"The Wall" at the Medical Science Building

Just up the stairs visible to the right in yesterday's pic, you will find this incredible wall/sculpture of cast concrete. The arts budget of the Med Sci was spent on thousands of cast concrete panels cladding the exterior of the building and this section has to be the best! By artist Robert Downing it was part of his continuing 'cube' series and was installed in 1967 as part of the building's construction.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year - enjoy, be safe, and prosper! Thanks for all the wonderful comments throughout the year and "hurray" to all.

"Helix of Life"

This cast concrete sculpture by Canadian artist Ted Bieler is located in front of the Medical Sciences Building at the U of Toronto. The wonderful Brutalist Med Sci building was completed in 1969 and this sculpture referencing DNA was installed in 1971 - a perfect location! I have shown some of Bieler's sculpture before - to see it click here.

Ceiling From Soldiers' Tower

If you walk through the open arches in yesterday's pic of the tower and look up - this is the wonderful ceiling detail which you will discover. The craftsmanship is incredible - it probably couldn't be done today as so many of these old skills have been lost! Pity!

Soldiers' Tower

This is the tower which is visible to the left in yesterday's pic. It is Soldiers' Tower a bell and clock tower built in 1924 to commemorate members of the University who served in the world wars. The bell tower contains a carillon of 51 bells and the pinnacles of the tower are in the midst of a 4 year repair program to fight off the results of our extreme weather conditions. Unfortunately I cut off the tops of the pinnacles in the pic - the sun was so bright on my viewer that I really couldn't see the image - sorry!

Hart House

Thought that I should show a pic of the Hart House building itself since I have shown so much of the art work in and around it. Established in 1919, the Greek-Revival style building was designed by architect Henry Sproatt to function as a student activity centre. It has extensive facilities - gym. swimming pool, archery , theatre, art gallery, lounges, music rooms, restaurants. and more. Unfortunately until 1972 it was only open to men - the feminist movement at the University put an end to that!

"Rune" at Hart House

It was cold but sunny this morning (-7C) so I decided to go out for some pics at U of Toronto. This is yet another piece from Hart House and it was installed in 2001 near one of the wonderful doors into the lower level. By artists Randy and Berenicci it was originally created in 1986 as one piece but was later altered and installed here as 2 large pieces and 1 tiny piece that doesn't show in the pic too well. The work was meant to be a temple to the age of information - quite suitable for a university setting!

Vintage Christmas

A pic of one of the antique decorations from my mum's tree. This is my favourite of the birds! Merry Christmas to all!