During this time of isolation, we are sharing prayers, poems, inspirational music, videos and quotes that uplift our spirits in a special email newsletter each Tuesday. Here is an excerpt from our May 18 edition.
| The Artistry of God: God the Graffiti Artist Grafitti challenges us to look at our definition of art and how our faith can be expressed through various forms of art. Toronto has had a complex relationship with graffiti over the years. Is it art or is it vandalism? The city has declared 2021 as the Year of Public Art in Toronto. StreetARToronto (StART) is a suite of innovative programs designed specifically for streets and public spaces. StART has been successful in creating vibrant, colourful, community-engaged street art. Perhaps it’s time to consider getting to know Toronto’s street art and artists. What gifts and messages do they have to share with us? Street Art in Toronto When the stay-at-home order ends and you are looking for a fun outing, try a self-guided graffiti tour of Toronto. Here are some of the highlights. |
| The Story of the Paint Your Faith Project “In September 2009, The United Church of Canada’s WonderCafe online discussion forum (www.wondercafe.ca) invited four internationally acclaimed aerosol artists to show faith can be much deeper, richer, and more complex than most people think. Their resulting “Paint Your Faith” mural collaboration in Toronto’s downtown core is a unique public display of faith filled with colors, shapes, imagination, and emotion. The massive 30- by 60-foot wall where the Paint Your Faith mural was created could have been prime commercial advertising space, but Metropolitan United Church instead used it to beautify their community and bring the inner life of the church out into the streets. Each of the four aerosol artists worked on a quadrant of the wall. The graffiti-like styling of the word “Yahweh” by Toronto’s Mediah provides a foundation for the mural in the bottom left area. At the top left, another Toronto artist, Elicser, offers flowing imagery depicting a family’s complex engagement with faith, religion, and life. The top right corner of the mural is dominated by San Francisco artist Chor Boogie’s powerful spiritual symbolism and the rainbow of “color therapy” techniques for which his work has become known. In the lower right, Siloette, also of San Francisco, offers her own stunning expression of faith in the form of an angelic woman in prayer. At the center, the four pieces of the mural are brought into harmony by the gentle and innocent image of a child filled with wonder by the surrounding expressions of faith brought to life on the wall.” |
