Design for new Foodland wall mural selected, work to begin this month

After a community consultation process that included a public meeting and an online vote, a design has been selected for the mural to be painted on the wall of the Foodland store at Queen Street East and Lee Avenue.

Artist John Kuna has been commissioned by a committee made up of Foodland representatives, the Beach Village BIA and Mural Routes, to paint the new mural on the east wall of the grocery store facing Lee Avenue.

A scaffold is now up on the site, and some of the top portions of the wall have been painted grey, but weather conditions are proving to be a factor in how quickly the mural comes together.

Once the weather co-operates, Kuna is expected to be painting this month and the mural is slated be unveiled as part of celebrations surrounding the Beaches International Jazz Festival on July 27.

The winning design is basically what was known as Option 1 during the consultation process, with a number of tweaks made to it to reflect public input. For more on the mural selection process, please see our story at https://beachmetro.com/2019/05/14/input-sought-on-proposals-for-foodland-mural-in-the-beach/

During the consultations, Kuna described Option 1 as:

“This design uses a realistic scenic approach. It references the Jazz Festival with the couple dancing in front of the Kew Gardens Gazebo (the Alex Christie Bandshell) where concerts are held on the left. Other landmarks are the Leuty Lifeguard Station and the boardwalk with a view of the Toronto skyline. The gentleman sitting with his daughter on the right will be shown holding two ice cream cones. The interactive element in this mural is the dandelion with its seeds blowing in the wind before transforming into the Victoria Day fireworks display over Ashbridges Bay.”

As a result of public input, the following changes were made to that design:

Addition of a person walking a dog; increased diversity among the people represented; the Leuty Lighthouse will be larger and not surrounded by water; and leaves and greenery will be added to trees and plants in the mural.

The Foodland wall had previously been the site of a mural called Beach Got Rhythm painted by Rudolf Stussi and his son Errol in 2007 that depicted a number of Beach landmarks and jazz musicians.

That mural had to be removed in November of 2018 due to cracks in the wall that had made it unsafe. At the time of its removal, Foodland vowed to work with the community to replace it.

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