Bridges are meant to connect, but this one managed to cut a community in half for years, until one city worker got an idea.
"In conversation with community members, this bridge would come up. I'd keep hearing about this bridge," says Andrea Raymond, a cultural outreach officer with the city's cultural services. She said the 871-foot-long
Kingston Galloway/Orton Park bridge along Lawrence Avenue in Scarborough, with its narrow sidewalks and six lanes of traffic, was seen as boring and uninviting to local residents, who mostly walked over it rather than drove.
"One day when I was driving over the bridge," Raymond says, "I thought it might be a really good place for an art intervention."
Which is exactly what happened. For a total of $115,000, work began in July on a huge mural by Rob Matejka and more than 20 local youth. It was completed at the end of August, and last weekend, it was the centerpiece of a local arts and community festival, which also included planting 800 native wildflowers in the part of
Morningside Park that runs under the bridge.
The work was co-ordinated by the
Scarborough Arts Council,
Mural Routes and
Evergreen.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Andrea Raymond
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