Very impressed with the opening of the Route 501 art exhibit at the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre

Left to right: Local artist Sheila D’Atri-Karpis and Jennifer Bazar, Curator, Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre. Jaan Pill photo. Click on the photo to enlarge it; click again to enlarge it further.

Saffron, a friend of Sheila’s and a Humber student, performed at the Route 501 opening on Aug. 30, 2017. Jennifer Bazar photo

A previous post is entitled:

Route 501: New art exhibit launching Aug 30, 2017 at Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre

I attended the opening, on Aug. 30, 2017, of the above-noted exhibit, and I was very highly impressed.

The New Toronto Post Office, which now houses a JobStart program. Painting by Sheila D’Atri-Karpis.

I very much like the idea of pen and wash paintings to highlight features of South Etobicoke history. This is a great concept – and the opening was a great event.

Local art, local live music, at a great local location. I’m very pleased I had the opportunity to attend.

I strongly recommend that you visit this exhibit, on the third floor of the Lakeshore Student Welcome and Resource Centre, at the corner of Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. West. It’s a delight to see this work, and to think about the history of the buildings that are depicted.

The Lakeshore Student Welcome and Resource Centre is located at the corner of Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. West. Jaan Pill photo

The opening was well planned and a lot of fun. There was live music, which adds much to the ambience of such an occasion. As well, it was evident that all of the attendees had a keen interest in the subject matter that was at the heart of the paintings on display.

The live music was by Saffron of Saffron Music.

Click here to access Saffron’s YouTube channel >

Such events do wonders to establish a link between Humber College and the wider community, of which it is a part, and in relation to which it has a “revitalization” role. I have placed that word in quote-marks, because I generally am not keen about the word. But with reference to Humber’s contribution to the wider community, the term works well.

The Humber Fitness Centre is located at the corner of Twenty Fourth St. and Lake Shore Blvd. West. Jaan Pill photo

Long Branch Aerodrome

I did notice a factual error in one of the texts related to one of the paintings. The text, as it appeared at the day of the opening, said that the Long Branch Aerodrome – Canada’s first aerodrome – had been located in Long Branch.

As I’ve explained at an earlier post, the aerodrome was in fact located outside of the boundaries of the Village of Long Branch. People just liked to name things after Long Branch, even when such places – such as a rifle range, a race track, and an aerodrome, all named after long Branch – were located outside of Long Branch.

I imagine that by the time you get to visit the exhibit, on the third floor of the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre, the text may already have been corrected.

Connection of Humber College to the wider community

I want to close this post by referring to one of my other interests, in addition to following closely the great work that is being done at the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre.

Since February 2017, I’ve been a member of the Humber College Fitness Centre at Twenty Fourth St, and Lake Shore Blvd. West. The Fitness Centre was completed at the same time as the Interpretive Centre at Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. West was completed. Membership at the Fitness Centre is available for local residents, such as myself.

I tend to be a little apprehensive about taking up new activities, such as going to a fitness facility where many participants would be about a half-century younger than I am.

However, because I already had a connection with Humber College through my interest in the history of the Lakeshore Hospital Grounds, and through knowing a lot about the great work that is underway at the Interpretive Centre, I put my apprehension aside.

As well, when I first visited the Humber Fitness Centre, I think late in 2016, one of the staff gave me a tour of each of the three floors of the building. That was a great way to be introduced to the building, and its features.

I have been working out at the Fitness Centre regularly. I much enjoy the fact that the equipment is new, and state-of-the-art. The staff and everybody else is welcoming and friendly.

For over 30 years, I’ve been working at building up my muscle strength, through working out with machines and free weights. My focus is on strength, not muscle mass. Recently, I signed up for some personal training sessions at the Humber Fitness Centre, because I want to get more proficient at strenuous compound exercises (with barbells or dumbbells) such as the Clean and Jerk, and the Squat.

It was prudent, as I embarked upon some personal training sessions, to first get my family physician’s okay, given that I would be doing some pretty strenuous exercises. My physician did a through assessment and pronounced that I was good to go.

Compound (multi-joint) exercises are pretty demanding; they are very strenuous – which is the whole point, of wanting to get really proficient at them.

I much enjoy strength training, as well as high intensity interval training, involving walking and short spurts of very fast running, because this is one area of endeavour where you can see the results, the longer you stick with the program.

In some areas in life, you work and you work and you may not know if the progress or results will ever be there. With fitness pursuits, on the other hand, under the right conditions, the results are clearly there.

Key factors, in that regard, are having the right equipment, enough space to move around in – which is a key feature, that I very much like, at the Fitness Centre – and solid, evidence-based information about how to proceed. All of these factors are in place, at the Humber Fitness Centre.