Friday, August 14, 2015

Bata Shoe Museum



August 2015 - Toronto ON


Today we're going to take a walk in someone else's shoes.





Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world - Marilyn Monroe



Toronto is home to the Bata Shoe Museum and I finally visited it last week.



According to their website:
In 1979, when Mrs. Bata’s collection had outgrown the available private storage space, the Bata family established the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation. Over the years, the Foundation has funded various field trips to collect and research footwear in areas where traditions are changing rapidly. The studies have included North American indigenous cultures, circumpolar groups including Canadian Inuit, Siberia, Alaska, Greenland and Lapland. Field studies have also taken place in Asia and Europe.
The main objective of the Foundation, however, is to operate an international centre for footwear research which houses the Bata Shoe Museum’s collection of over 13,000 shoes and related items. A varied selection is displayed in time-limited or semi-permanent exhibitions.





On view May 7th – September 20th, 2015

The warmth and intensity of the light that floods through the southern window reminds me of the way light and colour are used in places of worship to convey imagery, information and fascination.
– Jim Hake, Artist

Inspired by our collection, artist Jim Hake set out to work on creating an atrium installation to mark out milestone anniversary. The installation, made up of several pairs of colourful high heels, symbolizes beauty and elegance and references the charged enchantment of cathedrals while at the same time playing with the kaleidoscopic potential of the forms and materials.

Through colour, shape, pattern and juxtaposition, these large cathedral shoes go beyond simplified allusion. The shoes are meant to embody specific personalities and become metonymical references to people known or imagined, people that would enjoy dancing in a space bathed in light.




Love the door handles.


Some random shots.
























All photography on Junk Boat Travels are under copyright unless stated otherwise.


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Monday's Walks



9 comments:

  1. I found the museum surprisingly interesting when I first visited it! Nice tour you gave us.

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  2. Quite a collection! I've never been in there myself.

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  3. Hello Jackie, thank you for the little tour. Very interesting and different to the norm. Don't you live in Toronto :-) or has it not been there long!! Anyway which , you got there in there. xo

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    1. It's 20 years old this year!! No one ever wanted to go when I wanted to so I finally went on my own.

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  4. I had no idea there was a shoe museum -- but now that I see these I see that, of course, the world needs one. Or more! So many stories in shoes.

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  5. Lots of people are going to enjoy this, Jackie, my daughter included. I've never heard of the museum but those stained glass shoes are enchanting. I need to see more! Thank you so much for a lovely share. :)

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  6. I remember visiting this on my (so far) only visit to Toronto in 1999. I loved it - really enjoyed your photographs.
    Anabel's Travel Blog

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  7. I am not particularly a shoe person, but I this is a fascinating museum.

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