Overdale Ceramic Wall Plaque by Leanne Franson

Overdale Street, Montreal 1986 ceramic wall plaque: full view

Leanne Franson

Overdale Ceramic Wall Plaque, c. 1987

Low fire talc clay

This piece documents the lively neighborhood social life and diversity of the community on Rue Overdale in Montreal, a short L-shaped street between Lucien l'Allier and Boul. René Lévèsque (Dorchester Street at that time), near Métro Lucien l'Allier. Many Victorian row houses were low income housing for immigrants, artists, students, elderly. In 1987, the City of Montreal sold a small side street off Overdale to a development company, who planned to demolish the entire block of housing and businesses to create "an oasis in downtown Montreal" of highrise condos and upscale business real estate.

Residents protested, there was much activism, arrests, and forced evacuations, resulting in the death of at least one of the elderly residents from heart attack. The building portrayed in this hand-built ceramic piece, coloured with washes of liquid colour acrylics, was directly across from my apartment in the facing building, on the southeast side of Overdale, which wasn't facing demolition.

I knew all the residents depicted as neighbors I saw daily, as they went about their lives in front of the building and on the balconies, and consider it a great loss, this diverse and lively community.

After the evictions, the land was left undeveloped, used as a parking lot, for at least 20 years before it was developed into the current buildings. It is an excellent example of real estate speculation over the community of real people who make up cities.

It is 6 plaques of about 1" thick slabs of low fire talc clay mounted on 3/4" plywood, with holes drilled for hanging. Each plaque depicts one of the six apartments in that building.

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From Leanne Franson

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Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Jerôme et son fantôme: binoculars on the St-Laurent, 2015

Buddy is Gone!, c. 2006

Girl Sitting on Stack of Books, 2002

Pavel Leaves His Dog with Justine, 2000

Justine's Sleepless Night, 2000

Zelda the too-pretty bat: Flying, 1999

Sara Takes on the Cossacks., 1998

Little Women Cover, 1997