Two BIG Art Installations
First is the North Watch by Ivan Eyre on the east side of the Richardson Building, oddly not looking north.
It continues a long-time connection between the Richardson Family and Eyre. They've collected his work for more than 20 years. In a 2008 auction their foundation paid a record price for an Eyre painting and in 2010 they donated $150,000 to assist with the installation of seven of Eyre's works (including the original North Watch) at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection centre in Kleinburg, Ontario.
This completes a trinity of large sculptures by prominent Winnipeg artists on the Richardson Building's plaza. It began in 2000 with Leo Mol's Tree Children, then Seal River Crossing by Peter Sawatzky in 2007.
At the Millennium Library Park the long-awaited centrepiece art project has arrived. It's emptyful by Vancouver-based artist Bill Pechet. The skeleton went up last week. The finished piece will be 35 feet x 30 feet "large 3-D liquid container that will fill with water, fog, and light and will engage the public all year long," (source.)
V is for Victory
Once upon the time there was a building called the Victory Building. It was located just off Portage and Main. It was torn down in 1980 to make way for the Bank of Montreal Tower. (Sources: top The Year Past 1979; bottom Peel's.)
I noticed yesterday that the Federal Building at Main and William Stevenson Way was rechristened the Victory Building, though it turns out that was in 2005 ! I think they just got around to putting up that new portion of the sign recently.
New Pub for Old Bank
A new pub, the Ontario-based Fox and Fiddle, is moving into 456 Main Street. That's the former Bank of Toronto / Ukrainian Canadian Congress building. I've been to other city's where restaurant / pub chains have used old banking halls with great success, the Elephant and Castle in Toronto for example. Here, though, it's usually a night club or nothing. Here's to more pubs in the city.
The Met
It's been hard to tell what progress has been going on at the Met Theatre over the past couple of years. A big sign that the project is truly on track after a 2011 infusion of cash is that the building expansion has begun. (Check out the Met link for what the final project is supposed to look like.)
The Mitchell Copp Facade
Work is underway to take the facade off the Mitchell Copp building for reuse later in the project. I hope all goes well.
Other Stuff
The renovation of the former Manitoba Furniture Building on Ellice Avenue is well underway.
The facade renovations to the old Ingram and Bell Block on Kennedy are done, though there's still work going on to the south wall.
And it was a beautiful, sunny Saturday in Central Park !
1 comment:
Hooray for new pubs!
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