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Folly: Statues “R” Us
Lorne and Ruth Campbell's garden isn't likely to be featured in Canadian House and Home any time soon and that's just fine with them. Their mismatched menagerie of statuary, which ranges from stone and cast iron animals to Greek Godesses and Japanese pagodas is a local landmark in Toronto's well-to-do Kingsway neighbourhood.
Folly: Disco Fallout Shelter (DFS)
Friday, June 5, 2009 by Chris
In Disco Fallout Shelter (DFS), Instant Coffee has constructed what purports to be a fallout shelter beneath a grassy knoll in the small park. A closed circuit monitor relays the goings on underground to a viewing station nearby. But my interest is less in the above ground art, than it is in the decoration of the space itself . . .
Elephant House II: Bigger Not Better
Saturday, April 18, 2009 by Chris
I’ve written about elephants in the garden before but this one takes the cake. And not a good way. The giant white elephant dwarfing the postage stamp, front yard at 77 Yarmouth Road in Toronto is a folly in every sense of the word. It’s locally famous, naturally, but I also find it to be a bit of eyesore, mostly because the scale of the piece is just so wrong for the site.
Werner Schmidt’s Junkyard Folly
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by Chris
I’m sure more than a few of his neighbours will happy to see the back of artist Werner Schmidt when he packs up his “junk” and moves on in June. After 28 years as a tenant at 919A Ossington Ave., Werner has been told to vacate the premises in order to accommodate the building’s new owner. The 60-something Schmidt is a classic, outsider artist. He takes found scrap and junk and fashions it into the most fanciful sculptures, which he then uses to decorate the property. Schmidt’s work is perched around the yard, tacked up on the wall and propped on windowsills, some of it quite simple and some tremendously elaborate, even scary.
Folly: Inside the Mushroom Studio
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by Chris
Under normal circumstances the Mushroom Studio wouldn't merit a styleNorth post but when I called the Sculpture Garden administrator to ask about the project she happened to mention that the artist had been "quite particular" about the furnishings that went into the "studio". I had inadvertently stumbled upon a story about a real Canadian decorating a highly unusual space.
Thursday, June 25, 2009 by Chris
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