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About the neighbourhood: a favour for our furry friends.
We were sauntering along Queen Street West a couple of days ago, enjoying the brand-new sunshine, when we noticed–in front of a store called Heel Boy, near Trinity-Bellwoods Park–this delighted little dog, munching happily at the bone-shaped biscuits and lapping …
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The Little Bed That Could.
Given this expedient age’s tendency to throw everything away and buy new, we think it’s refreshing that TEB Interiors–whose principal, Terry Edward Briceland designed the Art Condos model suites–took on the refurbishing of this elderly settee. Seeing the object as …
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Design We Love – Venice Chairs
These exquisite, custom-made, classical Venice chairs from Industrial Storm somehow manage to epitomize both modernist severity and economy of line with with a luxurious sense of timeless, old-world comfort. The chairs come in two models (one slightly larger than the …
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Art We Love: Julie Jenkinson – 36 Hours in Uruguay
Designer Julie Jenkinson runs the micro-shop called Verso, tucked into the rear of Inabstracto on Queen StreetWest. Last year she spent three months in South America, thirty-six hours of which were spent in Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.It… -
About the Neighbourhood – TYPE Books.
In an age in which the book seems always to be under threat, Type Books seems more and more a welcome, even life-saving oasis of literacy. The wit and charm of Type is exemplified right away in its outdoor sign–an… -
ART WE LOVE: Two Door Mats by Gerald Ferguson
Halifax-based conceptual artist Gerald Ferguson (1937-2009) always did everything he could to avoid making beautiful paintings—but ended by making them anyhow, almost against his will. One of his ploys was to distance himself as much as possible from the actual …
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MONDO CONDO: TERRY EDWARD BRICELAND: PILLOW TALK
Terry Edward Briceland , the young designer who begat the Art Condos model Suites, runs a company called TEB Interiors alongside his business parter, Matthew Adams. Although they are now launching a line of beds and other ambitious objects, TEB …
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MONDO CONDO: The ART Condos Model Suites.
Everybody knows that no matter how well-designed a space may be, it looks a lot warmer, spacious and therefore, a lot more enjoyable when it’s furnished.
A condo unit may have vast windows that let the natural light pour in, …
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ART Condos About The Building – Oleson on Terraces
It was a moment of what you might call architectural narcissism that compelled us to take yet another photo of the almost completed Art Condos building. After which, we emailed the building’s architect, David Oleson, asking him if he would …
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Art We Love: Shayne Dark “Bough Laden with Fluorescent Orange”
During the last couple of years, Sculptor Shayne Dark–who lives in the country near Sydenham, Ontario and who maintains a large studio in Kingston, Ontario—has become one of Canada’s most prolific and successful makers of public sculpture. Up until recently,… -
About the Neighbourhood – “Taking A Stand” On Queen West
This caught our eye the other day. It struck us as arresting that in the simple act of putting a chair on top of a table,you could rob both objects of their original function and turn the whole structure… -
Design we love – Verso Contemporary Pendant Lamps.
As gorgeous as Industrial Storm’s hanging lights are, they are admittedly quite expensive. For those who don’t want to put quite so much into a lamp, there is this sleek alternative–at designer Julie Jenkinson’s Verso. These contemporary grey, steel, pendant …
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Art We Love – Steve Driscoll’s “CEDAR FALLS”
This prodigious, unreasonably beautiful painting is titled Cedar Falls. It’s huge (9 ‘; x 10), and glistens like a wet forest with the pigmented urethane with which it is painted.
The painting is by a young,Toronto-based painter named Steve Driscoll. …
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Art Condos ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD:
Just taking a stroll around the Art Condos neighbourhood, here’s our take on life in lovely West Queen West!You’ve Changed? So have we. So has the neighbourhood. So has everything.A cityscape of sunlight igniting the walls of the… -
Aphorism of the Week – Sweater is a Hug…
We spotted this cozy legend in the bus shelter at Ossington and Queen: A Sweater is a Hug You Wear All Day. So, in a way, is the perfect condo.Okay, it’s a sentimental idea, we admit it–but that doesn’t… -
Art Condos About the Neighborhood
Art Condos took a quick walk through the neighbourhood to check out some “found art”.
Graffiti grows up. This slickly professional-quality portrait graces the outside north wall (a few feet down the alley) ofthe David Kaye Gallery at… -
ARTCONDOS: ART WE LOVE JOY by Kai Chan.
We dropped into the nearby David Kaye Gallery the other day to see new work by the celebrated Chinese-Canadian artist Kai Chan. Chan, who was born in China in 1940 and has lived in Toronto since 1966, is the recipient …
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Around the Neighbourhood.
A baroque refuse container outside the Gladstone Hotel
A Queen Street Greeting
Cabbages and Kings
The Art of Street Life
Last Roses of Summer…
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Design We Love – Industrial Storm
These exquisitely designed and crafted hanging lamps from Sterling and Son, New York–and available at Toronto’s Industrial Storm–feature glass canopies and metal liners. The lamps come in three sizes, with diameters of 18 inches, 23.25 inches and 31 inches. …
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Art We Love – Thrush Holmes
The lyrically named Thrush Holmes (yes, it’s his real name!) is not what you’d call a repressed painter. This gigantic work–about as big as a Still Life painting ever gets–is 84″ x 180,” and is emblazoned with the artist’s trademark …
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Art We Love -Verso’s Battered First Aid Boxes
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David Oleson on Art Condos Facade Design
For our previous two chats with Art Condos architect David Oleson, we discussed a few basic design issues pertaining to the new building. Topics covered include overall design decisions, the building’s use of glass, ideas about the look …
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Art we love: Roland Brener’s Swinger
Among the many remarkable works in the current summer exhibition at the Olga Korper Gallery is a piece by the late Roland Brener (1942-2006) called Swinger. Swinger began in 1999, as a hand-built, laminated plywood figure of a standard-issue businessman …
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Mabel’s bakery finds a new home on Queen West
Mabel’s Bakery at 323 Roncesvalles Avenue has been an oasis of great baked goods and specialty foods for about four years now. About six weeks ago, owner Lorraine Hawley opened a second Mabel’s–at 1156 Queen street West. It will be …
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Design we love: Lotte lamps at INabstracto
We dropped in to INabstracto a few days ago to chat with owner Kate Eisen, and it was only when we were leaving that we noticed the delicious still-life she had made from grouping five Lotte lamps together on a …
