Winterlude Graffiti

Graffiti artists were invited to add some much needed colour to the Rideau Canal Skateway for this year’s Winterlude celebrations.

It’s great to see that our capital city has made sure to include hip-hop culture in this annual event.


As you can see this outdoor gallery is set up so people can skate or walk by the works of art. Each cube holds four different pieces.


Ahhh! The Abominable Snowman is attacking the Parliament Building.

There were a lot of different styles of art to see from landscapes to characters to…

the traditional way of tagging your name in bright letters where each letter is stretched and bent almost beyond recognition.

This is a nice piece that really establishes the spirit of Winterlude. It shows skaters going down the canal and it features hip-hop style lettering in the foreground and the capital city landscape in the background. Amazing piece.

This painting shows the skaters passing by the confectionery huts that are set up along the route. Here you can stop and get a hot chocolate, a Beaver Tail pastry treat, and have a washroom break.


There were a lot of people out this past weekend. It really was something to see this many people skating down a canal that carries watercraft during the summer. In fact, the building you see here has paddle boat and canoe rentals during the summer months.

This shot gives you some scope of the outdoor gallery.

Here is some more of this great art.

I think it’s amazing that this temporary outdoor gallery was set up. I was really hoping to meet some of the artists and talk to them. I would like to do a segment on my radio show about graffiti art. So if you are one of these artists please contact me either below in the comments, by email, or on Twitter. I’d love to hear from you.

6 responses to “Winterlude Graffiti”

  1. I found the link to the radio, for sure I will listen.
    I used to listen to coast to coast am every night before I went to sleep.

  2. Hi Ela,

    Thanks for tuning in to our radio show. I hope you enjoy it.

    You can download the podcasts of the interviews I have done so you can hear me easier. The podcasts are mostly music other than the interviews but if you listen live, we do have some moments where we go on air and ramble too.

    I won't be there live this weekend but I think we are airing the second installment of my Know Your History segment.

    Thanks a lot!

  3. Hi Chase .. love the art – they're very clever artistically those artists .. what a lovely place for a show – and being able to skate up and down the canal .. gosh I'd love to be 14 again with skates on .. and just go for it. Such fun tosee – thanks .. interesting about your radio show .. what do you talk about & is it to do with school?? thanks – Hilary

  4. Hi Hilary,

    The radio show I am part of is called DOPEfm. We have the overnight shift Saturdays starting at midnight on 93.3 CFMU Hamilton, Ontario.

    We play hip-hop music, do artist interviews, and I do a monthly segment about the history of hip-hop as well.

    It's a lot of fun being part of the show. I have some great interviews lined up in the next couple of weeks. For now, you can click on the "artist interviews" tab under my header if you want to see and hear what I've done so far.

    You can tune into the show live at http://cfmu.mcmaster.ca/ or download our weekly podcasts at http://dopefm.mypodcast.com/

    Thanks for showing interest in the show. I hope you check it out.