{"id":763983,"date":"2026-06-27T04:47:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T04:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/763983\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T04:47:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T04:47:32","slug":"meet-the-artists-adding-splashes-of-colour-to-downtown-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/763983\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the artists adding splashes of colour to downtown London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Along the grey brick road on Dundas Street in downtown London, local artist Amsa Yaro has thrown in splashes of bright colour, music and dance.<\/p>\n

She was approached by the London Arts Council to design banners, planters and a kiosk on the marquee block on Dundas Place, which is home to the London Music Hall and TAP Centre for Creativity.<\/p>\n

Her planters depict characters shaking tambourines, playing horns and banging on drums. She said her goal was to add a bit of fun to the downtown core, and to give commuters a reason to stop and smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have art in your community, art in the city, it shows that the city itself is trying to make life worth living,\u201d said Yaro, standing beside one of her designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife isn\u2019t complete without those types of moments, without those types of little nuggets here and there, those treasures that we catch. And a lot of the time, it\u2019s the arts around you that gives you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Local artist shares inspiration behind her Dundas Place designs:\"\"<\/p>\n

This London artist is trying to beautify Dundas Street<\/p>\n

Amsa Yaro is one of many local artists who have been commissioned to create original pieces of artwork throughout downtown London. Take a look at Yaro’s designs on Dundas Street, and hear why she thinks the city needs more public art.<\/p>\n

Yaro was one of the artists commissioned to create designs on Dundas Place. The project is part of a growing number of art installations popping up throughout the city, which Yaro said provides artists with opportunities to share their work with a wider audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that every artist would dream of, to leave your legacy behind in the city you live in,\u201d said Yaro.<\/p>\n

Murals installed on BRT shelters<\/p>\n

The city is also unveiling a series of art installations at new Rapid Transit bus shelters, including at the Downtown Loop, East London Link and Wellington Gateway corridors.<\/p>\n

Construction on various Rapid Transit projects has been ongoing for years. As more bus routes open up, local artists such as Tova Hasiwar hope their work provides busy commuters with an opportunity to step outside of their daily routines and reflect.<\/p>\n

\"womanTova Hasiwar is an artist, sculptor and designer. (Submitted by Tova Hasiwar)<\/p>\n

Hasiwar created a piece of artwork that now sits on top of the new Rapid Transit shelter on Wellington Road and King Street. The installation is her homage to London\u2019s music scene, and is similar in theme to her mural at RBC Place, which celebrates London\u2019s designation as a UNESCO City of Music.<\/p>\n

Her artwork at the bus stop includes translucent circular discs that represent vinyl records, as well as five, curved lines representing a music staff. Hasiwar recorded herself saying the phrase, \u201cLondon City of Music,\u201d and she turned her voice recording into braille. These dots are incorporated into her artwork to show how music is tied to many different languages and forms of communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether they like it or they hate it, or they have a strong opinion about what they\u2019re looking at, it\u2019s good to make people pause and think and be curious about the city they\u2019re in,\u201d said Hasiwar.<\/p>\n

\"busA new design by Tova Hasiwar is installed at the rapid bus transit shelter at Wellington Road and King Street in downtown London. (Jessica Singer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Local artist Billy Bert Young also created a series of panels for a bus shelter at King and Talbot streets, which he is calling the Corridor of Dreams, named after a song from the band The Cleaners From Venus.<\/p>\n

If commuters have a moment to pause and take in his artwork, he hopes his installation takes them on a visual journey. He used pastel colours to create a variety of scenes and characters that blend into one another and resemble comic book illustrations.<\/p>\n

\"art\"This art by Billy Bert Young is set to be installed at a rapid transit shelter at King and Talbot streets. (Billy Bert Young)<\/p>\n

\u201cI create these impossible worlds, one where certain things overlap that in the real world could never overlap,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to capture the liveliness of the city, but also within that, the chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Hasiwar, Young hopes public art will give people a reason to reflect on the various cultures, histories and even challenges that make up the city they live in.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in a busy city, especially one that is imperfect, there is room for beauty and there is room for these moments where you can just sit back and spend some time and take a break and just enjoy culture that\u2019s happening before you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-763983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}