Youth centre graffiti artists commissioned for mural

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The Bata Shoe Museum is getting into the spirit of the Toronto International Film Festival, employing local graffiti artists to create a sidewalk mural of stars.

The stars, which include Paul Gross, who opened TIFF with his First World War epic Passchendale, along with present and past legends like Mike Myers, Geri Hallowell, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, all have at least one thing in common: all have their shoes represented, inside, in the museum's Star Turn gallery.

"We wanted to celebrate TIFF being in town and we wanted to capture the celebrities and have a bit of fun on our sidewalk," said Rosmarie Gadzovski, marketing and public relations manager for the museum.

"We hope that people will be inspired by seeing the celebrities on the sidewalk and possibly come into the museum and check out the footwear that we have in our collection."

The mural, which Gadzovski estimated at about 40x9 feet, has been busily worked on all week by three artists from the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre - Javid J. Alibhai, Mediah and Viviana Astudillo - and is expected to be completed on Friday, Sept. 12.

"We were actually looking for an opportunity to contribute during the film festival, so this fits right into our agenda," said Alibhai, an artist and youth outreach worker in the centre's Leap of Faith Together (LOFT) program.

He conceded that using the actual sidewalk was a first for him.

"Usually we do murals on walls, but I'm the type of artist that every time I see a challenge I jump for it, so the Bata Shoe Museum proposed it, and it's been great so far."

The LOFT program, he explained, "is basically a drop-in space for youth (who) want to get back on their feet.

"We serve kids (who) live on the street, we serve youth (who) are new to the country and we offer volunteer opportunities for those youth."

Part of his job, he said, "is to clean up our neighbourhood by doing murals over vandalized walls."

He's led two other mural projects this summer, he said, all with different crews of artists.

The first is right outside Dupont station. "That mural is called Art is Our Life. That was a pretty big mural we did (by) a group called ARTERY (Artists Remain True To Empower ouR Youth), an Ontario Arts Council initiative.

The second project was an ARTERY-sponsored, one-day graffiti fest at St. Alban's Boys' and Girls' Club.

Gadzovski said the museum put out a call for artists through a mural association and had a few artists come in and show their work.

"We just liked the style of this particular group. We just liked their look. It was very fun."

The museum, she said, is always pleased to be able to support the local arts community.

"We work a lot with SKETCH (Toronto Art Studio for Street Youth), which is another organization that works with youth and art."

The museum mainly works with SKETCH on an annual fundraiser "where they have artists in the city decorate Blundstones (boots) and we have them on display here."

The annual fundraiser will kick off later this month, with the decorated Blundstones on view from Sept. 15 to 25 prior to being auctioned off on Sept. 25.

The Top 10 are back at the museum from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5 when they're picked up by the successful bidders.

Back to the sidewalk mural, the artwork will have a limited run before it succumbs to the elements.

"It's not chalk so we hope it will last at least a few weeks depending on Mother Nature," Gadzovski said. "We're getting quite a bit of attention from people who are passing by so we're really excited about it."

Passersby may only have a limited time to view the work outside the museum, but Alibhai did point out an upcoming event where people could view local work.

ARTERY, he said, is having an art show called Freedom of Peace on Friday, Sept. 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the StoreFront, 957 Bloor St. (at Dovercourt Road). The idea, he said, "is to bring young artists to see more than graffiti.

"There will be live music and a barbecue."