Donald Forster Sculpture Park, Guelph, Ontario

The Push Pin sculpture can also be used as a stool!

As customs dictate,  the past weekend was a long weekend and Canadians tried to get out of town if they could.

We were in Guelph, a city about sixty miles outside of Toronto.

We visited a number of places while we were in this city.

The Begging Bear sculpture standing proudly in front of the Art Gallery of Guelph

A small city with a population of around 120,000 people, Guelph boasts a university, an art gallery as well as a civic museum.

The first place we visited was the Donald Forster Sculpture Park at the Art Gallery of Guelph, located on the grounds of the University of Guelph.

Pioneer Family

Salvaged pieces such as old serving tray were used to create art

Using salvaging metal pieces such as old pipes, old serving tray and other odds and ends, the artist assembled a creative piece where rose bushes growing through the spaces in between - see the picture below.

Monad by Evan Penny

The park was officially opened in 1985.

 It has thirty- eight  permanent sculptures on its 2.5 acre site making it the largest sculpture park of its kind in Canada.

The Sickle and the Cell Phone by Gu Xiong

Lightmare by Cynthia Short

                                                           

Artists are  very talented people who can use any old objects and turn them into creative work of art such as this old cell phone!

Desire by Tom Dean

The park opens year round from dawn to dusk.
















It is open to everyone and is free of charge!

Magic Wood  by Tony Urquhart 

We really enjoyed walking through this park and looking at all the sculptures.

Because we had a brochure with explanations for some of the sculptures, we learned a lot about them and the artists who created these art pieces.

Mask by Evan Penny

For more pictures and explanations for the sculptures, you can follow the link below to the website of the Art Gallery of Guelph:

http://artgalleryofguelph.ca/education_list/sculpture-park/

R.T.

Guelph, Ontario

Chihuly's Glass Sculptures Exhibition at the ROM ( Royal Ontario Museum)

ROM - The Chihuly Glass Sculptures Exhibition runs from June 25

Glass balls floating in a boat!

A couple of years ago, we were in Arizona, USA, and visited the beautiful desert botanical garden there.

 We were lucky as the the Botanical Garden was hosting a special outdoor Chihuly Glass Sculpture exhibition in its garden.

We loved the show!

Laguna Torcello - an intricate garden of glass with floats, reeds, crystals & white Belugas

I was happy when I learned that the Chihuly exhibition would take place at the Ontario Royal Museum  - ROM starting on June 25.

As a member of the ROM, I enjoy the privileges of attending the preview show before the exhibition opened officially.

Red Reeds on White Logs

Dale Chihuly, an American born artist, learned his crafts of glass blowing in Venice as a young artist.
















He has been working and experimenting with glass sculptures for over fifty years.

I love his work! I love the bold colour, various shapes and the sheer sizes of Chihuly's glass sculptures!

Persian Trellis 2016 - This special installation was created  and designed specifically for the ROM

I saw quite a number of Chihuly's installations at the exhibition.

There was a special one called the Persian Trellis 2016 which was created and designed specially for the ROM.

I saw beautiful glass sculptures of sea urchins, shells. jellyfish  hung on a wooden trellis. I learned that Chihuly started making these special roundels with wavy irregular forms since 1986.

Northwest Room

There was a surprise exhibition of another kind which I did not expect.

Chihuly's collection of trade blankets being displayed in the ROM

Chihuly has a collection of native baskets and trade blankets in his boat house in Seattle.












Inspired by his own collection of native baskets and trade blankets, Chihuly created glass sculptures shaped in the form of baskets with northwest designs.They were life like.

Can you tell which pieces on the left are Native baskets and which ones are Chihuly's glass baskets?

Of all the Chihuly's installations at the ROM, my most favourite was a ceiling installation - a brilliant, creative installation hung on the ceiling in one of the exhibition rooms.

It was breathtaking! The colour was absolutely heart stopping!

 I stepped into the room and the entire ceiling was lighted up with spectacularly beautiful colourful glass sculptures shaped like sea shells!

To help visitors to enjoy this amazing installation hanging from the ceiling, the artist had huge body cushions scattered at various places in the room where visitors could lay down comfortably to view this piece of art.






I loved it! I lay down on one of the cushion, took my time to admire this piece of gorgeous installation. I did not want to get up at all!

The Chihuly exhibition will be in Toronto from now until January 2, 2017.  I hope Torontonians and people from around the area will make use of this opportunity and enjoy his wonderful work!

R.T.
Royal Ontario Museum
Toronto, Ontario

Aboriginal Month Display - Downtown Toronto - Always a Lot to See!

A building at Bloor and Yonge, Torornto

I love Toronto! We have been living in this city for almost forty years and we are never tired of it.

Because the housing prices in Toronto have skyrocketed for the past decade, many people have cashed in selling their Toronto homes and moving to the suburb for bigger houses at much cheaper prices.

Beautiful buildings abound in Toronto

We refuse to follow the trend because we love living in this beautiful city!

There are always so much to see and do right here!

A window display - an aquarium look alike with  a school of paper fish swimming around

 A few days ago, after finishing a meeting downtown, I was on my way to the subway station heading home.

I passed by some interesting displays around the Bay and Bloor area on the street.

A sports car was supported by 4 Wedgewood cups outsdie the Ashley store on Bloor and Bay street in Toronto

I came across an extraordinary display!  There was a dining room table set up beautifully with fine china - dinner plates, teacups, teapots and cups etc outside the Ashely Store on Bloor Street.



On top of this elegantly set table was a sports car supported by four Wedgewood bone china teacups!

Wow! Those were stong cups!

But for me, I just want my teacup to serve me tea or coffee. I really don't need my teacup to be able to hold a weight of a thousand pounds. But it was interesting to see.

Toronto Eaton Centre entrance, downtown Toronto

As I was walking by the Eaton Centre, I passed by some street musicians and some more displays.

Having just returned from a native reserve, I am more interested in native arts. I spotted some on the ground.

I stopped and looked at some of paintings and wood burning artwork displayed on the ground of the street.

The gentleman who did these art pieces was there. So we started chatting about his work and the subjects which he chose to draw and burn on wood pieces.

Aboriginal people usually live on reserves as our government gives them their treaty rights to have free housing on their own land. However, many do try to live in cities outside the reserves.

A double decker  tour bus at the Square

But it is not always easy to them to find work to support themselves as they do face systemic racism and discrimination in Canada. I admire those who do try and beat the odds.

We had a good chat and I bought a small painting from this native gentleman.

Heading toward the Dundas subway station, I came to the Dundas Square on Yonge and Dundas.

Display booths filled the Dundas Square

There are always something going on at the Dundas Square!

A crafts booth  provide free activities for children in the Square.

Every time I go downtown, I always go by there and see what's happening. 

June is National Aboriginal History Month in Canada

Today, there was a special celebration!

A musician performing on the Dundas Square stage

The National Aboriginal History Month.

Enjoying a performance by an aboriginal artist at the Dundas Square

This is the first year Canada has proclaimed and is celebrating the month long event! 

There were many booths displaying and selling native crafts and arts

It's great to see aboriginal people proudly displaying their arts, products, and goods outside their reserves and communities.

A proud positive message on a T shirt

 Our aboriginal people are starting to feel confident and proud of being themselves.  I saw that proclamation on a t- shirt there!

R.T.

Dundas Square

Toronto

Todmorden Mills - An Urban Oasis in the Middle of Toronto

Even though we have been living in Toronto for almost forty years, there are still many interesting and pretty
places where we have not visited.

Todmorden Mills was one such place.

The Cottage at the Todmorden Mills

Each year, during the last weekend in  May, Toronto and many cities across the provinces in Ontario host the Doors Open event.






Many historic, interesting and significant buildings are open to the public to visit, free of charge!









No longer used as a mill, there are a number of  buildings at Todmorden Hills and they are now used for heritage, cultural and arts events.


We visited two houses one of which was  a  cottage with a spacious kitchen furnished in the early 1950's style.

As evidenced by the wooden fence built on the middle of the property, the other house we visited was divided into two separate dwellings at the time.














 The larger portion of the house with a formal sitting room lived the foreman of the mills whereas  the workers lived in the smaller section.

We hiked the tree lined trail

I personally likes the cottage better as it looked really cute and cosy !


After visiting the historic houses, we hiked on a trail shaded by tall trees on both sides.

We discovered ponds, bridges and beautiful scenery along the way.

Fiddle heads !

As we strolled along, we saw fiddle heads, wild Geraniums and many beautiful wild flowers and plants.

I learned that the wild Geraniums are tough flowers. They can withstand the harsh Canadian winters and come back and bloom, year after year!

I jumped at the chance and bought one from the lady selling these plants at the Centre.

These beautiful Wild Geraniums come back and bloom year after year!

Though in the middle of the city, we felt as if we were miles away from Toronto!


How on earth had we failed to visit this beautiful historic part of Toronto was beyond our understanding!

Tomorden Mills - A quiet escape from  the busy life of Toronto within the city!

During the summer months, Torontonians race to escape from the city on the weekends driving miles away to their cottages or elsewhere.

However wee seem to have forgotten what we have right here at home.

Sometimes in life, we are so busy looking for something we yearn for that we neglect to see what's right in our own backyard!

We are glad we rediscovered Todmorden Mills.

When we feel like an escape from our modern life,  we can always turn back the clock and back to the past for a couple of hours by going to the mills!

R.T.
Tomorden Mills
Toronto's Doors Open 2016