Toronto subway public art

This article catalogues public art on the Toronto subway. It lists public art installed at Toronto subway stations by subway line and station. More information may be found in the individual station articles.

Station  | Line  | Title  | Artist  | Description  | Photo

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College |  | Hockey Knights in Canada | Charles Pachter | Two-part installation depicting the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs squaring off from opposite sides of the subway tracks, with the Canadiens on the northbound side and the Leafs on the southbound side. The station served the Maple Leaf Gardens when it was the main hockey arena in Toronto.  |
Downsview Park |  | Spin | Panya Clark Espinal | Abstract circle-like figure viewable from a certain angle  |
Dundas |  | Cross Section | William McElcheran | Terracotta tile murals, located by the northwest entrance and along the under-platform crosswalk, depicting a vibrant urban scene of pets, shoppers, businessmen and other commuters  |
Dupont |  | Spadina Summer Under All Seasons | James Sutherland  | Two flower mosaics using thousands of pieces of glass built directly into the station's tiling reaching upward into a mezzanine  |
Eglinton West |  | Summertime Streetcar | Gerald Zeldin  | Two enamel murals depicting PCC streetcars facing each other  |
Finch |  | Crossroads | Kseniya Tsoy  | Mural painted outside the east side entrance between Finch and Bishop avenues  | Photo not available
Rhythm of Exotic Plants | Krystyna Sadowska | Sculpture displayed on the lower concourse level, outside the fare-paid area  |
Finch West |  | (untitled) | Bruce McLean  | Sculptured concrete supporting columns  |
Glencairn |  | Joy | Rita Letendre  | Station-length skylight consisting of panes of art colours inserted between two glass panels  |
Highway 407 |  | Sky Ellipse | David Pearl  | Multi-coloured glass panels for the subway platform skylights and bus terminal façade  |
Lawrence West |  | Spacing... Aerial Highways | Claude Breeze | Enamel tile mosaic depicting abstract wavy lines  |
Museum |  |  |  | Decorative columns resembling the Egyptian god Osiris, First Nations house posts, Doric columns found in the Parthenon, China's Forbidden City columns, and Toltec warriors  |
North York Centre |  | Top of the North Hill—1850s | Nicholas and Susana Graven  | Mural made of over 5000 pieces of glazed ceramic tile, on the northbound platform  |
Traffic at Yonge and Sheppard—1860s | Nicholas and Susana Graven  | Mural made of over 5000 pieces of glazed ceramic tile, on the southbound platform  |
Pioneer Village |  |  LightSpell | Tim Edler and Jan Edler  | 40 ceiling-suspended chandeliers to display 8 interactively-entered characters; artwork installed but not yet activated due to the TTC's concerns about offensive language, which is prohibited according to the TTC's 2009 revision of its By-law #1.  |
Queen |  | Our Nell | John Boyle | Painted murals at the platform level depicting Nellie McClung (a women's rights activist), William Lyon Mackenzie (first mayor of Toronto), and the former Simpson's and Eaton's department stores  |
Queen's Park |  |  | Ana Vilel  | A ceramic tile mural, displayed in the mezzanine, donated by the Government of Portugal and inspired by Portuguese exploration of the New World |
St. Clair West |  | Tempo | Gordon Rayner | Enamel mural depicting abstract stripes  |
The Commuters | Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky | Many large bronze snails clinging to the walls of a staircase leading down from the streetcar/bus platform; inspired by a children's book by Pierre Berton. The shells of the snails consist of various items lost by commuters.  |
Sheppard West |  | Boney Bus | John McKinnon  | Abstract bus shape made from giant aluminum beams and basalt "wheels"; located in front of the station.  |
Sliding Pi | Arlene Stamp | Large-scale mosaic along the curved wall of the stairway between the bus platform and the mezzanine  |
Spadina |  | Barren Ground Caribou | Joyce Wieland | Large quilt featuring caribou in a tundra landscape, located at the concourse level below the 85 Spadina Road entrance[1] |
K'san Village House Posts | Fedelia O'Brien, Murphy Green, Chuck Heit  | Large cedar wood carvings depicting an owl, a wolf and a hawk displayed on the ground level of the 6 Spadina Road entrance  |
Morning Glory | Louis de Niverville | Surreal enamel mural at the 85 Spadina Road entrance[2] |
Union |  | Zones of Immersion | Stuart Reid  | 166 large glass panels along the length of the platform depicting sketches of commuters  |
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre |  | Atmospheric Lens | Paul Raff Studio | Coloured mirrored panels and windows located on the domed ceiling  |
Wilson |  | Canyons | Ted Bieler  | Wall sculpture located at the mezzanine level  |
Wilson |  | Outside the Lines | Christine Leu and Alan Webb  | Seven painted steel sculptures, inspired by air shows hosted at Downsview Airport  |
York Mills |  | Breaking Ground | Laurie Swim  | Tapestry commemorating the 50th anniversary of a 1960 accident that killed five young Italian immigrant workers constructing a tunnel for a water main in Hoggs Hollow |
York University |  | Piston Effect | Jason Bruges Studio  | Glass panels that provide a black and white lighting display when a train passes  |
Coxwell |  | Forwards and Backwards | Jennifer Davis and Jon Sasaki  | Three-dimensional sculpted curtain, cast in polished reflective aluminum  |
Dufferin |  | Something Happens Here | Eduardo Aquino and Karen Shanski  | Colourful mosaics with metallic tiles featuring local logos, icons and historical references  |
Kennedy |  | A Sense of Place | Frank Perna  | Mural painted on the service road entrance; half of the mural was destroyed when the entrance was demolished in 2018  |
Ossington |  | Ossington Particles | Scott Eunson  | 800 stick-on coloured acrylic tiles arranged in clusters near stairways on the platform and mezzanine levels; evocative of Garrison Creek.  |
Pape |  | Source/
Derivations | Allan Harding MacKay  | Rectangular decorative panels on the platform and concourse levels depicting features of the station and of the neighbourhood  |
Runnymede |  | Anonymous Somebody | Elicser Elliott | Depictions of people in Bloor West Village |
Sherbourne |  | The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts | Rebecca Bayer  | Wall panels consisting of colourful mosaic ceramic tiles  |
Woodbine |  | Directions Intersections Connections | Marmin Borins  | Brightly coloured coated metal panels arranged in geometric patterns  |
Bayview |  | From Here Right Now | Panya Clark Espinal  | Shadows of common objects such as apples and ladders silk screened to the linoleum and walls framed by patches of coloured tile giving it a surreal look called trompe-l'œil[3][4] |
Bessarion |  | Passing | Sylvie Bélanger | Frieze of hands, feet, and backs of heads representing the users of the station with the images of heads at the platform level, feet at the concourse level, and hands along the stairs between the Sheppard Avenue north side entrance and the concourse  |
Don Mills |  | Before / after: 1997 / 2002 | Stephen Cruise  | Tilework on the concourse walls representing geologic strata with depictions of local flora and fauna  |
Bronze inlays in the terrazzo floor of the concourse and platform levels depicting fossils of fish, turtles, and leaves found on the site  |
Leslie |  | Ampersand | Micah Lexier | 17,000 ceramic tiles each with the hand-written words "Sheppard" and "Leslie" separated by a printed ampersand |
Sheppard–Yonge |  | Immersion Land | Stacey Spiegel | Mosaic composed of 1.5 million one-inch tiles developed from a digitized and pixelated blend of 150 photographs depicting lush landscapes, country homes, and rural scenes stretching along Yonge Street |

## See also

[edit]

* Ontario portal
* Transportation portal
* Visual arts portal

* List of public art in Toronto
* Toronto Subway (typeface)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Visitors to Toronto can see an example of her work by entering the Spadina subway station at 85 Spadina Road. The huge quilt titled "Barren Ground Caribou" which she produced in 1978 hangs there". Joyce Wieland. Northernstars. Archived from the original on 2011-09-11. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
2. ^ Eli McIlveen (March 17, 2010). "Art on the TTC". Transit Toronto. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
3. ^ McIlveen, Eli (December 17, 2006). "Art on the TTC". Transit Toronto. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
4. ^ Bow, James (April 18, 2007). "Subway Art by Serafin". Transit Toronto. Retrieved 2007-07-21.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Art in the Toronto subway at Wikimedia Commons
* Art on the TTC published by Transit Toronto

* v
* t
* e

Public art in Toronto

Works|

* 48th Highlanders of Canada Regimental Memorial
* Afghanistan Memorial
* Canadian Volunteer Monument
* Dr. William D. Young Memorial
* Dreaming
* Flight Stop
* Homeless Jesus
* Hours of the Day
* Large Two Forms
* Last Alarm
* Let the Oppressed Go Free
* Little Glenn
* Lower Simcoe Street underpass murals
* Megaptera
* Monument to Multiculturalism
* Monument to the War of 1812
* Neighbours
* Northwest Rebellion Monument
* Notre Place Monument
* Ontario Firefighters Memorial
* Ontario Police Memorial
* Ontario Veterans' Memorial
* The Pasture
* Post One Monument
* Princes' Gates
* Princess Margaret Fountain
* Queen Elizabeth Way Monument
* Shrine Peace Memorial
* Sons of England War Memorial
* South African War Memorial
* Spirit of Discovery
* Still Dancing
* Survivors Are Not Heroes
* Three Way Piece No.2: Archer
* When I Was Naked
* When I Was Sick
* Woodpecker Column

| Portrait
sculpture|

* Adam Beck
* Norman Bethune
* George Brown
* Winston Churchill
* Edward VII
* Elizabeth II
* Northrop Frye
* Glenn Gould
* Jack Layton
* John A. Macdonald
* John Sandfield Macdonald
* William Lyon Mackenzie
* Oliver Mowat
* Al Purdy
* Robert Raikes
* Edward S. Rogers Jr.
* Egerton Ryerson
* John Graves Simcoe
* Sun Yat-sen
* Queen Victoria
* James Whitney
* Alexander Wood

|

Related|

* Garden of the Greek Gods
* Graffiti in Toronto
* Graffiti Alley
* Moose in the City
* list
* Toronto subway public art

* v
* t
* e

Toronto Transit Commission

Bus|

* Blue Night Network
* Routes
* Wheel-Trans
* York University Busway

Subway|

*  Yonge–University
*  Bloor–Danforth
*  Sheppard
*  Eglinton
*  Finch West
* Ontario Line

* Public art
* Rolling stock
* Signals
* Stations
* Trackage

Streetcars|

* 501 Queen
* 503 Kingston Rd
* 504 King
* 505 Dundas
* 506 Carlton
* 507 Long Branch
* 508 Lake Shore
* 509 Harbourfront
* 510 Spadina
* 511 Bathurst
* 512 St. Clair
* King Street Transit Priority Corridor
* Loops
* Queens Quay station
* Rolling stock

History|

* Incidents
* Queen subway line
* Eglinton West line
* Relief Line
* Network 2011
* Gray Coach
* Toronto Coach Terminal
* Sunnyside Bus Terminal
* 1995 Russell Hill subway accident
* 2006 strike
* 2008 strike
* 502 Downtowner
* 514 Cherry
* 521 Exhibition East
* 522 Exhibition West
*  Scarborough
* McCowan Yard
* Transit City
* St. Clair Carhouse
* Toronto–York Spadina subway extension
* Toronto-gauge railways

Predecessors|

* Williams Omnibus Bus Line (1849–1862)
* Toronto Street Railway (1861–1891)
* Metropolitan Street Railway (1885–1904)
* Toronto Railway Company (1891–1921)
* Toronto and York Radial Railway (1904–1922)
* Toronto Civic Railways (1912–1921)
* Toronto Transportation Commission (1921–1953)
* Hydro-Electric Railways (1922–1927)

Facilities|

* Davisville Yard
* Eglinton MSF
* Greenwood Yard
* Hillcrest Complex
* Keele Yard
* Leslie Barns
* Roncesvalles Carhouse
* Russell Carhouse
* William McBrien Building
* Wilson Yard

Proposed|

* Don Mills LRT
* Eglinton East LRT
* Jane LRT
* Waterfront East LRT
* Waterfront West LRT

Miscellaneous|

* Accessibility
* Fares
* Presto card
* Metrolinx
* Personnel
* Transit Enforcement Unit
* Typeface

Italics indicate a project under construction
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