Public art has the ability to make a neighbourhood better. It can even elevate its profile by taking underutilized public space and transforming it into something that helps shape the definition of a community. Yonge + St. Clair is lucky to have a collection of public artworks that not only stay true to the history of the intersection, but display the neighbourhood’s evolution towards the modern and the contemporary.

Earlier this summer, NOW Toronto released a list of 50 of the city’s best-kept secrets, focusing primarily on the murals, buildings, monuments, and landmarks around Toronto. Yonge + St. Clair had four works make the list: The Rosehill Reservoir, the St. Clair Mural, the Peter Pan Sculpture at St. Clair and Avenue Road, and the Story of Oils mural in the lobby of Imperial Plaza.

Those four pieces are excellent representations of the public artwork that has been present around Yonge + St. Clair for almost 150 years, but are just the tip of the iceberg. What other art is hidden around the area?

MOTHER AND CHILD, 32 HEATH STREET 

Yonge + St. Clair is home to a collection of pieces by renowned Canadian sculptor Florence Wyle, a resident in the area. Her 1947 piece, Mother and Child, was commissioned by the Canadian Mothercraft Society and sits outside their building on Heath St. Additionally, at the northeast corner of St. Clair Avenue East and Mount Pleasant Road is Loring and Wyle Park, dedicated to the two sculptors, who for many years had a studio established in the area.

RECLINING FIGURE, 95 ST. CLAIR WEST 

Outside of 95 St. Clair West rests a figure mounted in a horizontal position, lying on it’s back, and cut off at the knees with the barest stumps for arms. Commissioned by Imperial Life Insurance, the Reclining Figure was produced in 1967 by Canadian sculpture John Fillion and adds a compelling masculine presence to the street.

RELIEF FIGURES, 200 BALMORAL AVENUE 

Latvian born, Canadian sculptor Augusts Kopmanis was commissioned by the St. John’s Latvian Lutheran Church to produce this piece in 1968. This hidden sculpture is one of the most dynamic pieces around Yonge + St. Clair – the figures are initially only etched into the stone, but as the people become younger and more vigorous, they are given more depth until they penetrate the stone completely and acquire three dimensions.

SAILS, 22 ST. CLAIR EAST

Prominently placed between two flights of stairs leading up to the entrance of the Weston Centre, stands Sails by renowned Canadian sculptor, Gord Smith. This stainless-steel abstract welds three gleaming steel panels angled like sails on a boat that’s experiencing harsh winds. This 1981 abstract commemorates Garfield Weston and is one of only three prominent public sculptures in Toronto that honours an individual entrepreneur.

ELECTRIC GREEN, 75 ROSEHILL AVENUE

Over the years, the “Mysterious Date” faces by Toronto street artist Anser have become an unmistakable and irreplaceable part of the Toronto Street Art scene. Yonge + St. Clair has been home to his Electric Green piece since early 2014, being scrawled onto a small building across from the Rosehill Reservoir. Anser’s work shows an ability to meld “high art” portrait techniques into the contemporary graffiti scene, melding the old with the new.

Now only a few months old, the St. Clair Mural has become a staple to the atmosphere and energy of the Yonge + St. Clair community. Images of the mural dominate the intersection’s geo-tags on social media, and it has received international recognition and praise. It’s improving on what’s an already great contemporary scene growing in the community. Last week, one of the St. Clair Mural’s major collaborators, the STEPS Initiative, celebrated their 5^th Birthday on the rooftop patio of Yonge + St. Clair’s Scallywags with cake, music and live painting by local artist Nick Sweetman.

It was a rainy Thursday evening at Scallywags, but the atmosphere was light and jovial as key members of the project and the community came together to celebrate STEPS and the St. Clair Mural.

The STEPS Initiative is a Toronto-based charitable public arts organization that has become known for leveraging unlikely sites for cultural projects. “We enjoy working within the existing built form,” explains Alexis Kane Speer, founding director of STEPS, “working with the age and infrastructure of a space in areas that don’t typically hold cultural projects.”

One of those areas ended up being the western facing wall of 1 St. Clair East. “It’s all about how together we can leverage our built environment as a host to new cultural spaces and conversations,” continues Speer. “The conversation about this new cultural space at Yonge + St. Clair started when site partner Slate Asset Management recognized what they had in front of them – a giant blank canvas. They understood the role that public art plays in city building initiatives, and we feel fortunate that they decided to do so with STEPS.”

“They were incredible partners in making this project possible, and were supportive in every stage of this project’s development, including reaching out to their business partners in the area when we needed to garner additional sponsorship to make it possible.”

Alexis spoke often to how fortunate she felt towards all the supporters, artists, funders, and community partners STEPS had worked with over the years. “We felt very fortunate to have a great public response to this project when we set up tables in libraries and office lobbies to survey the community about what they wanted to see on that wall.”

When you take a closer look at the mural’s design, you will see recognizable Toronto landmarks like the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, and the Royal Ontario Museum, mixed with the A-frame architecture that is very characteristic of Yonge + St. Clair, and local businesses like Scallywags. The city’s vast green spaces and ravines are also illustrated in the form’s curvature, which are all reflections of what the community shared with STEPS by participating in community surveys.

“This mural is a perfect example of what’s possible when a strong public, private, and community partnership comes to life. It took over 10 months of hard, hard work to bring a design that is truly reflective of Yonge + St. Clair,” adds Speer.

“It is a step towards creating an identity for this neighbourhood and this city,” preached Ward 22 City Councillor Josh Matlow, who spoke at this event. “It’s the first step in showing the world that we are a creative, vibrant centre of arts and culture.”

Alexis was proud of how STEPS has evolved and changed the makeup of the city since its founding in 2011. “We have always been shamelessly attracted to challenges, especially ones that push ourselves and others in the cultural development and business sectors to think outside the box,” or in the St. Clair Mural’s case, the wall.

“So let’s allow art to do what art does best – start conversations, challenge the way we organize our community, and ask if there are other ways of building and maintaining our cities,” concludes Speer.

“It’s been a wild ride and we’re excited to see what the future holds for us.”

A few buckets of paint. Two paint brushes. Hundreds of spray cans. That’s what it took for UK street artist Phlegm to complete the massive 8-storey mural that now rests on the west side of 1 St. Clair West. It’s truly a sight to behold. From a distance, the 8-storey  human form can clearly be seen sitting back in a contemplative pose. But the power of the piece is in the details that slowly emerge as you draw closer. Let’s explore how the St. Clair mural came to be.

Phlegm is an anonymous street artist hailing from the United Kingdom’s own Steel City, Sheffield. Phlegm originally gained prominence through his ink drawings and comics that portrayed highly detailed figures and characters that drew the viewer in. It was not until he started painting his creatures as murals that he received more widespread fame. He has received worldwide recognition for his fantastical scenes of curious beasts, mystical contraptions, and shrouded figures. His pieces can be found all around the world – across England, Germany, Norway, Australia, and now, Toronto, Canada.

Over the course of just twenty-eight days Phlegm arrived to the site and painted from 8AM until the sun baked him and his assistant, Stephanie Bellefleur, off the wall. Phlegm would burn through around 10 spray paint cans a day, adding detail to the mural at a rapid pace while Bellefleur assisted with the logistics, such as working the swing stage, managing supplies, and providing an artistic second opinion when needed.

But how did this project come to be?

In partnership with the City of Toronto’s StreetARToronto program, the project was initially conceived and co-funded by Slate Asset Management, which owns all four corners at Yonge + St. Clair. Slate was looking for something big to kick off a campaign that will revitalize the neighbourhood and foster a new vibrant culture. “We saw a tremendous opportunity as the whole  area  had  been  overlooked –  we  didn’t  see  any  reason  for  that,”  said  Slate Managing Director, Lucas Manuel.

With StreetART, Slate also brought in award-winning public arts organization, the STEPS Initiative, to produce the public art landmark on the western wall of their 12–storey building. STEPS is a Toronto-based organization that allows citizens to take action in creating more vibrant and connected communities through what they call ‘public space ARTivism.’ CBRE, CIBC, Rexall, and Dulux paints also generously supported the project, with Ward 22 City Councillor Josh Matlow giving a strong endorsement. “Yonge and St. Clair is one of Toronto’s most desirable neighbourhoods, and creating a landmark piece of public art in collaboration with one of the world’s most influential street artists, reflects the area’s unique geography.”

In regards to the piece itself: “I chose to work with the human form because it’s really what the city is,” explained Phlegm during an interview with STEPS prior to the project “We view it from the inside as a small part looking out at this huge, almost unfathomable complex network. Like a body, a city has all its functions.” Phlegm sought out to create a piece that integrates the natural urban elements and lush landscape of the Yonge + St. Clair community as an important part of Toronto.  Amidst iconic Toronto landmarks like the CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum, and Gooderham Building, sits the local Yonge + St. Clair pub, Scallywags – a nod to the neighbourhood and the venue sitting right below the piece, with a direct view from their rooftop patio.

“Roads move through it like arteries.” Phlegm continues, “the geology of land informs the shape of the city like a skeleton. Buildings fill the space like skin and muscle. The movement of water and waste, the parks and green space like lungs.” With STEPS, Phlegm’s design was surveyed with extensive outreach to the Yonge + St. Clair community to help determine how the piece can best reflect the neighbourhood. The pensive figure is the collective result of hundreds of community input surveys, conducted both online and in person. With the addition of Toronto landmarks, the city’s extensive ravine system is also represented in the work.

“I like to imagine the huge population of a city, not just now but by everyone who has ever lived to make it what it is today,” finishes Phlegm. “A city is really just a mark left by all those billions of people that added to it and made it what it is.” And now Phlegm has left his mark on this city.

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To read more about the project, please visit the news section of YongeStClair.ca.