{"id":11312,"date":"2010-05-25T13:28:36","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T17:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=11312"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:30:46","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:30:46","slug":"art-in-our-parks-benches-and-a-mural-by-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/05\/25\/art-in-our-parks-benches-and-a-mural-by-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Art in our parks: Benches and a mural by students"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coming soon to a park near you: Nature inspired picnic tables in 27 parks throughout the downtown core and a mural at June Rowlands Park aimed at not only beautifying the neighbourhood, but to raise awareness about keeping a clean environment and respecting public space.<\/p>\n

Grade 12 art students from Central Tech were approached by the City to paint 10 benches with a nature inspired theme. \u201cIt\u2019s an idea for them to be able to educate the public about environmental issues and about nature through the table in a public space,\u201d said Yafit Rokach, coordinator of environmental projects for parks with the City of Toronto.<\/p>\n

Rokach initiated this project by contacting schools in the downtown neighborhood and was the driving force behind getting the very generous donation from Benjamin Moore of almost 40 gallons of eco-friendly Arbourcoat Stain. Central Tech immediately jumped on board she said, and the excitement of everyone involved was immediately evident.<\/p>\n

The grade 12 art class started work on 10 picnic tables in February and worked on them everyday through to the end of April, while two grade 9 glasses used stencils and spray paint on the remaining 17 tables starting just last week.<\/p>\n

The arts director at Central Tech, Michael Porco, said that the students were excited about the project from the get-go, adding that the picnic tables are a lot more interesting than the plain green ones that are normally found in city parks. \u201cIf I sat down at one of these tables and had a picnic, I’d certainly enjoy my lunch a lot more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Student Kelly Silva (photo at top of post) said that she initially thought the project was going to include a long list of guidelines to follow, but she was pleasantly surprised when the only condition was that the benches have a nature inspired theme.<\/p>\n

Silva\u2019s table, called \u201cNature\u2019s Chimera<\/a>\u201d boasts plants and animals growing out of a person. \u201cUsually people separate humanity and nature as two separate things,\u201d she says, \u201cyou can\u2019t have humanity without nature and we affect nature.\u201d Her bench can be seen as early as today in Charles G. Williams Park at Sorauren and Wabash Ave. in Roncesvalles.<\/p>\n

Melissa Ma, designer of the \u201cCoral Life\u201d table said she hopes that her contrast of a polluted and dirty ocean and a clean and beautiful one will entice people to pick up their garbage and not leave it lying around in the park.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in June Rowlands Park<\/a> (formerly Davisville Park), grade 11 students from Greenwood College High School assembled at the maintenance shed putting the final touches on their meadow themed mural.<\/p>\n

The project was part of the Neighbourhood Beautification Plan to paint on walls that are frequently tagged with unwanted graffiti. The City\u2019s goal with this project is that street artists respect the effort that goes into the creation of a mural and don\u2019t tag the area.<\/p>\n

The students were given the assignment of each drawing a meadow scene. Their teacher, Leanne Mladen, combined the students votes on their favourite aspects to create the mural. She said the students were enthusiastic when she announced the project and there wasn\u2019t a single student who came to class the next day without a design.<\/p>\n

The City provided the paint, <\/strong>and they started on Monday May 17. The mural will be completed in it\u2019s entirety by Wednesday May 26, once the absolute final touches,\u00a0 such as student signatures and the schools logo are painted at the bottom of the mural.<\/p>\n

Mladen says that neighbourhood residents have come up to them to thank them for painting such a beautiful mural; and said that it adds to an otherwise dull space. \u201cI just don\u2019t think there\u2019s a lot of colour in this park. There are no gardens or anything, so I think that it turns an ugly brown brick building into something that fits better in a park,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Student and neighbourhood resident, Emily Harris is proud of the work her and her classmates have done. Not only does it brighten the park, she says, but \u201cit creates a sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Picnic benches painted by the students at Central Tech will be placed in parks around the city as early as today, and by latest next week. Some of the 27 parks the picnic table will be in are: Kew Gardens, Sorauren Park, Withrow Park, Leslie Grove, Coronation Park, and Columbus Parkette.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming soon to a park near you: Nature inspired picnic tables in 27 parks throughout the downtown core and a mural at June Rowlands Park aimed at not only beautifying the neighbourhood, but to raise awareness about keeping a clean environment and respecting public space. Grade 12 art students from Central Tech were approached byContinue reading “Art in our parks: Benches and a mural by students”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,21759],"tags":[15096,15093,4606,15090,776,15097,15095,15098,15092,15089,15091,15087,15094,1448,1105,4091,19,15088,144],"class_list":["post-11312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-features","tag-arts-director","tag-benjamin-moore","tag-coordinator","tag-coral-life","tag-designer","tag-director-at-central-tech","tag-emily-harris","tag-greenwood-college-high-school","tag-kelly-silva","tag-leanne-mladen","tag-leslie-grove","tag-melissa-ma","tag-michael-porco","tag-paint","tag-spray-paint","tag-teacher","tag-toronto","tag-yafit-rokach","tag-youth-and-schools"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArt in our parks: Benches and a mural by students - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/05\/25\/art-in-our-parks-benches-and-a-mural-by-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Art in our parks: Benches and a mural by students - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Coming soon to a park near you: Nature inspired picnic tables in 27 parks throughout the downtown core and a mural at June Rowlands Park aimed at not only beautifying the neighbourhood, but to raise awareness about keeping a clean environment and respecting public space. 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