Winter Stations

A nice February Day at the beach

A sunny February day . . . . a perfect day to spend the day at the beach!

No bikinis, or speedos though, but at least all the Lifeguard stations were occupied and busy. You might think that a February beach day would not be a good idea, but that is exactly what we did today, took a streetcar and a bus down to Woodbine Beach and spent the day there. We were there to explore the annual Toronto “Winter Stations” event. 

Walking the boardwalk

Winter Stations is an International competition where the Arts and Design community is challenged to reimagine the lifeguard stations along Toronto’s East end beaches. The event has been running for 14 years and has seen entries from over 90 countries. The object is to use one of the unused leftguard Stations to create and build an art installation on the beach. I read about it on the internet and decided to go and see what it was all about. A 27 minute, 25 stop  streetcar ride and then a seven stop, seven minute bus ride took us to Woodbine Beach in Toronto’s East end, which runs for almost three kilometres along Lake Ontario. 

The beach was not crowded as it would have been in the summer, but I would call it well used, especially by Toronto’s dog community and as we walked down the beach we met many friendly canine beach goers. Scattered down the beach were the actual Winter Station installations. There was . . . .

We Caught a UFO by Xavier Madden & Katja Banovic from Croatia and Australia

A Kaleidoscopic Odyssey by Adam Brander, Nilesh P, Ingrid Garcia & Mayam Emadzadeh from Canada

Nimbus by David Stein from Canada

Bobbin’ by University of Waterloo School of Architecture

Winteraction by Department of Landscape Architecture & Ashari Architects for Canada & Iran

Nova by Toronto Metropolitan University of Architectural Science from Canada  

Each of these installations was designed and built around one of the beach’s lifeguard stations and the public was encouraged to explore and get involved in the displays. As we walked down the beach, we tried each one, climbing into the UFO, Walking through the Kaleidoscopic Odyssey, and titter-tottering in the Bobber. The rain falling from Nimbus’ cloud did not get us wet, and the fallen star Nova sheltered us from the wind and provided a view along the beach. Unfortunately the Labyrinth in Winteraction required an app that did not want to install on my phone so we could not do it, but the rest were imaginative and interesting. 

Not having visited this beach previously, we continued on down the boardwalk along the lakes edge visiting other beaches and enjoying a pleasant afternoon walk before taking a different streetcar and bus route back to the condo. 

Art in the Park

When I knew we were going to Narbonne, I went onto Google Maps to familiarize myself with the route from the train station to the apartment, especially since we would be arriving after dark. The map, and ‘street view’ showed a round-about with a park in the centre as a good landmark on the way, “At round-about, take the second left”, and as we found our way around the town I often used this same landmark to guide me around. 

Today on the way back from a trip to the grocery store, I decided to actually cross the street and have a look at the park in the centre. It is actually a lovely little park, but the large trees around the perimeter do not allow you to see into the park from outside. There are comfortable benches scattered around, a fountain in the middle, a small children’s playground at one end, a public washroom, and gardens scattered about. As I explored, I found interesting sculptures made from natural materials at one end of the garden. There were some very fascinating creations here and I started taking photos of them. Then, at one end there was a sign explaining the art project. Local children had created the artwork from found materials from nature and they were intended to be displayed under the trees in the park. 

I never would have found this interesting art installation if I hadn’t made the decision to take this little detour through the park I passed daily. A good lesson; don’t pass things by, go explore and find out. 

Sangria

Our little four day Nova Scotia “Staycation”, has been very relaxing and to be honest a bit slow. When you only have an hour or so between stops, you are in no rush and have time to stop anywhere you like. Driving from West Pubnico to Summerville Centre we decided to stop in Shelburne just to have a little walk around and see the town as we have not been here for many years. We stopped on the waterfront and wandered around, but then saw an interesting local pub and thought we'd stop for a snack and a drink.

While Regis made a trip to the ladies room, I ordered a beer and the server left a menu from which I noticed some deep fried pepperoni that I thought might be perfect to hold us over until dinner time. Regis had returned when my beer arrived and the server asked Regis if she'd like a drink.

“Do you have any sparkling wine?”

“No I'm afraid we don't.”

“How about Sangria, do you have that?”

“Yea, red or white?” Now this was a pleasant surprise we had not expected; they actually had sangria.

Regis ordered “red”.

A wine glass arrived with something red in it and was politely left at the table.

Reis picked it up and took a sip. I could tell by the grimace that it was not good Sangria. “This just tastes like red wine.”, and she passed the glass to me.

Yup, just plain red wine; not a bad wine, but a dry red the worst kind for her.

The next time by, we stopped the server and said “This is not sangria, it tastes like just red wine.

“Yes, I asked you if you wanted red or white, you said red.”

“But it's not Sangria, Sangria has red wine mixed with fruit juice, brandy and fruit.”

The puzzled look told us she had no idea what “Sangria” was. “Can you take it back and mix it to make a sangria.” We explained again what makes “Sangria”.

“Oh, we don't have and brandy. And we don't have fruit juice and I know we don't have any fruit.”

The server was very apologetic and embarrassed, but explained that she didn't know much about mixed drinks, because she did not drink herself. We asked if she could bring at least some Sprite to mix with the red wine to make it a spritzer.

When the Sprite was delivered she again said how sorry she was, and added with a giggle that at least she now knew what a “Sangrino.” was. (And that is not a typo . . . . )

Not Sangria

The Beer was good!

Nuit Blanche

Dundas Square

In Halifax they have an annual “Art at Night” event called Nocturne, and we have enjoyed exploring the Halifax art scene during his event. Our son researched things to keep us entertained while using his condo here in Toronto, and he discovered that Toronto has a similar event called Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night according to Google Translate). Last night we took the subway downtown and explored some of the art exhibits scattered around the city. The event went on all night so the transit system also ran all night.

Flashing Cars

It was a warm night, and we started our evening at Dundas Square, Toronto's version of Times Square. As you emerge from the Subway, you are instantly surrounded by illuminated buildings and billboards reaching into the night sky, and amazing crowds of people. Dundas Square is always busy, but this event multiplied the crowds tenfold. We picked up a nice map of the event showing where all the art installations were. The organization of the event was excellent and there were lots of volunteers handing out maps and advice.

Radical histories

The actual artistic installations were not so good. The first one we found in Dundas Square was simply not working. It looked impressive, but was supposed to be illuminated mirrors which was not happening. Next we went to see “Places Between” which was supposed to be “a collection of photographic stories centered around the domestic sphere”, But what I saw was a projector projecting random photos on a house window. We then walked down to Nathan Phillips Square where we discovered that Torontonians have a lot more patience for standing queues than I do. Most of the exhibits here involved waiting in lines for hours. There were even long lines for the commercial exhibits which had set up around the Art installations. One of the Nuit Blanche installations that was impressive was called “Radical Histories”. The artist had covered the front of Toronto City Hall with used Jute bags sewn together. The artist had traded new bags for used one from vendors in street markets in Ghana and fastened them all together to create this huge fabric mural. Although I'm not sure how the theme of Radical Histories ties in, it was an impressive display. The other interesting installation was a row of unmarked police cars with their lights flashing; it doesn't sound like much but with all the lights flashing at different times made for an interesting sight.

Although I must say I was disappointed in the art of Nuit Blanche, I enjoyed the evening. It was a huge social event with everyone there to see and be seen, some dressed in their finest or their most outlandish, and I enjoyed just wandering around watching the natives of Toronto in their element.

Toronto's People

Street Sculpture

We left Nova Scotia for the warmth and sunshine of Florida for the month of April, renting a house in Lakeland, a community about 45 minutes inland from Tampa Bay. We “got out of Dodge” just in time, sandwiched between a snowstorm the day before our exit and another a few days after we left. Now settled in Lakeland we have pretty consistent hot, sunny weather, and I must admit, I am enjoying the heat.

After a week of driving south and visiting friends and relatives along the way, I am trying to get back into my daily walks. Today I looked at Google Maps and decided I could walk from the house to downtown Lakeland. It was a pleasant walk with convenient sidewalks and lovely lakeside walks – obviously where the name “Lakeland” comes from.

I have been to Lakeland previously, actually visiting with the good friends who we are renting the house from, and on the last visit, I was taken downtown to see the Lemon Street Sculpture garden. On this trip I wanted to go back and see it once more, and managed to find my way back easily. The Sculpture Garden is a three-block long street side display of sculpture installed on concrete pads under trees. I enjoyed wandering among the interesting sculptures in such a pleasant setting last time and was pleased to note that all the sculptures had been changed and were all new. The natives of Lakeland obviously just take this interesting exhibition for granted as I was alone in wandering among the  artworks, and people seemed to find it odd that I was so interested in them and taking photos. The one street person sleeping on a bench in the area actually got up and left as my interest in the sculpture was disturbing his resting place.

I have attached a few photos of the sculptures. 

 

TAG you're art!

 Years ago, when we sailed on the Queen Mary II to Hamburg Germany, we got a taxi to our hotel, and when we got out of the cab, we knew we had chosen the wrong neighbourhood; all the building were vandalized with “Tagging” At the time you just didn't see this, especially in Germany. As it happened, our hotel was on the outskirts of the Reeperbahn, or the “Red Light” district of Hamburg, and the police or whoever controlled the “Tagging” just didn't worry about vandalization in this neighbourhood. Oh, (BTW)by the way, this was one of the best hotels we have ever booked and other than walking by the sex shops to get anywhere in Hamburg, everything was wonderful. It was Hamburg Harley Days and 55,000 Harley Davidsons descended on the city for the weekend – I had a great vacation.

This tagging has become rampant everywhere, and we have not found any country that has been able to control it. I think it gets worse as unemployment increases, especially youth unemployment, and Europe, especially Spain, Portugal & Greece are really suffering serious unemployment. Needless to say, the tagging is really bad here in Olhão. It is everywhere. Entire buildings are covered, and as the number of deserted or unoccupied building increases, so does the tagging. Even the trains have gotten a new coat of paint, sometimes even covering the windows. The train we returned from Spain on was completely covered on one side with tagging. There is a little unoccupied house on the corner that is completely tagged from top to bottom, and the wall of a long building down the road is a virtual 'Art Gallery' of tagging.

Now one question is whether “Tagging” is vandalism or art? Some of it is absolutely amazing in the artistry and complexity. No question, some is just ugly spray paint, but I must admit that some is actually very beautiful. Here in Olhão, there are some talented taggers, and I have tried to include some of the really interesting examples. In many cases I suspect that the tagging actually makes some of the crumbling buildings here look nicer.

People must at times find it frustrating. Across the street, the houses back onto the railway, and some people have cleaned off the concrete wall and whitewashed it, only to have it used as a canvas by taggers. I walked by one building with serious tagging covering all the windows, so those workers using the building have so suffer with their only natural light diffused through pink, purple and green paint.

I can't help wondering though, when do they do it? I have never seen a 'Tagger' at work, so I assume it must be late a night, and it must be a bit difficult to tag those moving trains, so it must be done when they are parked late at night.

Saturday In Suzhou

I was perhaps a bit hasty in my assessment of the people of Suzhou and their appreciation of the sculpture that surrounds them as they go about their business in Suzhou Industrial Park. I discovered that perhaps they just do not have time through the week to enjoy the art work provided for them to enjoy.

Saturday in Suzhou dawned cloudy, misty, foggy and/or raining depending on when you looked ou the window. By lunchtime, it did not look like any real improvement was eminent, so not wanting to completely waste a free day, I unfolded the umbrella, and ventured out. On the previous days adventure I noticed that the other side of the lake running perpendicular to my walk also seemed to have some interesting parks, and a map of the area showed extensive parkland there as well. Today, ignoring the dampness I explored this area.

First thing I noticed was more statues and sculpture. As you walked through the pathways, you would come across interesting sculptures, again, with little or no explanation. On this walk I found a huge crocodile who I believe was being zapped by a spell from a witch. I saw a very hip fellow roller-blading with his dog on a skateboard. Yes I'm still on the sculpture thing, both he and the dog were in bronze. There was an entire brass bank made of red metal on a big white quarter moon, and there was the usual assortment of interesting abstract items.

The difference today was that the Chinese were enjoying their parks and their statues, I gave up waiting for the statues to be clear of people, and started trying to include the people having their picture taken beside the sculpture. One family was very interested in the roller blader and his dog. I watched them trying to convince the little boy to sit on the dog to get his picture taken. He seemed reluctant, but I couldn't tell what his objection was. Finally his mother produced a Kleenex, and he carefully wiped the moisture from the dog and happily sat down for the “photo-opp”.

It was a day for photography, and I came across two sets of newly weds having their wedding photos done. I felt sorry for them trying to look happy and festive as someone held an umbrella over them and someone else tried to keep the rain off the photographer. I can just imagine them years from now sitting together looking through their wedding album and remembering that day trying to stay dry while posing for the pictures.

Again, I was amazed at the expanse of perfectly maintained parkland. Everywhere I went there were beautiful broad walkways, made not out of ordinary concrete, but paving stone or even artistically arranged polished stone. There would often be large areas of polished marble like surface (Very slippery in the rain). There were always neat rows of trees, perfect hedges without any gaps, flower beds with perfectly evenly spaced plants all with perfect blooms. You might see the occasional spot where a path had been worn in a lawn, but other than that even the grass was consistently perfect green. Of course everywhere there is greenery or flowers are the ever present maintenance people; sweeping the sidewalks and bike paths, picking up litter, weeding the lawns, and picking dead flowers out of the gardens. They are there rain or shine, seven days a week, keeping everything perfect.

Actually, as I walked back from this damp adventure, I suddenly realized as I passed a forest of trees all planted in dead straight even rows, that I had actually never seen anything that wasn't completely created by man. None of the parks were preserved natural land, they were created from scratch. I do not recall seeing one area in this part of Suzhou that was not designed and built. I do not know what was here before someone decided to build this Industrial Park, but I don't think there is much left of the original land. This is not really a criticism, because I do not know what was here before – it could have been a waste dump, or a gravel pit, and now it certainly is a lovely place for the people to live and work, and I am enjoying exploring it bit by bit during my time in China.

Suzhou Sculpture

After working for week, I had four days off, so I decided to finally go explore Suzhou and see some of the this beautiful city. One of the schools I work in, requires a fairly long bus ride, and I noticed on the ride a lot of interesting buildings and sculptures along the route, so although the day was overcast I decided to go have a closer look at these interesting pieces of public art. I rode a borrowed bike, and followed the walkways through the parkland beside Jin Ji lake, towards one interesting building modelled after the Olympic Birds-nest stadium in Beijing. This building is the Suzhou Arts & Culture Centre, and is definitely a work of art itself. It is shaped like a huge symmetrical “U” around another glass building called the “Pearl”. The building is surrounded by bronze sculptures of musicians and dancers and other performers. Even some of the seats looking out onto the lake were pieces of sculptures, shaped like the Blue Men Troupe. Not especially comfortable seating however – the nose tend to dig into the back. It is amazing how little this beautiful facility was used; I was practically alone exploring both the grounds outside and the building itself.

From here I continued along the lakeside park, until I was halted by one of the many construction sites – it seems that everywhere something bigger and more impressive is being built. I then rode through an amusement park under construction, and again, the building were going to be as much of an attraction as the rides and pavilions. Like elsewhere in Suzhou, everything is surrounded by beautiful well maintained parks. Even though this attraction has not opened yet, I observed a little old woman sitting and carefully maintaining the extensive gardens.

I was aiming for a series of brightly coloured geometrical sculptures, as a turning point to head back through the pathways and parks on the other side of the roadway. There were four different sculptures in red, blue, green and yellow, blended into little buildings. I could see no indication of what the buildings were for, and they appeared to by unfinished inside. The coloured sculptures certainly called attention to them however.

On the ride back I found tall blue fish, ponds made of man-made coral, beautiful sculptures of women reading, lovely abstract wood and metal rectangles, and cute golden pigs. None of these had any signage, or indication what they were for or about, they appear to be simply there for the population to enjoy. As is often the case, the locals seem to completely ignore them, and I got very odd looks when I was observed photographing them. But then, that is one thing I have noticed here in China – tall obviously foreign men with beards are enough of an oddity that I get stared at wherever I go.

It is amazing how beautiful this bike ride was. I was able to ride through parkland along a lake most of the way down, and once the construction is finished the parkland will extend the whole way, and there was beautiful parks, pathways, and gardens the entire way back on the other side of the road. Remember this is “Suzhou Industrial Park”; it was built to house industry and businesses. We could learn a thing or two from the Chinese about how to design a city.