Corktown, eh? What's in a name?
Corktown got it's name as follows (from Wikipedia): the neighbourhood's name derives from its origins in the early 19th century as an Irish ethnic enclave, particularly for Irish emigrants from County Cork, though some say the presence of a distilleries, breweries and cork-stopper manufacturers in the vicinity may have secured the nickname.
Saturday's Globe & Mail ran an article about street art (graffiti and beyond). There was a picture which accompanied the article and it was rather arresting. I knew exactly where the picture was taken as it was only a two minute saunter from the locale of my Corktown ukulele lesson. I was early for my lesson this Monday so I wandered over to the street art locale with my (un)trustworthy p&s (point and sh_t) camera. What you see as today's image is only part of what I saw.
This was not a random act of art. The City of Toronto hired an artist to paint murals on a rather ugly underpass. The results are quite stunning and they go a long way towards turning us into Philadelphia.
Huh? Why would we want to be Philadelphia? I was there once and I thought it sucked!
The Globe article singled out Philadelphia as the one city in North America that leads the way for planned and authorized street art. Who knew? I happen to love graffiti but I fully understand that it's usually/often an illegal act. Just as there is beauty in a storm, there is also aftermath. Cities like Philadelphia and Toronto are actively trying to channel street art into something planned and rejuvenating. In Corktown, they hit a home-run.
If you'd like to read more about the City of Toronto's street art endeavours, then here's a link to the Globe & Mail article that I read: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/the-new-face-of-street-art/article21710260/
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