Back to Search
This winter, the streets of downtown Kitchener will transform into an open-air art gallery. Canvas in the Sky, a new street banner program, features ten talented Kitchener artists.
Downtown Kitchener has a distinctive energy that makes it unique, special, and instantly recognizable to all who know and love it. It’s the heart of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship for the region, steeped in history and filled with pride.
To reflect this energy, the combined teams of Arts & Entertainment and Downtown Development created the Canvas in the Sky initiative, inviting local artists to submit artistic proposals for a vinyl banner series to be hung on light poles along King Street in downtown Kitchener, connecting the west side to the east side.
The Canvas in the Sky project consists of two sets of banners showcasing distinctive seasons, each with art that reflects its season.
The chosen designs embody the downtown Vision and Guiding Principles - radiate vibrancy, cultivate connection, and belonging - and speak to the connection that people have to our downtown while celebrating its vibrancy and liveliness.
Learn more about our artists and see their work on the streets of DTK starting December 2025.
Butterflies, Esther Sanchez
Esther Sanchez is an artist who is passionate about elevating her clients visual identity with vibrant and engaging imagery. She had a colourful start to her art career producing and curating solo art shows in Toronto and began designing graphics for local businesses.
Fair Warning, Nathaniel Voll
Nathaniel Voll (he/they) is a visual artist, playwright, poet, actor, and arts educator living in the Willow River Watershed (Kitchener, Ontario). Working through analogue collage, Voll builds dreamlike ecosystems where the surreal meets the sincere.
Their featured piece, fair warning, celebrates the act of noticing: inviting viewers to slow down, to find beauty in the everyday, and to remain open to the quiet wonders that surround us. Through his work, Voll encourages a way of seeing rooted in curiosity, tenderness, and connection to the living world.
Basin Tapestry, Ellie Anglin
Ellie Anglin (she/they) is a multimedia visual artist and creative writer working in Kitchener, Ontario. Ellie is self-taught and has been practicing for over twenty years. She works primarily in collage, illustration and creative nonfiction and has self-published 34 zines. The themes of her work include feminism, queerness, pop-culture, embodiment and magic. She was the Artist in Residence for the City of Kitchener in 2024, for which she created Ribbon Zine. Her graphic memoir Reproduction: Death, Birth & The Turkey Baster Method will be published by PS Guelph in 2026.
www.ellieanglin.com | @ellieanglin | substack.com/@ellieanglin
Winding Down, Miho Nagayama
Miho Nagayama is an illustrator and designer with a love of bright colours. Having worked with various non-profits & student groups, she has really enjoyed community-oriented projects. Being recently pulled into the realm of public art, she is able to combine her formal education in urban planning and her current role as a designer. She is looking forward to bringing more of her colourful creations to the community.
Her other public artworks can be found throughout Waterloo, Kitchener and Toronto.
Transverse, Baz Kanold
Baz Kanold (they/them) is a graduate of Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Waterloo. While their full-time work is at a non-profit, they also teach art classes part-time at the Button Factory in Waterloo. Their work generally explores the fluidity of gender and is a celebration of the queer identity. While they consider themselves a mixed media artist, they focus on oil painting, conté and pencil on paper, embroidery, and digital art.
Black-eyed Susans, Dottie Chiu
Dottie Chiu is a designer and illustrator who primarily works in narrative driven watercolour and mixed media projects. She enjoys illustrating little moments in life, immortalizing flowers and buildings as they are. Previous works include: All The Farmers You Will Know published April 2023, used as teaching resource for primary grades for Agricultural studies in Canada, and cover illustration for the 2020 Vancouver Library Anthology. Dottie is a graduate of Sheridan University Illustration Program, and lives in the Waterloo Region with her partner, their dog and chinchilla.
www.dottiechiu.com | @dottiechiu
Winter Forest, Miho Nagayama
Miho Nagayama is an illustrator and designer with a love of bright colours. Having worked with various non-profits & student groups, she has really enjoyed community-oriented projects. Being recently pulled into the realm of public art, she is able to combine her formal education in urban planning and her current role as a designer. She is looking forward to bringing more of her colourful creations to the community.
Her other public artworks can be found throughout Waterloo, Kitchener and Toronto.
Snow Moon, James Nye
Junco City, Meredith Blunt
Meredith Blunt, an artist based in Kitchener, Ontario, specializing in watercolour and ink drawings of birds. Her detailed and lively artwork captures the beautiful energy of avian life and our bonds to it. As a founder of Bird Friendly City Kitchener, she is making significant strides in promoting bird conservation locally and the role art plays in our relationship with nature.
An accomplished "Bird a Day 2023" project highlights a new bird each day, successfully engaging and educating her audience. Inspired by the connections people form with birds, her work serves as gentle yet impactful advocacy for nature and fellowship.
Jolly Happy Soul, Donia Liu Neekman
Hi! I'm Donia, a visual artist passionate about bringing stories to life through art. I specialize in character design, visual development, and creating immersive worlds that captivate audiences.
My work blends whimsical fantasy with emotional storytelling, creating characters and environments that resonate with viewers. From concept to final art, I love every step of the creative process.
Together We Go, Cornelia LeRoux
Cornelia LeRoux explores the spirit and individuality of animals in her paintings, blending realism with a playful, imaginative edge. She tries to capture each animal's personality through movement and colour. Drawing inspiration from the wild landscapes of her life—born in South Africa and raised in Canada—her work largely focuses on the creatures that inhabit these two continents.
hygge, Dottie Chiu
Dottie Chiu is a designer and illustrator who primarily works in narrative driven watercolour and mixed media projects. She enjoys illustrating little moments in life, immortalizing flowers and buildings as they are. Previous works include: All The Farmers You Will Know published April 2023, used as teaching resource for primary grades for Agricultural studies in Canada, and cover illustration for the 2020 Vancouver Library Anthology. Dottie is a graduate of Sheridan University Illustration Program, and lives in the Waterloo Region with her partner, their dog and chinchilla.
Contact Us