Monday Mural

  I'm linking up at Monday Mural

May 2022 - Owen Sound ON

Murals from our Georgian Bay Road trip.

Billy Goodkat is the mad Irish genius behind much of the exceptional spray painted imagery you’ve seen on storefronts and alleyways all over Owen Sound. He’s also a community focused individual with a great passion for cultivating artistic talent in others. A Belfast man originally, Billy made his way to Owen Sound in 2011 in the pursuit of love. 

He’s been the mastermind behind a few high profile installations such as Artists' Alley, involving local students as well. “Artists' Alley” is between the Bleeding Carrot and the Milk Maid. This partnership between Billy, Community Foundation Grey Bruce, and the Artist’s Co-op saw him mentoring local students and encouraging their artistic growth. Not shy about his passion for inspiring others, especially youth, Billy says: “People don’t realize how much ability they have, if you show them a few techniques, they waken to the fact that they can do it. Someone might say they can only draw stick figures, I guarantee that given an hour you can show them they can draw a great portrait.”

Dr. Cobbler’s on 2nd Ave East is another arresting piece, and it represents his first effort to require scaffolding. Says Billy: “I used to have a fear of heights, then I went up there and I was fine.” Main street is a better place for Billy having conquered his fear as the work on the 2nd storey is very lovely. Vibrant swaying peacock feathers overlay two distinct black and white patterns – give it a good look next time you’re downtown, you’ll appreciate it.

Check out this amazing store in my Owen Sound post.

He also did the store next door.

High school students from West Hill, OSCVI, and St Mary’s spent many of their afternoons working alongside graffiti artist Billy Goodkat to create this mural. The theme of this painting is the Mexican word “VIDA”, which means life.

Goodkat says the piece extending throughout the alleyway begins with a representation of birth at one end, and ends with a loose representation of a Day of the Dead celebration on the other.

Georgian Bay Road Trip Day 4

 Day 1 Toronto to Collingwood

Shelburne Coffee Break

Day 2 Meaford ON

Day 3 Collingwood ON

May 2022 - Owen Sound ON

We packed an overnight bag for the hour drive to Owen Sound.

The area around the upper Great Lakes has been home to the Ojibwe people since prehistory. In 1815, William Fitzwilliam Owen surveyed the area and named the inlet after his older brother Admiral Edward Owen. The name of the area in Ojibwe language is Gchi-wiigwedong.

Over the years, Owen Sound was a major port best known for its taverns and brothel. The community acquired names as the Chicago of the North, Corkscrew City, and Little Liverpool because of its rowdy reputation. Supporting this reputation was a tavern named "Bucket of Blood", located on the corner of an intersection known as "Damnation Corners", because of taverns on all four corners, but this location was also only a block away from an intersection with four churches called "Salvation Corners".

Mural Emily May Rose, who does a lot of work in Toronto. More of this on Monday.

Artists Alleyway off 2nd Avenue East between The Milk Maid and The Bleeding Carrot


The initiative began with The Bleeding Carrot owner, Tamara Sargent, about 10 years before paint hit the walls. In 2013 the painters released their creativity and new life was brought to the once dark alley. The murals walls are privately owned which made the process a bit easier.

 

Well, I had a field day in here!

Mural by Billy Goodkat.

xx

Fish by Ann Keeling

Tom Thomson (1877-1917) is considered one of the most important and influential Canadian artists. Together with members of the Group of Seven, he created a distinct approach to portraying rugged Canadian landscapes. Thomson, grew up and is buried in the Owen Sound area. The Tom Thomson Art Gallery is named for the iconic Canadian landscape artist and houses a nationally significant collection of his work. An exhibition of Thomson’s small oil sketches, graphics, memorabilia and archival materials offer unique insight into one of Canada’s most influential artists of the 20th century.

 

Click here to read his biography.

This is for Elizabeth and Bleubeard of Altered Book Lover.

Rae Johnson (1953-2020) was a Canadian painter who lived in Toronto, Canada.

Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Johnson studied at the New School of Art in Toronto from 1975 to 1976 and at the Ontario College of Art from 1977 to 1980. In 1981 she became a founding member of the ChromaZone gallery, an artist collective dedicated to reintroducing figurative painting to Toronto. In 1987 she moved to Flesherton in northern Ontario; the landscapes which she since produced are reminiscent of the work of the Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, whose work she had seen at the National Gallery of Canada when she was still a student.

Billy Bishop Museum  - we drove by but didn't go in. 

Born in Owen Sound, Air Marshal William Avery Bishop, VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED was a Canadian flying ace of the First World War. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian and British Empire ace of the war, and also received a Victoria Cross. 
Ernst Udet called him "the greatest English scouting ace" and one Jasta had a bounty on his head. On 30 April, Bishop survived an encounter with Jasta 11 and Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. In May, Bishop received the Distinguished Service Order for shooting down two aircraft while being attacked by four others.

Click here to see this 45 minute video about Billy Bishop.

From here we drove 20 minutes to Cobble Beach in Kemble for the night.