Before checking out of our accommodations in
Niagara on the Lake, Rich and I went for a final early morning bike ride around the quiet suburban neighbourhood of our rental home. For the most part, the houses were bungalows or two storied structures that were much more modest than the ornate mansions that we saw in the Historic Old Town. But they still sat on relatively large properties and often had beautiful gardens covered with flowers and shrubs. One of the larger homes on a corner lot had a gorgeously landscaped front yard that was oddly juxtaposed with multiple large gargoyle sculptures situated amongst the flower beds—the epitome of “beauty and the beasts”.
After returning to the rental house for a final breakfast with our friends who were staying with us, we packed up, mounted our bicycles back on our bike rack and were on our way. As part of drive back to Toronto, we planned two stops. First we would visit the
13th Street Winery in
St. Catharines, followed by a stop in
Grimsby to visit an interesting attraction called the “
Painted Ladies” (more on this later). We would grab some lunch in Grimsby before continuing home, hoping to reach Toronto before the rush hour crush that had slowly resumed now that the pandemic was more under control.
The
13th Street Winery is situated on 25 acres of estate vineyards just west of St. Catharines and offers a unique combination of wine, food and also art! On the same property, we would see vineyards full of purple grapes, a wine store, bakery, bistro, indoor art gallery and an outdoors sculpture garden consisting of huge fields full of large-scaled sculptures. This especially appealed to me since I am not particularly fond of wine, but I really like art and particularly giant sculptures.
We started our visit by checking out the sculpture garden which covered a huge grassy expanse the size of several football fields. There were huge sculptures scattered throughout, as far as the eye could see! Each sculpture is accompanied by a plaque describing its name, artist and a QR code which leads to a more detailed description of the work including its size, medium, and artist’s intent. My favourite sculptural installation is called
“The Hunt (2015)” by Toronto artist Ken Hall. It consists of five bounding wolves each made from laser-cut, welded, weathered steel, racing through a patch of (deliberately) overgrown grass and wildflowers. You can sense the energy and movement in the animals by the way they are depicted mid-stride. What totally makes the piece work is the perfect integration of the art with the natural surroundings. We viewed The Hunt from afar and up close from every angle, each time getting a different effect.
Another favourite was “
Tia (2019)” by
Tamara Plugers. An acronym for “Thankful in Adversity”, TIA depicts a tattered woman who raises a chalice in thanks, despite having faced the “winds of adversity” that have been blowing against her. In a technique similar to papier-mâche, the sculpture consists of a wire frame, layered with strips from discarded t-shirts, tablecloths and rags, sealed with Paverpol, a water-based substance that is waterproof and weather resistant and then painted. We spent some time walking around and around TIA, admiring the detailed textures in her hair and the flow of her robe. Amusingly as we were leaving the 13th Street Bakery after viewing the sculpture garden, we spotted another tiny Paverpol figure with her arms in the air, peeking out of some tall grass.
We also loved the works by
Floyd Elzinga including “
Unzip the Earth (2018)”, which once again cleverly integrates the art piece with the environment. Using stainless steel for the slider, concrete bricks for the elements or teeth, and exposed earth to contrast against the grassy “tape” of the zipper, Elzinga channels pop artist Claes Oldenburg in making giant versions of common, every day objects. He is also the artist who created “
Prayer Seed (2018)”, the giant thistle seed made out of steel and metal parts from food industry manufacturing machines. We continued to see more of Elzinga’s work later when we explored the 13th Street Art Gallery. Perhaps because I was not viewing it from the right angle, I did not know what I was looking at when I first saw
Ilan Averbuch’s piece comprised of curved vertical Douglas fir logs with a long horizontal log spanning the top. But then I read the title “
Endless March (1991)”, stepped back and saw the group of laden men, trudging along with their heavy burden hoisted on their shoulders.
“
The Necklace (circa 1990s)” by
Karoly Veress turned out to have much more depth and personal meaning to it than you would think if you just gave it a cursory glance and went by its title, which seemed to label it as just an ornate, decorative piece of art made from painted sheet metal. But reading the artist’s description from the QR Code, you find that each gem on the necklace has significance to Veress’ life. Looking from left to right, the plum shaped piece represents “ a life cut off suddenly” when he was forced to leave Hungary after the revolution in the 1950s, fleeing to the Netherlands. The yellow is for hope, the red is love, black is war and revolution leading to tears, and orange is warmth and shelter that he has since found. There were two other pieces that I really liked but unfortunately neglected to capture the names of the artists or the works. One was a mesh-like maple leaf that flitted in the wind, surrounded by a bright red frame that perfectly matched Rich’s shirt. The other was the tail of a whale as it plunged into a pool of actual water, which was perfectly set with the vineyards in the background.
The
13th Street Art Gallery holds rotating exhibitions highlighting different artists. We saw more works from
Floyd Elzinga including some stunning 3-dimensional landscapes made from scratched and etched steel to form mountain and lake scenes and intricate metal trees with sprawling branches and roots attached in the foreground to give the works depth. We also liked the colourful palettes and thick layers of paint in the works of
Carlo Amantea.
But one of the most surprising things “on sale” in the gallery was an old
1980s Mercedes-Benz SL Class that sat at the front of the display floor. It was a beautiful vehicle in pristine condition with gorgeous red leather seats, and both a removable, interchangeable hard top and a soft top. I had to ask whether this was an actual car that was for sale or some sort of artwork that I did not understand. The owner of the gallery collected old cars and decided to sell this one. It will be interesting to see what car might be on sale the next time we visit.
Finally before leaving the
13th Street Winery, we actually went to buy some wine. Had we planned our timing better, we would have stayed for wine tasting and made reservations to eat lunch at the beautiful outdoor patio. But we had just eaten a large breakfast and were on a schedule to get to our next stop while still making it home before the rush hour traffic crush. Rich picked up a couple of bottles of the Cuvée Rosé NV and then we went to the bakery to buy some of what were touted as “
Canada’s Best Butter Tarts” to bring home. They were extremely good butter tarts and very close but not quite matching our favourites (Madelines in Stratford, Ontario), although what people like in butter tarts is really subjective.
Our last stop before heading home was
Grimsby, Ontario where
Grimsby Beach used to be a Methodist meeting ground and campsite for religious gatherings from 1859 to 1875. Worshipers would camp overnight with their tents to listen to preachers during the day. The area was known as “Chautauqua of Canada”. At the centre of a circular park named
Auditorium Circle, a memorial cairn with plaque marks the spot of the first Methodist Camp meeting held in 1859. It was erected to mark the centennial of that event. In the aptly named “
Bell Park” sits a bell that was originally meant for the Grimsby Temple, built in 1888 to sit in the middle of Auditorium Circle but since demolished. At 1577 pounds, the bell was too heavy for the temple and instead was placed in the park where it rang to call people to worship, or as an alarm in case of fire.
By 1875, organizers began building Victorian Gingerbread-trimmed summer cottages to house the worshippers. These sweet structures had ornate trim and mouldings, gable accents, decorative railings and some had double-decker porches. The cottages encircled Auditorium Circle and also lined
Temple Lane and were given cute names such as “Dunworking” and “It’ll Do”. Over the next century, the houses fell into disrepair and many were destroyed. In 1986, Ed Giernat purchased and restored one of the original cottages, painting it with bright colours to bring character back to it. After that, many of his neighbours asked for similar treatments to be applied to their homes, resulting in a group of homes that are affectionately known as “
The Painted Ladies”.
The vivid colours and cute décor can be found not only on the Gingerbread cottages but also on fences in the front or back yards and on garages and tool sheds. Even the “free little library” box is decorated in the same style as the houses, with ornate trim, bright purple paint and embellished with a vintage plate, mug and tea pot. These vibrant, whimsical houses have become a tourist attraction and a reason to stop by Grimsby.
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