Bloorcourt Street Gallery |
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website: bloorcourt.com Before I was hired as Project Administrator for the Bloorcourt BIA, banners were the most prominent part of the problem of the area according to anyone who knew what they looked like before. The area needed a logo and new banners, that was an agreed upon issue even from my classroom days in ThinkTank in the fall of 2007, when involvement in this neighbourhood first began. Nobody wanted to design banners for free (you all know us designers and students) and as a ThinkTank class of interdisciplinary design, we were more concerned about the bigger picture, innovative ideas, not just the look of banners. Anyway, to know more about what happened after ThinkTank, you need to read about TheStoreFront Community project. After that, I was given a part-time position as a project administrator to basically do as much as I could possibly do with my connections and creativity and the agreed upon salary. Better than nothing or bouncing away. Before I became appointed Shelley Walters, a hair salon owner and a forward thinking board member brought forth the idea of custom banners painted by youth that she noticed in Orillia Ontario on drive through the downtown there. She had the idea but someone had to organize it and make it happen. So after a few different ideas on how to go about it, I decided to make it digital, about the area and open to everyone, by promoting it locally. It was definately an advantage to be a connected graphic and web designer and coordinator to be able to pull off this project. I managed to get just over 40 submissions to cover the 39 light poles on Bloor Street between Montrose Ave to Dufferin Street. Visit the area in the next coming months to see the work up on the street. If this street gallery gets replicated, imagine what our city could become! Collaborative public art could serve as a strategy for community building and economic development! |
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