Grange Park Labyrinth, an important part of Downtown Toronto’s Grange Park !
Great mid day walk through of Grange Park with members of GPAC and GCA discussing challenges and opps #TOpoli #ward20 pic.twitter.com/VFS3KHOOwn
— Anshul Kapoor (@Anshul_K) August 26, 2014
My Original colours of the Labyrinth in Grange Park were Blue and White with squares of Black.
The Blue was meant to match the Blue of the Giant Wall of the Frank Gehry addition to The Art Gallery of Ontario.
The White and Black was to match the White and Black of the Giant Floating Shoebox in the Sky of the Ontario College of Art and Design.
Both The AGO and OCAD were line of sight when standing in or around my Grange Park Labyrinth.
So the matching colour scheme seemed to reveal itself.
That was Winter and Spring.
It’s now the middle of Summer.
The Green Leaves of the growing trees have naturally veiled the line of sight between the Grange Park Labyrinth and the OCAD Shoebox.
So why not paint the Labyrinth using Orange to match the Giant Plastic Tube Slide on the Playground, which IS still visible, even from a child’s height!
Courtney walking the Labyrinth I painted on Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market on Pedestrian Sunday . . .
And with the water turned on, The Wading Pool Labyrinth becomes a Wading Pool again . . .
There are five multi-coloured Classic Labyrinths I first painted on Easter Sunday 2009 along the pathway beside the ice hockey rink in the north-east corner of Trinity-Bellwoods Park, Toronto.
The five Labyrinths are 3, 7, 3, 11 and 3 Lanes respectively.
Together,
They comprise what I call The “Trinity-Bellwoods Park Labyrinth Walk”.
This is the 7 Lane Classic Labyrinth at the south end of The Walk . . .
Cool new (a-"maze"-ing) street art in the market @ Kensington Market http://t.co/X3t5CKrVYo
— Ben Pelchat (@benpelchat) October 29, 2013
The Heavyweights Brass Band performing atop the Labyrinth I painted on Kensington Avenue just south of Fitzroy Terrace during the Hallowe’en edition of Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market, Toronto. . .
When curious young people hover around my Labyrinths-in-Progress, I often invite them to participate.
Was fun painting this Pedestrian Sunday Labyrinth with these two Future Artists.
The Grange Park Labyrinth has been in need of re-repainting for well into two full summers. It’s become one of this project’s most popular and well walked Labyrinths anywhere in the city.
Most of the north-south circuits had become barely visible, making Labyrinth walking almost impossible for all but a few people who already knew the path or could glean a few faded paint drops still in place. No joy.
It’s Thanksgiving Saturday, and I finally found the time and empty work space to make the restoration. Many regular park people are away this long weekend, plus the water main construction crew are also off the clock. They’ve been working all around the labyrinth, ripping up and repouring concrete, but not quite touching the labyrinth itself.
A few quick photograph panoramics for the Before shot, and after that, painting for the next hour…
Previously, the circuits were blue and white.
Blue in deference to the Giant Blue Wall of the Art Gallery of Ontario facing the park.
The white painted circuits were always intended to have squares and rectangles in the colour black, to match the Shoebox building next door up in the sky above the original OCAD Building.
But, I never got around to painting in those few black squares in all my previous repaintings of this labyrinth.
To speed things up this weekend, I made an editorial decision to only paint it in one colour. So for the moment, this is a white only labyrinth. When I next have time, I’ll come back with blue and black and hopefully, finally, paint the Grange Park Labyrinth as I had always intended.
With ALL circuits repainted now, it’s ready for you all to walk.
Enjoy your New Grange Park Labyrinth!
“Toronto councillors should approve new island park hedge maze”
Thursday June 20 2013
“There’s no reason for city councillors to hedge their bets in considering a new shrubbery maze proposed for Toronto Island Park.
It won’t cost the city anything to build thanks to the intervention of William Meany,
An entrepreneur offering to cover the $200,000 cost in exchange for naming rights.
And money to maintain it is already in the 2013 budget.
The new cedar hedge Labyrinth would replace an old one that had baffled kids and adults on Centre Island for almost 50 years before being uprooted in 2012.
That earlier maze of eastern cedars fell victim to lack of sunlight after being literally overshadowed by surrounding trees.
It was deemed not worth maintaining.
In light of Meany’s amazing generosity,
The city’s parks committee on Monday should not hesitate to support a new Labyrinth.
It would be puzzling,
Indeed,
If councillors failed to find their way to that obvious solution.”
TO's labyrinth master @HiMYSYeD speaks to Parks & Environment cmt today. I see kids walking his labyrinths at Christie Pits daily.
— Mike Layton (@m_layton) January 16, 2014
There’s a Day Care inside University Settlement House immediately east of my Labyrinth.
Children from the Day Care often play and enjoy the Labyrinth I painted in Grange Park, Downtown Toronto . . .
In the rain, my Grange Park Labyrinth remains walkable . . .