cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  

This story began more then 3 years ago during the period of Covid19 social and physical distancing. After months of isolation, the only safe places where my wife and I could meet our granddaughter was outside in open places like the Cherry Beach Park, Corktown Common Park or park around Brickworks in Toronto.

On one of those walks she found a piece of dry bark and asked me:
– “Grandpa, could you make something out of this?”
– “Yes.” I answered. “What would you like me to make for you?” – “A reindeer.”

And so a reindeer was born. Or should I say, re-born. As coincidence would have it, when my daughter was young I invented a bedtime story for her starring a reindeer, and not an ordinary reindeer, a green-haired one. Here is an excerpt from that story:

“In a country far away (or very close just around the corner) there was a reindeer living in a place where nobody liked him. People chased him away, nobody wanted his company. He wandered, pondering why until one day walking by a lake he noticed his reflection. The reindeer had green hair, hair like nobody else.
. . .
Under the surface of the lake, the reindeer noticed a beautiful underwater town. He dove down to get a better look. The people of the town looked just like him, but also nothing like him. Many had green hair and others hair of various colours. They greeted him with smiles and he felt happy and free.
. . .
Now ahead of them lay a task, to transfer that sense of mutual acceptance to others, above the lake’s surface. To explain to them that the right to be different is a basic human right.”
\\\\\\\///////
Proposal for DesignTO Project - PDF document
Proposal for Brick Works Project - PDF document
Proposal Therapeutic Art Installations - PDF document
We are considering our stories part of our art activities. Here they are, for now they are available on Serbian, original language they were written, but very soon you will find them translated on English.
Originalna verzija price Zelenokosi Jelen - Srpski - PDF document
Jos jedna prica - Covek Koji je Pravio Zmajeve - Srpski, PDF document
Prica o crvenim vratima - Stiska Br. 15 - Srpski, PDF Document
O rodjendanu - sa Tasmajdana- Srpski, PDF Document

This is how this project was started. Through the use of natural, recycled materials, I am creating minimal or no waste in the production of this artworks and honour the potential found in organic materials all around us. I am planning to continue making them in the future.

Toys vary in sizes between 20x15x10cm [~8x6x4in] for the largest to 8x6x5cm [~6x3x2in] for the smallest. Each is carrying singular perspective, equal, reciprocal and interconnected.

As Robin Wall Kimmerer, Indigenous person, distinguished professor of Environmental Botany, Director of the Center for Native People and the Environment, said: “It was trough the action of reciprocity, give and take with the land, that the original immigrant become indigenous. For all of us, becoming indigenous to the place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.”

Primary interest for my previous work was analysis [psychogeography] of public urban built environment, the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings to cities and beyond to contemporary urban ambiance, that I am calling “postmetropolis”.

Ambiance significantly changed in past 2 years to include adaptation to the changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and we are more and more relying on our personal inner space. We hope to find better practices and more sustainable ways of living life and fulfilling our needs.

I am thinking along the positive side stories of so-called eco-modernists more then ever needed in this challenging time.

\\\\\\\///////

CONCLUSION:

Social and physical distancing, Covid19, Equity in public space, Sustainability, Reciprocity, Resilience, Climate Change, Social Equality, Environmental protection, Participation, Nature, Right to be different, Placemaking, Public Urban Art, Psychogeoography, Observation, Perception, Omen Urbis, Genius Loci, Urban Forest, Better Future, Anti-monumental Public Art, Creativity in all of us. . .

       
  green hair toys   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  green hair reindeer #01 - 2020 green hair reindeer #02 - - 2020  
  goulalala[lala] with golden hair - 2023   goulalala[lala] with golden hair - 2023  
  goulalala[lala] with golden hair - 2023 goulalala[lala] with little bit of golden hair - 2023  
     
  fox with trace of green hair - 2023 fox with trace of green hair + sketch by grandaughter lumen - 2023  
     
  person/house. get in if you want - 2022 person/house. get in if you want, or go up on the roof terace - 2022  
  cayo coco, native plants, so far green   cayo coco, native plants, so far green  
  cayo coco, native plants, so far green – bird - 2022 cayo coco, native plants, so far green – lizard - 2022  
  cayo coco, native plants, so far green   cayo coco, native plants, so far green  
  cayo coco, native plants, so far green – turtle - 2022 cayo coco, native plants, so far green – turtle & lizard - 2022  
  socrates, red hair octopus   socrates, red hair octopus  
  socrates, red hair octopus - 2022   socrates, red hair octopus - 2022  
     
green hair raindeer visiting a la place de terreaux in lyon - 2021 green hair fiery visting charlottenburg courtyard in berlin - 2021  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  green hair dragon, 2 wheels, 11 legs, 2 wings - 2021 1 granddaughter + green hair dragon, 2 wheels, 11 legs, 2 wings - 2021  
     
  well decorated green hair elephant - 2021 well decorated green hair elephant carrying scarred observer - 2021  
    cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  well decorated green hair elephant observing available literature - 2021 deda self portrait - 2021  
     
  dragon/ship/machine - observing area of "first 10 blocks in Toronto" 2021 observer ignoring his dragon/ship/machine exploring typography - 2021  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com    
  observer with his computer on the dragon/ship/machine - 2021 green hair elephant, green hair raindeer, dragon/ship/machine & observer  
     
  green hair unicorn, hiding in the bushes - 2020 green hair elephant, green hair raindeer, both confused - 2020 - 2021  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  green hair dog #01 - 2020 yellow hair cheetah #01- 2020  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  green hair giraffe- 2020 green hair bull ferdinan - 2020  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
green hair bear - 2020 no hair dog jara - 2020  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  green hair unicorn - 2020 green hair lama - 2020  
    cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
pink hair girl in a puddle and the chair - 2020 green hair fiery - 2020  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
stick man with green head band - 2020 monument - 2020  
     
multi coloured bird - 2020 green hair tukan - 2020  
     
  girl with multicolour hair - 2020 girl with multicolour hair - 2020  
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com   cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
gruffalo's child with stickman - 2020 gruffalo's child visiting girl with the pink hair - 2020  
    cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
  green hair bear reaching for the fossil up on a tree - 2020 green hair salamander - 2020  
     
  ohhh ohhh participant is down  
     
  I am fine, don't worry plexiglass shelf with all the toys as of may, 2021  
   
       
  cherry beach toys - urbansquares.com  
       
  .......myPsychogeography-book by urbansquares.com...  
urban squares initiative is licensed under a creative commons attribution-share alike 2.5 canada license.  
   
  Last time updated on June 30, 2023