Photo: Andrew Williamson
If you were visiting Toronto’s waterfront this past September 27th (2025) you would have had the pleasure of witnessing a procession of colourful flags flutter across the lake. As part of the city’s inaugural Water/Fall Festival, artist Melissa McGill created a kinetic piece of art celebrating Lake Ontario. A flotilla of over one hundred canoes, flying a pleasing palette of flowing elongated flags meandered its way about the harbour. The colours were generated by a variety of natural pigments sourced from environs by the lake. Melissa collaborated with artist and ink-maker Jason Logan to formulate the colours. Everything from grapevine, algae, goldenrod, mulberry and copper aiding in the dyeing of the windswept banners. A sampling from the palette is shown below.
Colours: Jason Logan
A Lake Story, in part, acknowledges Toronto Waterfront’s commitment to the re-naturalization of the city’s Don River. As Melissa McGill says, "This vibrant, waterborne canoe procession brings us together to engage with Toronto's watershed, celebrating our interconnectedness by writing the lake's own colour story across the sky and reflected in its waters."