Art in Toronto's Streets and Parks

*Outdoor Art in Toronto* *Sculptures and Monuments in Streets and Parks*

*Scarborough*

.
"PASSAGE"
by
Marlene Hilton Moore
.

...

*Inscription:*	...	See below
*Location:*		East of Bluffers Park, at the bottom of Doris McCarthy Trail
*Sponsors:*		Acknowledgement to : Lynne Atkinson, Joy Hughes, Linda Mackey, the Friends of Doris McCarthy, and the following Public Supporters: Cedar Ridge Studio Gallery, Conservation Toronto and Region, Ontario, Toronto Culture
*Material:*		Steel
*Year:*		Installed in 2002

My discovery of Fool's Paradise:

It was unexpected. I was walking along the shore of Lake Ontario from 'The Guild' towards Bluffer's Park. In the distance a strange object drew my attention and I walked further than I had planned just to learn what this might be. As the path ended, I climbed over the rocky shore which separated me from the strange object only by some 200 yards. I didn't know but I was in 'Fool's Paradise' and there it was the 'Passage' by Marlene Hilton Moore placed on the shore of the lake and at the end of a ravine called 'Doris McCarthy Trail'. This started my journey to look for and take pictures of Sculptures in the City of Toronto which are in abundance along the streets and in parks of this great city of ours.

Marlene Hilton Moore, the sculptor, has a long list of Public Art Commissions, Solo Exhibitions, Group Exhibitions, Site Specific Installations, Awards, Collections, Positions, Curatorial, Exhibition Catalogues.

Some of her work you will find at this site: http://www.ferneyhoughgallery.com/hilton-moore.htm

On a large bolder a plaque tells this story:

. Passage is a sculpture which honours Doris McCarthy and the Scarborough Bluffs, the second in a series of sculptures by Marlene Hilton Moore to mark people in place across Canada. Doris McCarthy is singular in her achievements as an artist and her passion for the geography of Canada which she has painted from sea to sea to sea. The Scarborough Bluffs are a significant geological formation of the ancient Lake Iroquois. They provide the most complete record of Pleistocene geology in North America. 'Passage', in form, incorporates the double pointed oval of the ancient vesica piscus symbol for female to represent Doris. The elegant form of the ribs derived from the rib cage of a Great Lakes fish adds further to the symbolism, sweeping upward to form gothic arches, a symbol of Faith. The spine or bed of this sculpture is derived from the form of the architectural scale ruler. This incorporates a reference to measurement, a measurement in time of both humans and nature. The end of the ruler is a stylized trillium, the provincial flower of Ontario. Passage as concept derives from the parallel of the vesica piscus symbol, the rib cage of a fish, and the ribs of a canoe. Passage links together the significant passage through life, the elegant passage of the fish through the water that shapes this site, and the silent passage of the canoe, symbol of the exploration of our land.

Doris McCarthy - Significant Dates

1910 - Born July 7th in Calgary
1913 - Moved to the Beach, Toronto
1921 - Canoed to this site and picnicked with her father
1928 - Began in CGIT as Camper, then Leader and Director
1930 - Honour Graduate of OCA, First of Solo Art Exhibitions
1932 - First of forty years of teaching art at Central Technical School
1934 - First of twenty-five years summer painting on the Gaspé
1939 - Purchased twelve acres on this ravine, named it 'Fool's Paradise'
1940 - Built first phase of 'Fool's Paradise', a cottage
1945 - Elected to Ontario Society of Artists, first woman President 1964-1967
1946 - Built second phase of 'Fool's Paradise', a permanent home
1952 - Elected to Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, President 1956-1958
1959 - Purchased cottage on Georgian Bay, built summer studio
1961 - Around the world trip for research and painting
1972 - First of many significant painting trips to the Arctic
1987 - Order of Canada
1990 - Honorary Fellowship OCAD, followed by Order of Ontario and
five Honorary Degrees, LLD
1998 - 'Fool's Paradise' donated to Ontario Heritage
1999 - Artist of Honour (first), McMichael Art Collection
.

Scarborough Bluffs Site - Significant Dates

23,000 B.C. Formation of the ancient Lake Iroquois
8,000 B.C. Earliest known site of human occupation in Toronto
1793 - First European settlers on the Bluffs, the Annis brothers
1800 - Kingston Road first blazed
1833 - James McCowan family, first settlers of the Doris McCarthy property
1837 - Scarborough militia rallies at Gates Inn, in response to MacKenzie Rebellion
1850 - Township of Scarborough municipal council first meets
1856 - First train of the Grand Trunk Railway
1891 - First survey for residential estate lot development
1892 - Scarborough dairy farmers establish the Milk Marketing movement in Ontario
1905 - Electrical Radial Line extension
1906 - Scarborough Heights Park established
1907 - Geodetic Survey Tower built
1915 - Wreck of the Alexandria
1949 - Beginning of significant land development as subdivision
1986 - Erosion control work begins in Bellamy Ravine (Gates Gully)
1992 - Royal Commission on future of Toronto Waterfront
1998 - City of Scarborough no longer exists, amalgamated into Toronto
2000 - Designation of Doris McCarthy Trail, formerly Bellamy Ravine (Gates Gully)
2002 - Installation of the sculpture "Passage"
.

Last modified January 6, 2008