First Impressions: Telling Toronto's Stories

Inspired by the successful "Poetry on the Way" project, First Impressions is comprised of a series of 18 beautifully designed posters that feature historical and contemporary artists, and their first impressions of Toronto.

First Impressions celebrates our diverse heritage and Toronto's arts community, past and present. The project highlights how different waves of immigration have built our city, and reveals the artists' stories in an engaging and public way.

Through its exposure on the TTC over the next year, First Impressions reaches out to a broad cross-section of contemporary Torontonians to help them realize the importance their own stories have in the historical narrative of our city. As so many residents were born elsewhere, the artists' stories should inspire everyone to think about their own first impressions of Toronto.

Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Arts Council gratefully acknowledges support from RBC and The George Partnership for the First Impressions project.

Click on the following links for profiles and photos of the artists featured in the First Impressions:

Pierre Berton: 1920-2004, Author, Historian, Journalist & TV Personality

"When we first arrived in Toronto, I felt almost as if I had come from another planet... In those days, Toronto really was Hogtown: most people considered it to be the dullest community in Canada. The time would come when I would agree. But to me in 1931, it was wonderful. Everything was new, everything was different - from the orange Honey Dew signs that winked on and off to the policeman who stood in the middle of the main intersections twirling stop and go signs."

(Starting Out - 1920-1947 by Pierre Berton, published by McClelland and Stewart)

Lada Pada, Artistic Director of SAMPRADAYA Dance Creations, Founder/Director of SAMPRADAYA Dance Academy

"When I came here forty years ago I was an exception, today I'm mainstream."

Soheil Parsa, Director, Actor, Writer, Dramaturg, Choreographer and Teacher

"The immensity and coldness of Toronto were intimidating at first and yet there was something inviting, something gracious about the city that made me feel safe and secure. Toronto is my home."

Elizabeth Postuma Simcoe: 1762-1850, Artist & Diarist

"We dined in the Woods and ate part of a Raccoon, it was very fat and tasted like lamb if eaten with Mint sauce."

(Diary entry, November 20, 1793)

First Impressions, Second Series: Public presentation, May 2010

Richard Fung, video artist and cultural critic

"I first saw Toronto from the back seat of a station wagon where I’d fallen asleep on the long drive from New York. I opened my eyes and glimpsed the sky through a spider’s web of black lines. I now appreciate how our overhead cables give the city a unique texture while keeping us mobile and connected to each other and a wider world."

Emma Goldman: Anarchist Activist and Writer

"The public and university libraries in Toronto were lacking in modern works on the social, education, and psychologic problems occupying the best minds. We do not buy books we consider immoral, a local librarian was reported as saying."

Juliet Palmer, Composer and Interdisciplinary Artist

“Playing a gong, standing in the waters of the Salmon Run fountain, I was struck by the amazing image of Yin and Yang at the water’s edge. The SkyDome: the CN Tower. Here was a city that had married its feminine and masculine selves on a gigantic scale.”

Lucius O’Brien, Painter and First President of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1880

“Toronto is the best art centre in Canada at present, and there are more artists here than anywhere else.” (Letter to Robert Harris, 1879).

First Impressions, Third Series: Public presentation, coming next

Keiko Kitano, Dance Artist

“When we lived in Tokyo, I couldn’t understand why my Torontonian husband told me I miss watching all different kinds of people in the subway. After living in Toronto for the past 6 years, I now know what he meant and would miss it too.”

Dáirine Ní Mheadhra, conductor and Co-Artistic Director of Queen of Puddings Music

"Landing in Toronto 15 years ago felt like diving into an explosion of choice unknown in Ireland. So many different cultures, music, food, languages… even lunch was complicated. What kind of bread? What kind of mayo? What kind of mustard? The discovery that the world’s best opera singers live in Canada took about 3 minutes. Ordering a ham sandwich would clearly take a lot longer…"

Walt Whitman, American Poet and Writer

“In Toronto at half-past one. I rode up on top of the omnibus with the driver. The city made the impression on me of a lively dashing place. The lake gives it its character.” Walt Whitman’s Diary in Canada (1904), July 26-27, 1880