Moose Jaw

November 11, 2016November 11, 2016 / Greg / Leave a comment

There are a ton of really cool places in Saskatchewan. Through a spring, summer and fall of living in this super easy to draw province, I’m happy to have seen a bit of this place and am excited of everything else to explore in the years ahead.

My in-laws visited back in late August and September. Nearing the end of their trip and with a desire to see something else in their first visit to Saskatchewan, we decided on a day trip down to Moose Jaw. The easy drive from Saskatoon gave my mother and father in-law the experience of being out on the prairies. I was agreeable to this trip because I have always have wanted to visit Moose Jaw. First, it was a must see for me for the uniquely Canadian name alone. But I also have a fascination with oversized roadside attractions and wanted to see this guy up close – the town’s mascot – Mac the Moose.

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Retracing steps in Quebec City

September 17, 2016September 17, 2016 / Greg / Leave a comment

When I’m traveling solo, one of my favourite past times is simply wandering around the city I’m visiting. In Canada, I can’t think of a better city in which to walk around aimlessly than Quebec City. I’ve been there often and think I’ve walked every street in the old city many times over. But seeing the architecture, the art and the people never gets old. On my most recent visit in June, although my time was limited as this was a work trip, I managed to put a few kilometres of wear and tear on my shoes retracing some of my favourite steps. Seen many times over by my eyes, Quebec City will always hold a special place for me. It is a uniquely beautiful city.

Porte Dauphine

Old Quebec

Place d’Armes

Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires

rue du Trésor

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Parc Jean-Drapeau public art

July 6, 2016July 5, 2016 / Greg / 2 Comments

One of my earliest travel memories is an afternoon I spent with my dad in Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal in 1981. I was seven years old, and on what was to be my first trip to see my Montreal Expos, a major league baseball strike killed those games (why I still love this sport is beyond me – strikes took away my first games as a child and then my team for good as an adult), leaving us with some extra time to explore the city. We used some of that extra time to tour the park, and the memory of first seeing Alexander Calder’s sculpture “L’Homme” still exists in my mind.

When I was in Montreal for work back in April, I used the little time around the edges of the conference I was attending to visit some old favourites, including wandering around Parc Jean-Drapeau to visit a number of pieces of public art. One of the first pieces on my tour was “L’Arc” by Michel de Broin. Up close, this sculpture looks like it’s made of organic materials and has the appearance of a real tree. Interestingly, it’s made of high performance concrete. It was a mind-bender when I touched this piece.

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Montreal murals

June 12, 2016 / Greg / 4 Comments

Montreal has a vibrancy and energy that is unmistakeable. The city oozes culture from every pore. Animated conversations over a glass of wine rise from sidewalk patios. A world’s worth of music spills into the street from homes and bars. There’s a rich selection of public art – some historic, and some modern, abstract and mind bending. And then there are the murals. Sides of buildings in Little Italy, Little Burgundy and along Saint-Laurent Boulevard make for an open air art gallery and turn even a short stroll for a coffee into a memorable experience. These are a few of my favourite murals from a few days of walks around beautiful Montreal.

From an evening stroll in Little Burgundy near the Marché Atwater before a meal at Joe Beef:

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Exploring public art in Austin

December 5, 2015December 5, 2015 / Greg / Leave a comment

Aside from the baking hot temperatures and the smell of barbeque wafting around what seemed like every corner, I didn’t feel like I was deep in the heart of Texas during my Austin stay. The city felt beautifully out of place compared with all of my preconceived notions of “Texas-ness”. In exploring a few parts of the city on foot, the vibrant and plentiful public art reinforced the “Keep Austin Weird” vibe that I fell for within an hour of first arriving.

Right across the street from my motel on South Congress Avenue was the “I love you so much” mural on the wall of Jo’s Coffee (a place I would later laze away a few hours with a book). The simple mural by Amy Cook was a scrawled love letter to her partner Liz (the owner of Jo’s Coffee). Simple and profound, I felt the love directed to me each time I walked past.

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Last morning in Houston

November 11, 2015November 17, 2015 / Greg / Leave a comment

When I traveled to Houston back in late September, I spent most of my short visit attending sporting events and sampling local craft beers in a couple of nice bars. As my last day in Houston was dawning I realized that I hadn’t seen much of the city. Against a backdrop of ominous clouds, I took the train out to Hermann Park with exploration on my mind.

Off the train and just inside Hermann park, I came upon the Mary Gibbs and Jesse H Jones Reflection Pool, the most prominent feature in the 450 acre park:

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Touring Victoria’s public art

July 15, 2015July 15, 2015 / Greg / 1 Comment

Victoria has a very compact and walkable downtown. Using the incredibly helpful Public Art Inventory website, I created a walking tour of Victoria that would take me past many of the public art installations around the centre of the city. The travel gods were also nice enough to give me two perfectly sunny days for my urban exploring. Map in hand, I started off close to my hotel near Victoria’s Chinatown. The first piece that caught my eye was the striking “Red Dragon” by Ping Tsing at the corner of Pandora and Government.

About a block and a half north on Government just outside the Chinatown gates was “Dragon Dance” by Robert Amos. This mural was painted by children from the Chinese Public School and commemorated the 150th anniversary of Victoria’s Chinatown – the oldest Chinatown in Canada.

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Exploring more Vancouver public art

May 28, 2015 / Greg / Leave a comment

On a trip to Vancouver a couple of years back, I spent some time exploring public art around the city. I only scratched the surface of Vancouver’s large and diverse public art collection, so back in April with a few art maps in my hand, I set off for a few walks around the city. For me, this has become a “must do” when visiting a city for the first (or second, in this case) time. A walk around a city exploring public art has largely replaced gallery or museum visits for me. I like the combination of interesting modern art, hunting for it (even with a good map, sometimes it takes advanced detective skills to actually pinpoint its location) and doing that against the backdrop of neighbourhoods and sights that I might not have explored otherwise.

On an evening walk along the waterfront, I visited one of my favourite pieces of public art in Vancouver – the Olympic Cauldron outside the Vancouver Convention Centre. Even without the torches lit, it’s an impressive reminder of the 2010 Olympics which will always hold a special place in the hearts of all Canadians.

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The Garden and the Common

November 29, 2014 / Greg / 1 Comment

Boston felt a lot like my hometown of Halifax. That familiar feeling was strongest for me in two downtown parks – the Public Garden and the Boston Common. Here at home, we have two very similar parks in name and appearance, even if they’re both somewhat smaller in size. About an hour or so after first landing in Boston, my wife and I walked through the Public Garden and immediately felt at home as it has something strikingly in common with its namesake in Halifax: an abundance of friendly ducks:

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Touring public art in Nashville

September 2, 2014 / Greg / 1 Comment

The last word on Nashville goes to a couple of hours of exploring I did on my last day there back in June. As a way to weave my way through the city’s sights, I planned a walking tour of public art via the ever helpful Downtown Nashville Partnership website. Given my limited time, I didn’t get to see everything I had hoped to but did end up with a nice selection of some interesting art.

The largest piece I saw on my tour was “Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks” by Alice Aycock. Located just outside LP Field, it is meant to evoke the evolution that side of the river has seen from an industrial past to a current and future that is more focused on recreation.