Toronto+Vancouver City of Labyrinths Project

Fire in the Labyrinth !

The Sir Casimir Gzowski Park wading pool was my second labyrinth stop on this Thanksgiving Sunday 2011.

Having biked from Howard Junior Public School after experiencing their Species of The Humber Watershed playground labyrinth, I was en route to Butterfly Park just west of the Humber River. The original intention for the day was to create a giant Butterfly shaped labyrinth design. It has been on my mind for the past two summers, and today I finally made the time.

Watching a mother and son walk my wading pool labyrinth brought a smile to my face. Looking over to children climbing the nearby playground equipment, my eyes were drawn to the empty spot on the beach immediately south of the boardwalk.

As often happens in my labyrinth building, serendipity takes over and something else, somewhere else gets built first.

Only a moment was needed to decide to abandon plans for the Butterfly Labyrinth. Maybe it will get done next summer? Or the summer after that?

…I began measuring, then outlining circles in the sand… More Photos

” Wading pool maze/confused pigeon ”

Growing up in Toronto, one invariably will travel the subway system. For years, just east of the Victoria Park station, I would spot this wading pool in the park officially known as Prairie Drive Park but most people think of it as the south end of Warden Woods.

I always thought of the many thousands of people who look through the window of the subway train, and see this empty circle of concrete.

In May 2007, I finally got around to painting a labyrinth there. The circuits are white and I used a thin paint brush. Those choices made it less easy to identify from the distance of a speeding train what it is than I would have liked. More Photos

Following creating the labyrinth in the wading pool in Christie Pits Park over the weekend, I found myself thinking about creating a more permanent labyrinth in the Kensington Market neighbourhood.

I have been painting labyrinths for most of the Pedestrian Sundays for the past 6 years, but they are on the streets. With wear and tear from vehicle traffic, they don’t have the permanence that a car-free location can have.

Wading pool still being top of mind, I biked to the Market, eyed the wading pool there and spent time dowsing around where the entrance might be. I did my usual step measuring by shoe length and oddly realized both the Bellevue Square and Christie Pits Park wading pools are about the same size.

The above photo is from earlier in the day, on Simcoe Day Holiday Monday. I was quite beat from the day before and spent triple the time simply chalking out the design.

Shortly before I began to paint, Dylan, from spacing popped by to check out the progress in person. He was rather amazed to learn the length in and then out of the labyrinth verges on walking a kilometer and a half. More Photos

The Christie Pits Park Wading Pool Splash Pad Labyrinth is now done.

The circuits are painted in azure blue and royal purple with 10 undefined rectangular spots for future artwork, designs, secret messages or whatever. I doubt I will do anything more with this one, so hopefully someone will fill in the empty spots with some wonderful unexpectedness. More Photos

This is the first labyrinth I had painted since before the TOStrike began near the end of June. The Christie Pits Park wading pool was renovated just in time to coincide with the beginning of the TOStrike.

A new splash pad feature has been installed by the private park contractor. It’s a red button thing that kids can press, and for anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes in length, like magic, water gushes into the air from the four or five hidden water jets.

A new green metal designed water fountain also replaces the old school pebble design. It sorta matches the metallicness of the splash pad red button thing.

The above photo shows the labyrinth painting in progress from Saturday afternoon.

Elsewhere in the Park, the garbage was being removed from the ice rink. The rink had served as a temporary garbage drop-off and open air landfill. The Friends of Christie Pits Park had opposed the use of any part of the park as a temporary dump site. More Photos