing pieces on display, including metalware, china, illuminated manuscripts (that were comparable to many European ones of the same period that I've seen), and much more. There was also an entire room of huge, hand-woven tapestries from different centuries, which took my breath away.

We were allowed to take pictures in the main gallery (sans flash), and I thought this ornate carved door-piece was very striking:

I also liked this helmet and shield, also very ornately decorated.
It occurs to me that this set must have been ceremonial; it would certainly be a shame for something so gorgeous to be used in actual combat!

And, to top off this wonderful night (and place) the crowd was invited to the Ismaili Centre to witness a full Sufi ceremony.

Quite a crowd, as you can see by the lineup!

The ceremony was about an hour long, and consisted of practitioners chanting, hymn-singing and swaying in rhythm, while sitting cross-legged in a large circle.
The climax of the ceremony featured actual "whirling dervishes," both male and female, who spun around and around (as the spirit moved them) within the circle, with right hands pointing to the sky and left hands to the earth.
I left with a real appreciation for the devotion and discipline of the followers of this branch of Islam.



I've said this quite a few times in this blog, but I'm truly grateful to live in a city like Toronto, where we all have the opportunity to witness and learn about so many people and cultures from all over this blue marble in space. Events like this give us the opportunity to experience the world as seen through the eyes of contemporary artists, as well, this year for instance, of witnessing something that is traditional and deeply devotional.
We should all take the opportunity to connect like this every day.