As part of our ‘Riverside 40 Years, 40 Stories’ series, we’re sharing the story of Riverside’s first mural, simply named ‘Welcome to Riverside’. This story showcases Riverside’s pride and its passionate community spirit. Read on for its story and check out a short narrated video here.
Toronto’s Riverside Business Improvement Area (BIA) is well known as a diverse community with strong support for a variety of eclectic public art initiatives. After many decades as ‘Queen-Broadview Village’, the decision was made to re-brand and revert to its original roots as ‘Riverside’ (the area’s namesake since the 1880s). As part of its efforts to re-introduce this identity and promote the new brand, the BIA commissioned its first mural: the “Welcome to Riverside” mural in 2012.
Painting the 10 panels for the 20 x 16 ft mural (Photo Credit: ArT ExploratioN General Contracting)
The mural art was designed by Toronto artist Jessie Durham, an alumnus of OCAD, and was inspired by Part 1 of Time and A Clock by Eldon Garnet which was previously commissioned by the BIA and the City of Toronto to sit atop the Queen Street bridge with the phrase “This River I Step In Is Not The River I Stand In”. Artist Melissa Luk who was a fan of Jessie Durham’s work, was commissioned to paint the design onto 10 large wooden panels in order to create the 20’ x 16’ mural with the assistance of several other local artists including Emanuel Ciobanica, Shira Haberman, Andrea Manica and Nicole D’Amario.Painting the 10 panels for the 20 x 16 ft mural (Photo Credit: ArT ExploratioN General Contracting)
At the time, Perry Lupyrypa, the former Riverside Executive Director shared: “Riverside BIA was thrilled to be awarded a grant from the City of Toronto Economic Mural Program. This mural is the first part of the beautification plan for the westerly side of the BIA, in preparation for the 2015 Pan Am Games, when the eyes of the world will be on Riverside”.
Melissa’s feelings about public art were very clearly expressed in Rebecca Field’s article that was published on November 15, 2013 on Toronto.com when she said, “It’s so easy — it opposes the idea that art can only stay in the gallery, art is only for people who have the time and the money to experience it. It’s this thing that can be out in the open. It can be this wild, free part of your everyday environment.”
Panels of the Welcome to Riverside Mural (Photo Credit: ArT ExploratioN General Contracting)
The Riverside community was also invited to contribute to the creation of the mural during the Eats & Beats StreetFEST on June 1, 2013. During the festival, the neighbourhood came together to paint words, pictures or abstract marks on the mural that answered the question: “What makes Riverside special?”. The mural was then completed and weatherproofed before being unveiled on the wall of 742 Queen Street East on October 26th, 2013.
Unveiling the Welcome to Riverside Mural in 2013 at 742 Queen Street East (Pictured: at left, mural artist Melissa Luk & former Riverside BIA Executive Director Perry Lupyrypa).
The choice of location for this mural that was to be the reintroduction of the Riverside identity, was an important one. It’s interesting to note that at one point, the mural was to be installed on the wall of 106 Broadview Avenue which was, at the time, home to the infamous Jilly’s. Although this venue has since been transformed to the popular and upscale Broadview Hotel, it might have been an intriguing home for this “welcoming” mural. The final decision was made to install the mural on the east facing wall of 742 Queen Street East where indents were made to the mural in order to be accommodated on that wall.
In 2017, a request by the property owner was made to rehome the mural and after an intensive search for a suitable wall, the west facing wall of 651 Queen Street East was chosen. The mural panels were then disassembled and reassembled by the same team that had originally mounted them.
Reinstalling the Welcome to Riverside mural panels on the wall of 651 Queen Street East
The Mural’s new home at 651 Queen Street East (Photo Credit: Lana Malykh)
Fun fact: The Welcome to Riverside Mural was featured by the TTC as part of its neighbourhood art series on the February 2018 Metropass!
Welcome to Riverside Mural on the TTC’s February 2018 Metropass
Today, the Welcome to Riverside Mural is just one of the many incredible stops on the Riverside Public Art Self-Guided Walk as well as a feature on the Riverside Virtual Public Art Tour that showcases the incredible diversity of art in the Riverside BIA (both tours are easily accessible from the comfort of home). Be sure to check out some of the other stops on these tours!
The ‘Riverside BIA 40 Years, 40 Stories’ Series is part of how we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of this incredible neighbourhood of community-builders.
The ‘Riverside BIA 40 Years, 40 Stories’ Series is part of how we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of this incredible neighbourhood of community-builders.