Toronto+Vancouver City of Labyrinths Project

Yeeeeaaahhhh….

This was kinda weird.

I really did not want to have my picture taken like this, yet I didn’t feel I had any choice.

You might be able to tell that by the look on my face.

Reflecting on it,

This was the perhaps the first time I had a Vancouver experience here in my hometown of Toronto.

In Vancouver I kept silently wondering to myself “What Planet Am I On?” as I had one positive experience after another after another with Vancouver Police Officers.

Vancouver Bicycle Cops would stop and thank me for making Chalk Labyrinths all around VanCity, one even wanted to simply shake my hand, that was at the TaiwanFest on Granville.

Other times, Vancouver Police would LOAN ME TRAFFIC PYLONS and even move them into place and direct traffic around my Labyrinths while in progress and then once completed.

Again, that permanent question “What Planet Am I On?” persisted in me as every time that happened, I had to, almost as a necessary “Must”, contrast my Labyrinth Making encounters between Toronto’s Cops and Vancouver’s.

On this Pedestrian Sunday,

I again asked myself, “What Planet Am I On?” but this time, it was IN Toronto, NOT Vancouver.

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A post shared by Bill Jung (@thetorontocop)

Saturday Afternoon spent chalking three Labyrinths in and around the Central Playground of Brampton’s Chinguacousy Park.

I was so focused on making the Labyrinths,

I only took a few photographs.

And altogether forgot to take any photographs of my third Labyrinth, a pass-through baltic design closer to the spray pad area.

It was that time of day,

Before the photographer’s Golden Hour when natural lighting is at its best for image captures,

When long shadows make it challenging to properly photograph the Labyrinths I draw in chalk on the ground.

So I only took two more less than satisfactory photographs to simply remember and remind myself of the day.

People walking the Labyrinths came in waves, when one would walk, many then followed.

Perhaps as many teens and grown-ups walked them as the total number of children who kept returning to re-walk them.

I lost track of time and was mostly in the moment.

Making Labyrinths has become my Mindfulness practice as much as walking Labyrinths.

Around the largest of the afternoon’s three Labyrinths,

I chalked the word for Labyrinths in a number of Brampton’s most spoken Languages.

Somehow the late afternoon rays of sunlight peeking through the trees and landing upon my multi-colour chalk Labyrinth,

Looks very much like the colours of sunlight passing through the stained glass windows of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, as it illuminated the Labyrinth inside the Church.

Image I took of the Labyrinth inside Grace Cathedral in SF back in 2013.

“The Search for the Center explores the history and cultural significance of Mazes and Labyrinths around the world throughout time.

Examples range from 5000 BC and Greek mythology to current day religious and ceremonial uses in various cultures.”

Today is Day 26 of Ramadan 2020.

This video is from my journey to Madinah, Saudi Arabia in May/June of 2011.

I was walking from my youth hostel to visit Masjid Qiblatain.

Masjid Qiblatain is known for having two Mihrabs, or Prayer Niches.

Originally,

Muslims had faced north west from Madinah towards Masjid Al Aqsa in Jerusalem when praying.

A time came when the Direction of Prayer, the Qibla, was turned south east towards Makkah.

Hence,

The Masjid with Two Qibla.

En route,

A traffic island in the distance somehow caught my curiosity.

Alhumdulillah,

A Triangle Topiary Hedge Labyrinth !

Discovering this was a HUGE moment for me.

Muslims in The Holy City of Madinah were also making Labyrinths !

Afterwards,

I found a a small playground near Masjid Qiblatain.

In that park,

I outlined a simple three lane Classic Labyrinth in the sand and walked it.

Turning north and south and east and west.

Not unlike the Turn in Congregational Prayer Direction from Jerusalem to Makkah in the Masjid I was about to enter and visit.

“Have you seen the cool new markings in Mahon Park?

“We’ve installed our very first Labyrinth.

“Over the next few weeks, the grass will grow, highlighting the circular paths.

“The Cascadia Society will be using it as a therapy tool, but it’s there for all to enjoy.

– City of North Vancouver.”

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“Supposedly back in the Viking days there were many of these rock mazes by sea shores to trap evil spirits.

Here’s how they worked:

A Viking slowly walked in the maze.

His evil spirit followed him in.

The Viking then started speeding up and running and eventually ran out of the maze.

Because bad spirits didn’t move as fast, they were trapped in the maze.

The Viking is then ready to go to sea spirit-free.”

– Kirsi Rebekka Halme

In Toronto, parents and grandparents bring their Little Ones and their push-bikes to waterless Wading Pools to teach them how to ride a bike.

The Lines I paint in Toronto’s Wading Pools then double-purpose the Wading Pools into Labyrinths, which then triple-purposes them as Bike-Riding teaching spaces.

Though this Labyrinth I re-painted in East Vancouver is on a flat surface and not a concave wading pool, Little Ones are learning how to ride their bikes using them all the same . . .

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The latest biker in the family 🤘🏻

A post shared by Justin Meade (@baconstripsxx) on Nov 18, 2016 at 5:06pm PST

I wonder if my repainting of this Labyrinth changed its Soundscape . . . ?

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A post shared by Jenn (@jennbunns) on Sep 16, 2016 at 3:58pm PDT

The Labyrinth I recently Re-painted in East Vancouver.

The Labyrinth Maker’s house is in the background. He painted it white.

I did not know anything about the Labyrinth nor its Maker until he walked out of his house and said hello while I was repainting.

His name is Jerry. A grandfather, who for several years now, with help from a grandkid of his has annually repainted this Labyrinth with white paint.

He hadn’t yet gotten around to doing that this year.

He was happy that I had taken it upon myself to Re-paint the fading white design lines.

Strathcona Linear Park is a 1970s consequence of the City of Vancouver tearing down three houses in a north-south direction on Hawkes Avenue, in anticipation of the never-completed Project 200 Freeway.

Eventually, Jerry got tired of seeing this patch of paved grey in Linear Greenspace beside his house, and he painted his Labyrinth.

His chosen design comes from the Canvas Labyrinth belonging to Christchurch Cathedral in Downtown Vancouver.

Jerry, seem uncomfortable whenever I said it was his Labyrinth. He said it belonged to everyone.

Including me, the Labyrinth Maker from Toronto who took it upon himself to repaint it . . .

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New paint on the labyrinth 🙂 #labyrinth #strathcona

A post shared by Sobey Wing (@sobeyone) on Sep 3, 2016 at 12:15pm PDT

And those would be my paint cans as I stepped back and took a break while this image was taken . . .

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The labyrinth got a colourful new makeover in time for the New Moon in Virgo tomorrow 🌙 #labyrinth #strathcona #vancity #eastvan

A post shared by Ceri Dwen (@ceri.dwen) on Aug 31, 2016 at 8:42pm PDT

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It’s Care-Free Weekend in North Vancouver!

Just found out about it at the last minute and found my way there…

Very much a Pedestrian Sundays Vibe with a GIANT Waterslide running downhill.

Found an empty intersection and chalked a late-in-the-day Labyrinth.

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Exploring East Vancouver, I walked far enough east along Hastings Avenue, passing Boundary Road and wound up in Burnaby.

Exploring side streets introduced me to Confederation Park. It’s huge and Multi-Purpose.

Found an empty spot of asphalt in the middle of a playground. Took my time with measurements and the result was a nice 11 Lane Chalk Labyrinth.

Was told it’s an Italian Neighbourhood, however seven children from two French speaking families kept hanging around me whilst I was making the Labyrinth.

Initially felt this was a Francophone neighbourhood. Not unlike the feeling I got when hanging out Vanier, the French speaking pocket of Ottawa.

It was HOT today, I am so thankful for working water fountains, both to re-hydrate and to wash my post-chalk-Labyrinth-making powdered hands.

Kids kept asking if this was the only day I was here to make the Labyrinth. “Yeah”, I told them. That answer made them sad.

Now I have to go back… and maybe next time I’ll bring along some paint and a brush or two.

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Chalked an 11 Lane Labyrinth in MacLean Park in the Strathcona Neighbourhood of East Vancouver.

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I visited Glen Park, in an East Vancouver Neighbourhood I was familiar with back when I was here in 1996.

Encountering such a huge wide patch of asphalt was too tempting to leave alone.

Out popped the chalk, up sprang a Labyrinth, round and round the children ran.

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