The city has three new murals thanks to
Mural Routes, a little-known non-profit that uses the creation of outdoor art to mentor and engage communities.
Two of them are the physical manifestations of a new city project, which they’ve called
Cultural Hot Spot, according to which they’ll be naming a succession of under-appreciated parts of town as hot spots to draw attention to what’s already happening there, as well as encourage and in some cases under-write new initiatives.
The first was east and south Scarborough, and the murals shepherded by Mural Routes, are as close to the gateways of this area as they could manage. One is at the junction of Kingston Road and the Danforth, the other on Old Kingston Road facing east, just west of the village strip.
“When the organization started, initially the intention was to take the art our of the galleries and put them onto the street for those people who are not comfortable going into galleries or are not familiar or comfortable with different forms of art,” says Karin Eaton, spokeswoman for Mural Routes. “In the beginning, it was filling the blank walls with art, and it became more of a sharing program so we actually like to share all the information we’ve learned so we’ve become a hub for information and resource gathering about murals.”
The mural at Kingston Road and Danforth, unveiled two weeks ago, is the result of a competition won by established mural artist
Bill Wrigley (responsible for well-known murals across the city, including at By the Way Cafe and The Senator). The easternmost one was a more communal effort, created in conjunction with the Morningside Library’s introduction to mural art program.
In addition to these, the most recent one, just unveiled, is by the artist known as Media, at Woodbine and Gerard.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Karin Eaton