Scadding House and Fort Rouille on the CNE Mandala CNE

The oldest building on the CNE grounds is Scadding House, located at 25 British Columbia Road which is near the Bandshell.  It was built  in 1794 by the Queen' s Rangers for John Scadding , a clerk to John Graves Simcoe, a surveyor, who was the first Governor of Ontario.
The house was originally on the east side of the Don River and was moved by the York Pioneer Historical Society to the CNE site as a museum in 1879.

Fort Rouille was originally located right near the Bandshell ( Art Deco, 1936 by Craig & Madell )
and was built under the orders of the Marquis de la Jonquierre , the governor of New France.  It existed from 1750 to 1759. I have painted the memorial sculpture into the mandala.

There are many different styles of architecture at the CNE, including :

Baroque Classical
Art Deco
Romantic Classicism
Regency
Beaux Arts
Neo-Classicism
Modernism

and others which I will add on at a later time.
 Many of the older buildings are gone now, and I have painted some them into the mandala ; for example:

The Crystal Palace; and the  1st and 2nd Dufferin Gates ; the Manufacturers Building and the Shell Tower.
( When the Shell Tower was built , we thought it was so fantastic and loved climbing the stairs to the top, where we could view the whole Ex ! )

I feel immense appreciation when I stroll through the grounds and imagine and recall the times I and thousands of others who, over the last 132 years, walked through the buildings, present and past.
My spirit is raised due to all the architectural delights which are a symbol of success and a reflection of who we were, and are.
I have been filling in the details of these buildings and the mandala is beginning to come alive.

For further info about this and my other 30 mandalas, please contact :

torontomandalas@gmail.com

CNE mandala is moving along...

As Marilyn Bell swims by the CNE shoreline, with Gus Ryder rowing nearby, crowds cheer as they look on.
Soldiers line up at the Collossium to sign up for WW1.
At the same time on the mandala, a carnie wails "Dawwwwwgee........ Dawwwwgee ", as thousands serpentine through the midway games with that chant echoing on the deep canyons of their tiny ear parts.
I still hear it now, and that was muchos anos ago.
Oh, what fun it will be to surf around this mandala, with so many sites to see and enjoy discovering !

Elsie the Cow in the CNE mandala !

I was searching high and low for Elsie...we couldn' t wait to see her and her offspring when we had our day at the Ex !  We didn' t care how long we had to spend in line in order to see her boudoir ( sponsored by
Borden' s Milk Company ).  How delightful they made it for little children back then, something like a dreamy Christmas window downtown.  Most of us had never been to a farm, and so this presentation was a most welcome sight, especially the crib and all !  And so I found a spot for Elsie' s Boudoir in my mandala last night wearing her big daisy-chain necklace.  I wonder if that is why I love daisies so much and have put one or more in most of the last 30 mandalas...hmmmmm.

For further info please contact me at :
torontomandalas@gmail.com

CNE/Ontario Place Mandalas Are On Their Way !

I have been working on this mandala for the last few weeks and have so far sketched in the buildings old and new, the Flyer ( extinct ), the Cinesphere, the Giant Ferris wheel, Fort Rouille, Scadding House, and much more.
Who can forget the waffles, sno-cones, corn-on-the-cob, Honeydew cone cups and decanter, coconut marshmallows, fudge, licorice, chocolate bars, and a myriad of other delights found in the Pure Food Building and down the midway ?
We always packed a lunch and used our saved up spending money for the treats along the way.
There were free samples galore, including : rulers, pencils, book covers, Lola drinks, soups, Fry's Cocoa in miniature tins, tiny Coke bottles.....oy. oy, oy......never ending stuff to fill our bags.  It was wonderful !!!!
And those gas mask prizes at the fish pond....I guess they were army surplus.  We kind of  thought it was a weird prize, what with the rubbery smell when you put it on your face.  I think they ended up in the cellar after we got home.
I mean, we were just little kids and were so elated when we got stuff for nothing...the joy of it all !
And we appreciated every little gift for sure, for sure.

And who hasn' t used the Princess Margaret Fountain as a meeting place ?

Or climbed up the stairs of the Shell Tower ?  Wow ! It was like the Empire State Building to us !

We would go home at the end of the day with our kewpie dolls or monkeys on a painted bamboo cane and have Sweet Dreams of " Our Day at the Ex ".

I have a long list of other events and foods and activities and memorable moments that I will be mentioning as I go along as well as incorporating into my mandala.

Please stand by for more posts as I make this mandala come alive with all the fun and excitement enjoyed at the Ex and Ontario Place throughout the years from 1879 to 2011.