The Many Patterns of Toronto

Patterns 

are all around us. 

Whether we take the time to notice them or not we  are constantly surrounded by the many patterns and designs found in jewelry, clothing, animals and nature. When I started to think about every day patterns that existed in Toronto, my mind began racing with possibilities: windows in buildings, brick walls, trees, tiled floors... all of a sudden I realized that everywhere I looked there were patterns. But none of them seemed right, none of them jumped out at me as the pattern I wanted to talk about in my blog. It wasn't until I was waiting for my Go Train to arrive at Union that the perfect pattern came to my mind: train tracks!  

Why not write about a pattern that is so influential on my every day life, a pattern that dictates my arrival to and from school.  Although the Go Train itself would have been easy enough to talk about - with patterns being present both inside and outside the cars - I decided to focus on what moves the train: the tracks. 

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There is something beautiful to me about seeing sets of train tracks buried beneath the snow. When I first look at this picture I see a snowy route to school, but when I look a little deeper I see many different patterns. The first patterns that come to my mind are the most obvious: the regular, sequenced pattern of the horizontal wooden slates, so precise and particular, and I see the irregular patterns of the vertical metal slats, some perpendicular and solo, while others are intertwining and bending. 

When I look even deeper I see a more significant pattern, one that very much represents to me the atmosphere of the GTA. This pattern of snow, train tracks, snow, train tracks, signifies to me the idea of man vs nature - a pattern that can be seen throughout Toronto. Every where you look you see nature and development fighting for their place in our city: parks surrounded by highways, condominiums creeping up on Lake Ontario, flowers neighboring concrete. The question is: who will win?

This idea is significant to me, because very soon these patterns may no longer exist. As Toronto continues to grow  more buildings, stores, apartments and roads are built to accommodate our ever-expanding population. I feel like our society lives in the here and now, destroying nature and beauty without a second thought all for quick profit and quick fixes. 

I am afraid that our contrived and created world may very well overtake our natural, amazing planet. Although I highly doubt I will live to see our city vanquished of all nature, I don't believe that this idea, this notion, is so far fetched. We need to start thinking about our actions, and how we are affecting the future of our children, and the future of humanity. But more importantly we need to think about the future of our planet and all the other species that call Earth their home, because their fate, their survival, their future is dependent on the decisions we make  today. The world is an awesome place, and we should really work to keep it that way. 

This is significant for Early Childhood Education because it made clear to me how easily art can be incorporated into nature and every day events. You do not have to sit and cut out shapes and provide markers to find art in the classroom. It also showed me how easily art and nature can be incorporated together. After doing this blog I thought of several fun art ideas that could be used in the future when I become a teacher. I realized that an easy and fun thing to do with children would be to ask them to go home and into their backyards and find patterns or take a picture of something that looks artistic to them. This helps them to be creative but also to see that art is a part of every day life.

Picture References:

google images