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Stephenson Park Update and Colour Creative!

Stephenson Park Meeting – Tuesday April 2, 2013

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Colour Creative

An exciting new option for parents looking to broaden their kids’ horizons!  Colour Creative is owned and operated by local artist (and mother of two) Andria Keen, who has worked in many mediums and has participated in several gallery shows – mainly for her sculptures.  Andria tells us that she is honoured to have the opportunity to share her knowledge and love of various art forms with others and in doing so, to explore with them the joy, wonder and pride that they experience when they tap into their creativity through the wonderful outlet of art.  More from Andria:

Colour Creative started as an idea for an art-based after-school care program, has grown into a budding art school for children ages 4 to 13, located in a cozy home environment just off Danforth near Coxwell.

Colour Creative offers a range of children’s courses throughout the year.  The Spring 2013 calendar offers six courses including sculpture, drawing, art history/journaling and Arts Mart featuring a collage of mediums for the younger ones.  A key theme throughout all the courses is strengthening foundational skills and paying attention to light and shade.

Also popular is the Art Passport, available to any age, which offers five one-hour private sessions for $80.00 (on Saturdays and Sundays).

In addition, this year will be Colour Creative’s first summer, and plans are currently in the works for an Artful July, so stay tuned!

For more information on how you can illuminate your child’s creative spark, click here for the Colour Creative Facebook Page, call (647-764-5336), or click here to email for more information.  You can also pick up a Colour Creative activity postcard available at many of the awesome shops along the Danforth.

 
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DECA Parks – Exciting developments from east to west

Thanks to Sarah K. for this update from DECA Parks!

There’s a lot going on in our DECA-area parks this summer and we wanted to provide an end-to-end update for our park-loving readers.

East-End DECA – Stephenson Park

First up we have Stephenson Park (one block south of Danforth and one block west of Main) a little-known green haven just inside of DECA’s eastern border.  This recreation space has a baseball diamond, a great playground, and a wading pool – there is as much fun to be had here as we would find in our beloved East Lynn Park.

DECA Board Member and renowned illustrator, Tak Bui, recently orchestrated a painting project on the wading pool surface, for which he generously volunteered his own amazing illustrations. The result is an ethereal watery illusion of sea creatures under the little ones’ feet – a perfect destination on a hot summer day!

This past winter, Tak also dreamed up a plan to transform a barren bit of tree-lawn on Stephenson Avenue into a mini-urban garden. The garden is now ready for planting, thanks to all the hard working volunteers who got down and dirty to make this project a reality.  See the before and after pics below. Props go out to Danforth Lumber for donating materials for the project!

Before
After

West-End DECA – Monarch Park 

On DECA’s western border we find the beautiful and busy Monarch Park (at the south end of Monarch Park Ave). The biggest news of late is that the water slide has finally re-opened after lying dormant for many, many years. As the mercury rises, folks from other ‘hoods in Toronto will be jealous of our local attraction. If you are 43” or higher, this super soaker will have you cooled off in no time!

Speaking of Monarch Park, a group of local residents have organized a Friends of Monarch Park group that will be spearheading future improvements within the park. After two community meetings, a Steering Committee has been formed and a number of sub-committees have been created. If you are interested in volunteering with this group, please visit the group’s Facebook page and let them know. You can also email them at friends.monarchpark(at)yahoo.ca.

And we bet you’re wondering what’s going on behind Monarch Park Collegiate, right? Last year, the TDSB approved the lease/sale of their athletic field for the construction of a state-of-the-art athletic facility for both students and the community. Monarch Park Stadium will include a field, track, clubhouse, field lighting, and a winter dome – click here for more information. Tentative completion date is fall 2012.

Please leave a comment telling everyone about your favourite DECA neighbourhood park!

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Spot the Difference

O.k. we’re going to play a game here.  If you’re reading this on some teeny mobile device, you might want to check it out on something bigger. Ready?

1. Spot the difference in these two photos.

If you said anything about flowers, trees, greenery of any kind, give yourself one point.

2. Spot the difference in these two photos.

If you said, one is a much-vandalized wall at Main St. and Stephenson and one is a brand new beautiful mural depicting that corner from years gone by, give yourself 5 points.

3. Last one.  Spot the difference.

If you said the picture on the left is Ashbridge’s Bay beach and the picture on the right is the fabulous East Lynn Farmers’ Market, give yourself 10 points and go buy DECA board member, Tak Bui’s, new book, Spot The Difference, in which these two puzzle pictures appear along with many others.

Tak is actually responsible for all of the above achievements. With some help from DECA, he successfully lobbied the City to improve the landscaping at Main and Stephenson. Working with a few young artists, Tak painted the fantastic new mural at the same spot to try and deter vandals (it was tagged the first day, but Tak has since fixed it). He’s also been creating three community gardens in the same area that have fostered community involvement and made that space less inviting for criminals and more inviting for other community members. In his free time, he lead a team of DECA board members to create some fabulous DECA t-shirts (available at the farmers’ market) and paint an incredible whale mural on the wading pool at Stephenson Park playground.

Now count up your points.  You win!