Folk artist Lewis Mallard made a Hamilton splash in his duck costume. He’s now migrating to Toronto | CBC News

Performance artist Lewis Mallard, known for wearing a duck costume since calling Hamilton home in 2019, is preparing to leave his roost and migrate to his original home — Toronto.

Lewis Mallard moved to Hamilton to be a full-time caregiver for his dad, who had Alzheimer’s disease. His father passed away a year and half later, but Mallard decided to stay in the Ontario city. 

According to the artist, he discovered the design for Lewis Mallard from an epiphany he had while lounging at Gage Park in Hamilton.

Last Wednesday, Mallard announced on Instagram that he plans to move back to Toronto to live with his wife, who is pursuing a career as an opera singer. 

“I’ve got big plans for Lewis and I need a bigger audience to accomplish the career I’m going after,” Mallard told CBC Hamilton. 

The artist began making public appearances as a mallard after his first appearance at the music and arts festival Supercrawl in September 2019. The large mallard attracted a lot of attention over the years, with the artist’s identity a source of wild speculation on social media.

‘The next big challenge’

Mallard said his appearance at Hamilton Supercrawl 2022 gave him even more experience and encouraged him to make the move to a bigger audience. 

“There were multiple reasons to move to Toronto — it was planned with no set date before — it wasn’t until after Supercrawl that I felt comfortable enough to go on the next big challenge,” said Mallard. “And that’s Toronto.”

‘Did I just see a duck?’

J.J. Collins, a manager at Sonic Unyon — an independent record label in Hamilton — has fond memories of seeing the duck in the city. She told CBC Hamilton that when she first saw Mallard at Supercrawl in 2019, she did a double take.

“Did I just see a duck?,” she said. “Anybody who sees Lewis will tell the next person they see and say, ‘Oh my God, I saw Lewis on the way to work today.’ It’s almost like finding the golden ticket.”

Collins said she hopes Toronto will receive Mallard as warmly as Hamilton did.

She believes Toronto will be a great opportunity for Mallard to develop his art for a different audience.

“I hope they think that Lewis is something really special and it puts a smile on their face,” she said. “I think we’re kind of losing a gem, but he said he’ll be back for Supercrawl this year.”

Mallard is hosting an art show at his studio on March 24 that will also serve as a going-away party. He’ll be leaving behind the studio he worked and lived in during the COVID-19 pandemic and where he made the first mallard frame.

Mallard described an encounter with someone he couldn’t see while the artist was a mallard on the street. He heard that person tell him, “Buddy, I don’t know who you are or what you are doing, but you made me smile. I really needed to smile and thank you very much.”

Mallard said, “That was intense.”