Junction Triangle

North-West corner of Dupont St. and Perth Ave., March 28 2009. This is an updated version of this 1958 photo from the City of Toronto Archives.

Photo by Vic Gedris.

NOW magazine has awarded the Art Starts Strength in Numbers mural at Dupont and Dundas with their "Best Mural" award.

From the NOW magazine website:

The underpass graced by this bike mural is a gateway for those heading to the Junction, but it’s a destination now, too. The 400-foot creation painted by seven artists over four weeks this summer turned a mundane slab of concrete into a giant uniting message: strength in numbers – a critical mass reminder for the city’s wide spectrum of cyclists.

Art Starts managing director (and local resident) Liz Forsberg writes:

"We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in print on the newstands this week. Now Magazine has just released its annual Best of the City issue and our 'Strength in Numbers' bike-themed mural at Dupont and Dundas won best mural! See it for yourself here. Huge congrats go to Joshua Barndt and Jamie Bradbury who were our lead artists and Quentin Vercetty, Gifty Singh, Curtia Wright, Hayley Fromstein and Keinon Grant who were our youth artists on the project. The mural has received unprecedented media attention, including a spot on CBC's News at 6 back in August when it was launched. We can't wait for next year's mural. And of course, we are ever so grateful to the City of Toronto's Graffitti Transformation Program for funding this initiative!"

Congratulations and thank you once again to Art Starts and all of the artists involved in putting this mural together. It's a wonderful addition to our neighbourhood!

Here's a selection of photos from the Dupont bike mural launch party on August 25 2009. This fantastic new mural was installed by a group of artists from Art Starts in July. More information and photos of the mural itself are in this previous article.

And now, for the photos:

Dupont Bike Mural Launch: Artists from the Art Starts organization at the launch party for their new cycling-themed mural on Dupont St. at Dundas.

A crowd gathers around the Art Starts artists on the West Toronto Railpath during the opening celebration for the new cycling-themed mural on Dupont St. at Dundas St.

Photo by Vic Gedris, 2009-08-25.

Artists from the Art Starts organization at the launch party for their new cycling-themed mural on Dupont St. at Dundas.

Photo by Vic Gedris 2009-08-25.

Artists from the Art Starts organization at the launch party for their new cycling-themed mural on Dupont St. at Dundas.

Photo by Vic Gedris 2009-08-25.

Liz Forsberg, local resident and managing director of Art Starts addresses the crowd gathered on the Railpath for the Dupont cycling mural launch party.

Photo by Vic Gedris 2009-08-25.

Boo Radley's Junction Bar and Grill at the corner of Dupont and Campbell was offering 10% discounts to cyclists.

Photo by Vic Gedris, 2009-08-25.

The new cycling-themed mural, Strength in Numbers, at the intersection of Dupont and Dundas Streets is complete, and Art Starts are holding a launch celebration.

• Who: Art Starts

If you haven't been through the railway underpass next to the Dundas St. West and Dupont St. intersection on the west side of our neighbourhood recently, you have been missing out on some incredible changes! The streetscape has evolved tremendously in the past couple of months: The West Toronto Railpath linear park and trail is now open, there are bicycle lanes on Dupont St., and a brand new mural dedicated to bicycle culture has been painted along the entire 400 foot south wall.

Talk about a major transformation! Standing next to the railway bridges, you can see all these sights come together into a single place where a formerly desolate and bike- and pedestrian-unfriendly area has been completely transformed. Just stand there and look at the bright colours, watch people walk by above you on the Railpath, watch cyclists stream by on the Dupont St. bike lanes, and listen to people as they talk about the new mural. Beautiful!

The mural, titled Strength in Numbers, was installed by a group of artists from Art Starts, an organization that helps build Toronto communities by using the arts. Funding for these murals came from the City of Toronto's Graffiti Transformation Investment Program, as well as the Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council. Lead artists Joshua Barndt and Jamie Bradbury, along with five youth artists painted the murals over four weeks in July and August 2009.

I interviewed lead artist Jamie Bradbury, who provided some insight about the mural: