Goodbye winter and hello spring! To mark the transition from winter to spring in my corner of the world, I am sharing two of my “bike and walk” outings. The first outing was to Woodbine Beach to explore the Winter Stations on display. The second outing was to the Toronto Music Garden to look for early spring flowers.
Winter Stations at Woodbine Beach
“Launched in 2014, Winter Stations invites the international design and art community to reimagine the lifeguard stations along Toronto’s east end beaches for the winter. The competition has seen entries from over 90 countries, bringing the world of design to the water’s edge“.
The theme this year is Resonance. Contesting designers for the competition were encouraged to reinvent previous installations and infuse them with fresh ideas and their unique artistic vision.
Here’s five of the six winning Winter Stations located from east to west at Woodbine Beach. Have a look and let me know if you have a favourite. Click on the title of the installation for its description.
- Bobbin‘ by University of Waterloo School of Architecture (Canada)
- Nimbus by David Stein (Canada)
- Nova by Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science (Canada)
- We Caught A UFO! by Xavier Madden and Katja Banović (Croatia and Australia)
- A Kaleidoscopic Odyssey by Brander Architects Inc (Canada)
The 6th installation Winteraction is interactive but simplistic in its physical form so I did not take a picture. It requires a phone to get the full experience.
It was a beautiful day with mild temperatures and sunshine. I enjoyed cycling, walking, experiencing nature and culture, all in one outing. I came home feeling happy and grateful.
Early Spring Flowers
I spotted several early spring flowers on my walk at the Toronto Music Garden this month: Crocus flowers, snowdrops, puschkinia and purple irises. Their simple beauty gave me joy. I look forward to seeing a wide range of spring flowers to bloom in the coming weeks.
Link-Up
I’d love for you to share your week’s highlights and/ or public art from around the world in the Comments or Weekend Coffee Share link-up #157 below. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Natalie the Explorer 
What an interesting competition and the winning pieces are neat.
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It takes creativity and science to build these winning Winter Stations that look interesting and can handle winter conditions on a wide open beach.
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For sure, and they are amazing.
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I like your words “Goodbye winter and hello spring”. The spring flowers are my favorite, though a walk barefoot in the warm sand along the beach sounds inviting too.
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The beach walk on a calm, sunny day was quite nice. I hope to share more spring flower pictures as they show up around here.
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We visited the Winter Stations this year like we have for the past several years. This time around my favourite is the Kaleidoscopic Odyssey. We crouch down inside the display to see ourselves reflected on every wall.
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That sounds like a lot of fun, Kevin. My favourite is the Nimbus.
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These are wonderful modern art and I love your featured photo. Love the flowers as well, Natalie
Here is mine https://wanderingteresa.com/pandas-at-the-singapore-airport/
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Teresa, I’m pleased you liked the winter stations and flowers that I shared. Thank you for your PPAC contribution. I’ll be over to your blog shortly.
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The Winter Stations look interesting and a good idea to brighten up the beach in the winter. I think I like Bobbin and Kaleidoscopic Odyssey best, but it’s hard to judge from a photo as they seem like pieces you would get the most out of my walking around?
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Good observation, Sarah. The Bobbin and Kaleidoscopic Odyssey winter stations are meant for visitors to play with them. One would definitely get more out of all of these stations by walking around, getting under them or climbing in.
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Those winter stations are so creative, and your spring flowers so joyous. Just the post fora chilly March day.
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Yes, it takes creativity and science to build these winning Winter Stations that look interesting and can handle winter conditions on a wide open beach. It’s so nice to see early spring flowers after winter even though we had an unusually mild winter.
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Flowers and sunshine are always a winning combination, Natalie. Our fields are full of wild flowers at the moment and it’s very joyful to be among them. Have a great week!
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Jo, I can visualize beautiful fields of wild flowers in the Algarve. You chose well. Have a wonderful week!
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I think the one with the steps going up is my favourite. Nice to see spring as we enter autumn.
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The “We Catch a UFO!” station is fun. It has windows so once you go up the steps you can look through the windows.
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Both sounds like very fun outings! I love seeing all the flowers starting to bloom. I haven’t noticed any here yet but I guess they must be if they’re blooming in Canada already.
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These early spring flowers are small and grow close to the ground but they are definitely there.
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I love Sculpures on the beach – we have a big one here each year. Something about the scenic back drop really makes it special!
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I agree with you that the scenic backdrop makes the art event special.
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Hi, Natalie – I was last at Woodbine Beach ages and ages ago. Thank you for taking us back there again today. Such a great place!
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Hi Donna, I’m pleased to take you back to Woodbine Beach virtually. It’s a great place to walk when it’s not windy.
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I like the creative idea of having artists make winter lifeguard stations.
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The real lifeguard stations on this beach are simply very high chairs for the lifeguards to sit on. The design teams make the stations interesting and fun.
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This is really interesting. I like the idea of Winter Stations. Spring and Fall are my personal favorite as far as temperature; however my allergies during these times do not agree. The spring flowers are gorgeous. I just wish I could get a good sniff without having a sneezing fit.
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Seasonal allergies are no fun. I just love seeing the pretty early spring flowers after winter season.
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Oh my gosh, look at those flowers! Signs of things to come someday near me, but not yet. I love the kaleidoscope one as I can imagine looking through it would be super cool.
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I think your grands will love playing in the Kaleidoscope as its reflective panels display images. The early spring flowers are small and delicate-looking but they have made their presence known around here. I saw lots of daffodil green shoots today.
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I love these installations Natalie. I wasn’t sure which would be my favourite but I was leaning towards the UFO. That is, until I clicked on them and read their description. So now, after knowing more I’m definitely saying that the bobbin is my favourite. It’s so imaginative and clever. Looking forward to your spring photos to come as we are heading very quickly towards the dreaded winter.
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Jennifer, Bobbin is fun to play with, like a see saw. It’s cool and sunny here this weekend so I expect to see more blooms next week after two days of full sunshine.
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The kaleidescope install is very cool.
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People (and dogs) like to play with the Kaleidoscope and take pictures because it reflects and creates cool images.
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Glad you had some spring weather for your rides. The Winter Stations are cool, and always nice to see spring flowers. We were right in the middle of spring, and then… There is snow on the ground and the air is full of it… Yuck. Have a great weekend!
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I hope you have sunny days ahead to melt that spring snow you’ve got. We’ve had a dry winter here so I think the plants would welcome some precipitation.
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Winter Stations – what an intriguing competitions. IT said 90 countries took part. I wonder if Portugal particpated.
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I don’t know which countries participated this year but in previous years, some winning stations were from Europe.
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I enjoyed both the winter stations and the spring flowers. My favorite one was the shiny “treehouse.” I bet kids would love that one! 🙂
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Marsha, Kids and adults love that station. It has windows so once you climb up the steps and get inside, you can look out from the windows.
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Did you climb up? I would have.
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Yes, great minds think alike Marsha 🙂 The event organizers invite people to interact with these Winter Stations.
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Yay! So much fun.
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Very creative installations! It must have been lots of fun walking the beach admiring all the installations.
The spring flowers are lovely. It will be a while until we see them here, thank you for sharing yours.
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You’re welcome, Maria. I enjoyed both outings and thought I’d share them on my blog.
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Thank you for doing that 🙂
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Lovely sites and virtual tours as usual. I can’t wait to get the beach, myself.
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Thank you Antoinette for your compliment. Beach walks are wonderful. I hope you get to do many of them when the weather gets nicer.
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I love all of that art at Woodbine Beach. So super cool. Very nice. Also, those flowers are so very colorful and pretty. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
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Thank you Patrick for your comment. Pleased you liked the artworks on Woodbine Beach and those spring flowers. Have a wonderful week!
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Interesting post, Natalie . I loved seeing the art installations!
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Pam, I’m pleased you liked the art installations.
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Natalie,
The Winter Stations are a great way to perk up the shores of Lake Ontario. I found all of them interesting, but my favorite is Kaleidoscope. Your wildflower pictures are delightful–I love Dwarf Iris, they always remind me that spring is ready to burst forth. Thanks for sharing, and have a great week! Joe
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Joe, The Kaleidoscope is fun to interact with. This beach is popular with dogs and dog walkers. Mortimer would love it. When I see the small Dwarf Iris with its beautiful blue-purple colour, I know spring has arrived. Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful week ahead!
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Natalie, this is a fascinating way to celebrate the past and sculptures and what an unusual competition. They are all so very creative! Yeah – I like saying Goodbye to Winter and you’re greeted by a beautiful array of flowers for Spring. Hooray! Annika
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Hi Annika, Winter Stations is an annual event and it adds some fun to winter here. Although we had an unusually mild winter with hardly any snow, I’m ready for spring. I hope you’re enjoying spring too. Thank you for stopping by.
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Yikes, almost a week late commenting. Time gets away so fast. Thos “stations” are neat. Such pretty spring flowers too. I need to plant more spring bulbs.
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I hope you get to plant more spring bulbs. I love seeing new flowers this week; some daffodils are blooming here. Another Weekend Coffee Share link-up tomorrow (March 29). See you there!
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Wonderful post. The art at Woodbine is amazing. So are your skills as a photographer!
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Thank you Rosemary for your compliment. I found your comments in the spam folder.
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Wonderful post! The art at Woodbine is amazing as are your skills as a photographer. Here is my #weekendcoffeeshare:
https://rosemarycarlson.com/2024/03/30/weekendcoffeeshare-158-march-30-2024/
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Thank you for your link. I’ll visit your blog shortly.
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