The wisdom of the BIA bench encourages people to ‘eat, buy, live, explore.’

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The first renovated art project benches owned by the Tilsenberg Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) were installed last week – and the rest received earlier this week as well as theme announcements.

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A total of eight benches were painted by two visual and media artists selected during the June / July competition for Indigenous (First Nations, Init and Metis) or BICCO (Black, Indigenous and Colored).

Carroll Slater, Downtown Tilsenberg BI events and marketing coordinator, said they plan to save Oxford County artist Ronda Franks on Tuesday.

“They look amazing,” said Salatari. It’s really good at drawing BIIs and it’s all based on the theme “Eat City, Buy, Live, Explore.”

Franks, Indigenous Artist and Designer, In 2010, she created Baseline Creative, a graphic design company that complements her “artistic focus.” According to Artist Biowa, this allows her to express and explore her creativity in a variety of ways, including painting, painting and design. Themes Live, Shop, Eat and Explore Each decal with only one corporate color is added and is represented on four sidewalk displays. Signs needed to capture unique, retail, food and lifestyle opportunities in the stunning city of Tilsenburg. For each theme, digital recorded doodles are designed to enclose heritage sites, transactions, and a style that emphasizes the local nature of tourism as well as tourism.

Each artist said they were able to visit Tilsenberg, explore the city center and ‘live’.

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Aggi Armstrong used a BIA photo from the top of The Town Center Mall to cover the street with a white background.

“That’s Pita Pitt,” Salateri said.

According to artist Bio, Armstrong was born in Manila, Philippines, and moved to London, Ont. At the age of 18, she now lives in Oxford County. Armstrong is a versatile artist, primarily working with watercolors and acrylics. She combines color and fiber art with high-flow acrylic with traditional wet-on-wet water color techniques in her work as a result of post-operative awareness and neo-expression effects. Her pieces are covered with meaning and metaphor, twisted into a new story in a modern twist. She combines references to women’s human consciousness for a variety of questions (like a crossroads) and presents colorful images in a feminine voice that answers these questions.

“When you see Ray Vidal, he used it to sort out some of the different colors of paint and the like, and to show Turtlefest’s scenes, the clock tower and some other pieces of art from downtown,” said Salater.

Visigua-based Vidal, ‘He is a multi-disciplinary artist, wall artist, musician and educator. He is passionate about bringing people together through art, music, education, teaching, workshops and community programs. He currently focuses on large murals, designated foundation work and community programs and workshops for children and youth.

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STEPS Public Art, which has funded the art project, has an app that shows all STEPS art is being done throughout the district and a complete profile of the artist.

“The moment our BIA beauty team unloaded the trailer and put it on the road, people were sitting on it,” Salateri said. “So people are happy. It’s great because it gives you a chance to stop, watch the scenes, and take a break. So it helps to have access to the city center.

The benches are located in the center of Broadway or on side artreets such as Ridot or Bridge Streets, creating a “path of wisdom from one end to the other.”

“We want to make sure people know not only downtown Tilsenberg Broadway but also the sidewalks,” he said. There are also many shops, parks and things on the sidewalks.

Renovated benches, high-end urban flower arrangements (in collaboration with the Tilsenberg Garden Cultural Association and Tilsenberg Garden Gate), and many of the city’s trees add to the charm of the downtown area.

The BIA also contributes to the road cleaning and beauty team.

“We have received a lot of support from many service centers. They have some amazing programs that have made students and adults with us. So we had support during the summer, but we also had support that would help us maintain that high purity and be a welcoming place for people.

“They are not just a beauty team, they are ambassadors for the BIA. That’s why the shirts can say ‘Ask me where to eat’ and so on. He’s playful, but it’s about getting people to talk to our team… and to understand what the BIA is and where we are here, which is the beauty and promotion of downtown.

cabbott@postmedia.com