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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Seniors redo Christie Gardens murals

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New murals are going up on Christie Street’s retaining walls just north of Dupont.  While the sunflowers and pastoral scenes emerging on the newly reconstructed concrete walls don’t seem particularly unusual or edgy, the painters behind them certainly are.

Comprised mostly of seniors living in Christie Gardens, the team is led by Barbara Bunting, an 89-year-old retired North Toronto art teacher who similarly spearheaded painting efforts four years ago when the first murals were completed.   With the construction around the rail bridge and retaining walls which led to the removal of their earlier murals finished, Barbara and her team of volunteers can now be seen on most days busy replacing their lost work with new brightly coloured murals.

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Barbara’s murals aren’t the only examples of wall art in Christie Gardens.  Along the rail corridor in Geary Park are plenty of other carefully painted works done by other members of the local community.

Photos by Jake Schabas

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4 comments

  1. Nice! These have a fantastic retro look, and they’re a nice change from the “edgy street artist” graffiti-style art you see on a lot of other murals these days. My only worry is that if what I see in the photos is complete, those blank pale green areas may prove too attractive to taggers. Hope they keep extra paint for touch-ups.