The images in the above collage were taken at the Cathedral which is also a parish church for the St. Lawrence neighborhood. I’ve visited the Cathedral before but never took a single picture. This time I had my camera along with me and stayed behind to take a few pictures. It’s a beautiful church and I’ll share the collages and save the story behind my visit for the end. ...
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way… things I had no words for.” (Georgia O’Keeffe) The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition took place last weekend in Toronto. It’s a free art exhibition featuring over four hundred artists using all artistic forms. Hundreds of people visited and enjoyed the great variety of talent available in one place - Nathan Phillips Square. It was a lovely venue for this amazing show and a wonderful opportunity to talk to the artists themselves. As with all shows, we do have some art that appeals to us more than others. I will share some of my favorites below and hope you enjoy them. I’m sorry that after seeing so many exhibits and meeting so many artists, I don’t have the matching information about them for all their work. You can check the TOAE website for a listing of all the artists and their work. ...
[caption id=“attachment_2002” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] “I’ve never thought of my jewellery as trophies. I’m here to take care of it and to love it, for we are only temporary custodians of beauty.” (Elizabeth Taylor)[/caption] Women all over the world from time immemorial have loved to make themselves beautiful through adorning themselves with jewelry. This is even truer of East Indian women. They wear jewelry everywhere - in their hair, in their noses - and I’ve even seen older women wear bangles on their feet when I was a little girl. ...
[caption id=“attachment_1974” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] “Today Canada is the most multicultural country in the world, and the home of immigrants of every ethnic and religious group from every country in the world. But less than 500 years ago, the only people living in Canada were the Aboriginal people of Canada. “Aboriginal” means the original inhabitants, the people who were here first. The words “Native” or “Indigenous” are also used, and mean the same thing. Today they all collectively refer to themselves as the First Nations or First Peoples of Canada. However, there are many different cultural groups.” (First Nations Website)[/caption] ...
[caption id=“attachment_1951” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] “And there are many ways to love clay.” (Kevin Browne, Executive Director & CEO)[/caption] The Gardiner Museum is 30 years old this year. My very first visit was for Doors Open which took place in Toronto on May 24th and 25th. It was fascinating to visit as I had heard so much about the collection from friends. I wondered who the Gardiner’s were and this is what I found: “George Gardiner began collecting ceramics in 1976, initially to decorate his home. His interests were eclectic – Ancient Americas, 18th-century European, and Chinese – and his collections assumed significant dimensions. He was joined in this passion by his wife, Helen, a native of Kirkland Lake, Ont., who had studied at York University. In 1984 they co-founded the Gardiner Museum. The Gardiners’ hope, Helen later wrote, was that the Museum “would contribute in a meaningful way to the understanding and appreciation of ceramic art worldwide.” ...
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. The above quote by George Moore came to mind as I admired how pretty and well-maintained the homes in the neighborhood look. This is a particularly lovely time of year with the Spirea in bloom. Many people have their hanging baskets and planters on their porches and their garden chairs out for when they are relaxing at home. As I get older, home is really the best place to be now for me. My own porch is just like going to a cottage for me. ...
“We know we are a species obsessed with itself and its own past and origins. We know we are capable of removing from the sanctuary of the earth shards and fragments, and gently placing them in museums. Great museums in great cities—the hallmarks of civilisation.” ~ Kathleen Jam [caption id=“attachment_1888” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] A casual glance at crystals may lead to the idea that they were pure sports of nature, but this is simply an elegant way of declaring one’s ignorance. With a thoughtful examination of them, we discover laws of arrangement. With the help of these, calculation portrays and links up the observed results. How variable and at the same time how precise and regular are these laws! How simple they are ordinarily, without losing anything of their significance! The theory which has served to develop these laws is based entirely on a fact, whose existence has hitherto been vaguely discerned rather than demonstrated. This fact is that in all minerals which belong to the same species, these little solids, which are the crystal elements and which I call their integrant molecules, have an invariable form, in which the faces lie in the direction of the natural fracture surfaces corresponding to the mechanical division of the crystals. Their angles and dimensions are derived from calculations combined with observation. (Rene-Just Hauy - French Mineralogist) ...
Magnolia tree Attracting me, Gladly blooming. Nothing to prove Only to bloom profusely, Lovely you are with your pink hues. Imbuing all with joy at Spring’s arrival Annulling all the hardship of the winter past. How lovely it was in High Park today. Sheer beauty! The magnolia’s time for blooming has come and irregardless of who’s watching or what anyone’s saying, she’s mesmerizing to everyone. Photographers are there trying to capture her beauty from all angles and positions. Some are taking microcosmic views and others macrocosmic ones. She knows how to be both beautiful and still. ...
[caption id=“attachment_1868” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] The ceiling is made from thousands of sheets of imported Venetian glass, cut into more than a million tiny coloured squares. A team of skilled workers laboured for eight months to install the ceiling. Its sparkling gold, rust and bronze background is inset with red, blue and turquoise patterns, recalling the magnificent mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe. Worked out on the golden field are geometrical borders and panels which frame decorative floral designs. The central panel is inscribed with a passage from the Book of Job in the Old Testament: “That all men may know his work” (ROM website)[/caption] ...
No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~Hal Borland This past winter was a long and difficult one for us in Toronto. We were all looking forward to Spring and it seemed too long in coming. But the good new is that it’s finally arrived. High Park was filled with people yesterday enjoying the “bloomin’ trees.” The cherry blossoms have started to blossom but the blooms are very young. They aren’t in bloom for a long time though so if you’re planning to go, try to get over there within the next few days. I spent a lovely afternoon in the park enjoying a glorious spring day. All the photo collages are images that I took there yesterday and without further ado, here they are! ...