Lake Leaside? Where has it gone? It just gave way to a mass of steel and concrete, soon to be an expanded Canadian Tire store to replace the one at Laird and Eglinton, destined for redevelopment.
But Leaside artist Maureen Wood has noticed that despite the fact the lake has been drained, the Canada Geese that used to reside on and around the lake keep returning to the area. Perhaps to mourn the loss of their home? Or maybe to keep a watchful eye on the new development?
This homecoming is memorialized in Wood’s “Lake Leaside Stroll,” a watercolour painting that received an Honourable Mention at the Don Valley Art Club’s Art Show and Sale at Todmorden Mills on May 10.
The stroll in question was that of a family of Canada Geese Maureen encountered in her early morning walk along Vanderhoof to her gym at Brentcliffe. These inhabitants of (former) Lake Leaside were waddling (sorry, strolling) along the sidewalks of Vanderhoof, north of the former temporary lake.
Martha Johnson, the show’s judge (also a Leaside resident) wrote in her comments on the picture: “Lake Leaside, a fleeting pond in Industrial Leaside, is importantly recorded and represented by Canada Geese. Moving gently, this sensitively drawn formation calls attention to our urban environment and cohabitation. The viewer’s perspective, walking behind and with the waddling family, is thoughtfully crafted.”
Wood says that her artistic passion for watercolours “comes from photos I have taken in everyday life around me. When I come back to certain photos, there is a feeling of excitement that I want to translate into paper with my watercolours.”
Thanks, Maureen, for artistically recording this homecoming of former (and future?) Leaside residents!
