Well, today I took the kids out. I decided to go on the Sheppard subway line. This is a new addition to Toronto's underground transit. It opened up about a week ago and I wanted to see for myself where all of our tax dollars went...
I parked at Fairview Mall and hopped on there. The kids were all excited since I had told them that this was a new subway line. Whenever we go on the system we try to use the elevators. Now don't ask me why, I guess it's because once when the kids were babies and we were using strollers, elevatorts were a lifesaver. Now I just use them because they're there. Well they are very helpfull on the new line since the tunnels seem to be buried very deep into the earth. At Bayview station you had to go down 3-4 flights of stairs. Some of the escalators were out of service so we hit the elevators. I guess it's a good thing there are people using wheelchairs around since elevators would never be installed if not for them. That may sound cruel but it's true.
Now I wonder why that particular stretch of road was picked for the subway line. Considering that it cost so much money it really doesn't help alot. It's only a few stops (4). If it were to be useful it should at least stretch to the st.clair line in the west and the LRT in the east. Then it would be a very good congestion breaker. Now it's just a stub. Besides the areas sreved are upper class and they mostly drive everywhere anyway.
Fairview Mall (Don Mills station) was our entry point. The art in the station had a nature theme and the floor tiles and walls had animal tracks and animal silouettes. The art concept for Don Mills Station reflects the geology, soil conditions and water table of the ground in the area of the Sheppard subway. Specifically, the ground conditions are reflected in the tile pattern on the walls and in the terrazzo pattern in the floor in combination with approximately 300 large scale bronze inlays of local floral and fauna cast into the wall and floors. There are also numbers cast into the floor. Don't ask me why.
Riding on the actual cars was cool. The kids wanted to sit right up front of course and we were surrounded by several other tunnel gazers. We arrived at Leslie station and we noticed that every tile on the wall said Sheppard & Leslie. As if we didn't know. Closer examination revealed that each tile was handwritten and were all unique. Apparently more than 5,300 handwriting samples were collected from the public, from which 3,000 were selected and have been turned into the tiles for the station.
We hopped back on and got off at Bessarion Station. The station has b&w pictures of people on the walls. Backs of heads and lots of feet. The art concept involves silk screening photographs of the feet, hands, and backs of peoples heads on to ceramic tiles. The ceramic tiles (image in black, on grey tiles, with occasional vibrant colours) are mounted in "friezes" at eye level. The platform area involves friezes of "backs of heads", the concourse area, friezes of "feet" and the stairs/escalators to street involve friezes of "hands". The art concept is complemented by pale yellow background tiles, red tile columns and sandy coloured floor materials.
I guess you can't show actual faces of people because you might get sued right? Or worse they would want a pay-out. Photographing people has become tabu in our society. Why? I can't bring my camera to my daughters skating lessons. God forbid if someone elses face is in there. I also can't snap a pic of my daughter learning to swim. No pictures at wading pools or beaches either. Well, you can take pictures... as long as no-one catches you...
I liked Bayview Station because of the interesting artwork. I used to do this when I was a kid. I would draw elongated images and words on paper which would make no sense when viewed straight on but if viewed at an angle would look fine. This is the same at Bayview Station. When viewed from an angle, the art images are seen clearly, but evolve into something different as one walks by them, by virtue of being stretched and distorted when integrated into the wall and floor finishes. The images, appear on the walls, floor and columns throughout the station. Art images are black linework with panels of red, blue, green and yellow against the warm, light coloured station finishes.
Finally Sheppard-Yonge Station draws on it's imagery from the farms and fields surrounding northern parts of Yonge street. A series of 150 panoramic photos have been seamlessly blended together to form a single image that wraps around the interior station walls. While waiting for a train, you will be surrounded by images of fields, trees, rocks, water and the occasional building, as seen from Yonge Street. Special software was used to create the proper color for each individual tile. It's like someone used photoshop and clicked on pixelate function. Each pixel is a tile. At a distance, the thousands of individual tiles form the landscape image.
Well after our last stop we hopped on the boring old Yonge line and went south to downtown T.O. There we waged war and battled it out between the Christmas shoppers...
"Now I wonder why that particular stretch of road was picked for the subway line."
I wonder the same thing. You're right, it IS in an upper class area. It would've been a hell of a lot more useful going west from Wilson or Eglinton West stations. I'm of two minds what to think of this. The acquired "Anglo" mindset educated into me says this is typical government "fubar". However, my ancestral suspicious conspiracy-theory mongering Greek persona says "Ach, Ee plousi ta echoun ola dika tous" (The rich get everything their own way)
Michael,
Just wanted to say THANKS for taking photos and hope you didn't get caught.
I have been searching for photos of the sheppard line art work for the last two hours from here down under. Your posting has provided the best images so far, not to mention a bit of a personal commentary which is interesting.
Cheers from Australia.
Victoria
