Colourful history on the walls
[attach]1237[/attach]The murals are everywhere: on walls, forgotten spaces and places in the neighbourhood, which would normally go bare.
The Village of Islington’s mural project is proving to be a bright and welcome addition to an area of the city that once looked dark and dim, says project organizer Linda Pedersen.
While adding colour and artistic touches to the community, Pedersen’s main objective with the six-year-old project was to highlight the important history that defines the west-end neighbourhood.
It’s a history that includes the area’s first settlers the Johnson family making the land home in the late 1700s, development over the next two centuries and agriculture work throughout given the close proximity of Mimico Creek and the railway tracks to transport goods.
And it’s a history worth illustrating, Pedersen said.
“It was a beautification initiative,” she said. “Planters or benches could only do so much … it seemed like a great idea.”
Since 2004, 15 murals have been created along Dundas Street West, between Islington and Kipling Avenues.
Toronto mural artist John Kuna created 12, with the remaining three being painted by such artists as Jim Bravo, who did the 2007 “Welcome Mural” at 5164 Dundas St. West with the help of students from the Etobicoke School of the Arts.
Pedersen, who once ran a drycleaners in the neighbourhood and helped form the Village of Islington BIA in 1986, now does publicity for local projects. She began the mural project with help of the association in partnership with Toronto Economic Development and Heritage Etobicoke Foundation.
The association’s businesses benefit from the murals as they bring more visitors — and ideally, more shoppers — to the area, Pedersen said. That partnership is highlighted in the 2010 Village of Islington calendar Pedersen created with the BIA as way to illustrate the murals and simultaneously promote the businesses.
Some murals like Kuna’s 2005 “The way we Were, Islington ca 1900” span a large section of wall, while others such as Kuna’s 2008 “Gordon’s Dairy” take up only a portion of a building.
Pedersen, who now provides tours in the village, has many favourites.
“It will be really hard to choose,” Pedersen said before listing off a few gems of her own.
And the project doesn’t stop there.
A new mural is slated for this summer, said Pedersen. Destined for a section of the wall at 4879 Dundas St. West, the theme will be religious in nature as the site in question — now a nail salon and spa — was the manse for a Methodist Church.
Pedersen hopes to have an outdoor art gallery once the mural project ends.
When that is all depends on the amount of vacant wall space.
“I’ve counted 27 good sites plus some other lesser sites,” Pedersen said.