Queen East will be home to eight new light installations as part of the Luminosity outdoor art exhibition opening on Saturday, March 13.
The installations are spread out along a three-kilometre stretch of Queen East between Neville Park and Coxwell. The artworks will be lit up nightly until April 11, and the exhibition is completely outdoors and spaced out, allowing for COVID-safe physical distancing.
Here’s a preview of the installations, starting from the first installation farthest east on the path.
Share The Love
Artist Thelia Sanders Shelton, known for driftwood artwork like the Toronto Driftwood Sign, has incorporated a brightly lit red heart into her installation for Luminosity. It “speaks to sympathy, empathy and an inherent need as humans, to receive and to Share the Love,” according to her artist statement.
Out From Under The Shadows
This “figurative shadow mural” created by artist Bryan Faubert explores placemaking in urban environments. Fabuert, who’s art has included graffiti expositions, installations, pop-ups, public sculpture and more, said in his statement that placemaking in his practice is “a dialogic space where the people-in-place construct meaning.”
Beacon Silo
Acting as both a lighthouse and a disco ball, this installation by Chris Foster is inspired by the silos of southern Ontario. The beacon projects moving multi-coloured lights across the landscape.
Light Tree
Laura Wood and Dawn Tyrrell, the team behind Opus Art Projects, created this installation to add a bit of extra light and fun to a winter tree along the exhibition path. Colour-changing cables flow down along the branches of the tree, a beautiful addition to the city’s late-night landscape.
Sugar Mountain
The realistic (and delicious) looking pastries and cakes in this bakery display by Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky will light up at night, making for an abstract, glowing stop along Queen East that might put you in the mood for dessert.
Headlights
Toronto artists Stoyan Barakov and Robert Mckaye, the team behind Collective Memory, upcycled discarded items like headlamps and clothes to give each of the mannequins a new life in this installation.
Chee-Win
Artist Jungle Ling constructed the entire standing figure of his installation out of discarded materials. The figure, which holds an orphaned duckling, “acknowledge and celebrate acts of kindness and love that emanate from unexpected or unusual sources,” his artist statement states.
88 Keys Of Light
88 Keys of Light, an illuminated exhibition with a musical twist, provides an interactive, sensory experience for viewers. Creators Kristyn Watterworth and Edward Platero included different types of interactive opportunities, including the keys of the piano, buttons placed throughout the installation and even social media-focused options.
