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.

Yonge + St. Clair is a community that takes pride in the sophisticated – exquisite food, contemporary art, and refined culture. While art and culture is constantly getting better in the neighbourhood, it’s important to appreciate the contemporary work that’s here, now. Last weekend, Yonge + St. Clair’s own Muse Gallery held their opening for Canadian Contemporary Artist Su Sheedy’s solo show “Quiet Out Loud.”

Su Sheedy was born and raised in Toronto and has lived in Kingston, Ontario since 1992. She began painting full time in 2001 and since then has marshalled her fascination with surface effects into a substantial art practice.

Sheedy has always had a great deal of interest in the preservation of the Canadian wetlands, which can be seen across all of her previous painting series titled Marsh, Pond, Bog, and Lichen. Her abstracts appear to be a lush blend of wildflowers, vines, grasses and reeds with patches of water or even snow. Su Sheedy’s works are anything but typical paintings – they have a frenetic energy that is calmed and restrained by her use of natural beeswax and tree resin. The translucence of the beeswax and her dynamic colour range engages the viewer like the 3D atmosphere of a backlit aquarium.

“I began the Pond series in 2009 as a homage to the wetlands near my home in Kingston, Ontario. My painting process is instinctual, spontaneous and quite physical. Rich layers of pigmented beeswax are gouged into, poured, and torched creating rowdy and random markings.”

Twenty years a registered massage therapist, Sheedy remains interested in cellular memory, sensory perception, and our visceral response to texture. Her works reside all across Canada and she has been Chief Hanger and Adjudicator in several Art Exhibitions.

‘Quiet Out Loud’ is open at the Muse Gallery until October 13^th.

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.