Old East Village gets another splash of colour with mosaic sidewalk squares

Walking along the Dundas Street corridor in Old East Village is becoming a lot more vibrant with a series of mosaic sidewalk squares between Adelaide and Rectory streets.

There are 10 mosaic panels being installed, with each one sharing a theme or story from local community groups. The Clayworx Community Mosaic Projects team has been installing the art along Dundas Street this week.

"So, basically, we're just beautifying Old East Village," said Beth Turnbull Morrish, the mosaic art director at Clayworx. "The Old East Village Business Improvement Association came to us and together we collaborated on what can we do to make this stretch of Dundas more beautiful."

The artwork is being layed into the sidewalk by Morrish, along with production lead Cassandra Robinson, and mosaic assistant Sadie Wasylko.

WATCH | Mosaic sidewalk panels are being installed along Dundas Street:

The design of the panels is loosely based on the City of London logo and it's trees. The local community also played a role in the creation of the sidewalk panels by working with the clay to infuse their own stories.

"We would guide the participants in cutting out the pieces from a template and we asked them to come with some ideas, or imagery, or words that they wanted to put on their tiles," said Morrish. "I love seeing people tell their stories, because that's in a way adds a sort of a beauty to the narrative. It really elevates the artwork a lot."

Once the tiles were dried, painted, glazed and fired, they were assembled into their patterns and are now being laid along the sidewalk.

For Morrish, the work is about adding beauty to the neighbourhood.

"It's fulfilling, she said. "Taking something that was nothing before and turning it into something cool looking is like to me, that's where it's at."

Morrish said their passion for creating mosaics came from a road trip to Philadelphia in 2010, when a group toured the city's world renowned Magic Gardens, created by artist Isaiah Zagar. She would return to the city in 2017 to take a mosaic installation workshop with Zagar to learn the technical side of the craft.

Clayworx, formerly known as the London Clay Art Centre and London Potters Guild, has created a number of stunning wall mosaics in London, including the recent designs on the three-storey tall Embassy Commons building.

Here's where the new mosaics are being installed:

The project was in partnership with the Old East Village BIO and was fund by the City of London.

Content Producer

Travis Dolynny is a content producer with the news and current affairs teams at CBC London. You can email him at [email protected].