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East Toronto Greats

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Eminent Easterners are being featured along Queen Street over the next few months (by current and former Spacing contributors, would-be Lytton Strachey’s, both of ’em):

East Toronto Greats
A Collaborative Window Display Project

East Toronto Greats is a collaborative project featuring the work of artist and curator Tim Whalley and writer Sheila Heti. Consisting of a series of six representations of historical figures from 19th century east Toronto, the works, created by Tim and interpreted by Sheila, will be exhibited in window display galleries at the Drake Hotel, Pages Books Art Window and Toronto Free Gallery during the spring of 2007.

The first installment of the project, featuring greats Alexander Muir (1830 – 1906) and George Leslie (1804-?) opens on March 2nd at the Drake Hotel.

The works incorporate satirical devices and reference traditions of political critique, while the interpretive text plays with what was left about the greats in the historical record. Documents, memoirs and more recent sources considered these figures – landowners, businessmen and politicians – important to the development of east Toronto. In exploring the act of mythologizing Toronto’s past, the little memorials celebrate characters who have rarely been commemorated. East Toronto Greats features such figures as horticulturalist George Leslie, poet and songwriter Alexander Muir, developer and politician Ernest Albert MacDonald, alderman Henry Frankland and landowner William Lea.

Where & When:

The Drake Hotel Vestibule, 1150 Queen Street W (March 2 – April 28, 2007)
Pages Art Window, 256 Queen Street W (April 1 – 22, 2007)
Toronto Free Gallery, 660 Queen Street E (April 21 – May 5, 2007)

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5 comments

  2. Jeremy> Maybe, because one opening is in the west end (drake), one is in the middle of the city (pages) and one is in the east (Toronto free).

    How 1 of 3 is “mostly in the west end” i don’t know (east side math?) but I’m sure it figures into the great and ongoing Western conspiracy somehow.

    Good thing 2 of 3 weren’t in the EAST END, because somebody would complain that the WEST END doesn’t want to learn about the EAST END.

  3. Pages is hardly in the middle of the city. It’s west of the Spadina subway line.

    Is 256 Queen St. *East* also in the middle of the city? Oddly, *660* Queen East is deemed to be in the east.

    It’s typical west-end bullshit to hold 2/3 of the gallery showings about east-end luminaries west of Yonge St. You can’t dress it up, Shawn.

    Also, will the Muir exhibit examine his racist, or at least tribalist, tendencies?

  4. Pages is in the middle of the city, c’mon. It is two ot three blocks west of Uni-Spa line. It is less than 1km from Yonge. If it is not the centre of the city than what is? only 50 metres on either side of Yonge?

    Drake is west-end and the Tor Free gallery is in the East End. May not be deep in the east, but it is still east.

    you’d think the east enders would be happy to see that Toronto East greats would be shown in the west side, to drive home their point that there is great stuff in the east end that is sometimes ignored. But no, all we hear is complaining.
    As an east ender I am so tired of the other folks in my ‘hood giving the rest of us a bad name for constantly complaining about some make-believe west end bias. THERE IS MORE STUFF GOING ON WEST OF YONGE THAN EAST OF IT. LIVE WITH IT.

    I love the east end but I moved there for the relative quietness compared to west end. I am happy there is less stuff out here. As are the rest of my neighbours.

  5. Hi there,

    Not sure how many hits this will get now, but thought (as one of the creators) I would respond.

    The project is not intended as a straight commemoration/celebration of these 19th century peeps – that might be obvious, or not. We thought that to show the works in the east end might lead people to not consider the work critically. By showing some work in the west, there is some doubt cast on the intention. Also, as the east has received a relative lack of attention compared to the west, the idea of East Toronto 19th Century Greats was further abit of a stretch. The idea was to play with the act of mythologizing Toronto’s past – and consider whether or not this is a worthy endeavour. I sort of looked at examples of commemoration (museums, monuments etc.) in other cities and then used the concept loosely to apply to my own neighborhood (I live out east). The idea was to see how people would react and if they would read the commemorations of these figures as genuine – which, considering how marginal this history is to most Torontonians (maybe justifiably so?), I would be surprised.

    I realize its all a bit obscure, but thanks for your comments.

    Tim W.