Garden of Future Follies Sculpture

Seven mismatched figures. That’s your first impression of the Garden of Future Follies. They stand here at Front Street and Bayview Avenue in the Canary District. These peculiar bronze sculptures are more than just art. They are a quirky remix of Toronto’s history. The Garden of Future Follies isn’t your typical sculpture garden. Over 80 existing monuments and architectural pieces from across Toronto were fragmented and reassembled. The artists, Hadley Howes and Maxwell Stephens, used a “cinefoil” process. They pressed thick aluminum foil against the original pieces to capture their shape. Then they cast these impressions in bronze. The result is a playful jumble of familiar and unfamiliar forms. You’ll find bits of Sir John A. Macdonald, Frances Loring, Florence Wyle, and even Jack Layton all mixed up together. A bell from St. James Cathedral sits atop a cannon from Fort York. A suitcase from the Memorial to Italian Immigrants acts as a pedestal. The Garden of Future Follies is meant to be a “folly,” a purely decorative structure. Think of the whimsical structures in 18th and 19th-century parks. But these sculptures have a modern twist. They bring pieces of history down to earth, quite literally. Normally, these monuments are high up on buildings or pedestals. Here, they are at street level, inviting you to get up close and personal. Many of the sculptures are low to the ground, the tallest reaching about ten feet. This makes the bronze faces eye-level, encouraging interaction. Across the street is Corktown Common, with its impressive playground and natural beauty along the Don River. The Garden of Future Follies is more than a collection of sculptures. It’s a conversation starter, a playful challenge to how we see history and monuments. It’s a unique part of Toronto’s artistic landscape.