Van de Leur said the inspiration of the design is growth and change with the banner depicting an arbutus tree as a symbol of resilience and transformation. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

Imagination and creativity are on full display across the harbour city’s downtown, and along Bowen Road as the City of Nanaimo displays a new banner design by a local youth artist.

Solana Van de Leur is a local grade 11 artist, who told CHLY that art and story telling has been something she has been interested in for as long as she can remember.

“I kind of have been doing art my whole life, ever since I was little. It started with just drawings with markers and crayons and pencil crayons, and then over the years, I kind of just improved my skills, did a lot of studying other people's art, and just tried to build upon my skills as much as possible,” Van de Leur said. “There wasn't really a moment where I started. It kind of just was here the whole time.”

Van de Leur describes herself as a passionate multi-medium artist.

“I feel like I use a lot of different mediums, but some of my favourites are usually paint. I particularly like acrylic paint and oil paint,” she said. “I also do a lot of sketching with pencils, and I do a little bit of digital art as well, which is what I did for my banner.”

Along with art class, Van de Leur enjoys English class as she enjoys telling stories.

Van de Leur (pictured) is now the youngest artist ever to be selected for the Street Banner Program in the City of Nanaimo. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

She said the inspiration of the design is growth and change with the banner depicting an arbutus tree as a symbol of resilience and transformation.

“The arbutus tree, obviously, that's a very iconic symbol of Nanaimo, so it's one of the things I thought of,” she said. “For the theme, the theme was ‘the world through your eyes,’ I thought of the arbutus tree as kind of a symbol of growth and change, which is why I picked it cool.”

Van de Leur’s new banner design was created for the City of Nanaimo’s 2026 Street Banners Program where her design was chosen from a province-wide call for artists aged 19 and under.

She said it was her art teacher who encouraged her to put her name in for the artist call.

“My art teacher actually introduced us to the banner contest in our art class, and she was the one that actually convinced me to enter,” she said. “I probably wouldn't have known about it beforehand.”

Van de Leur is now the youngest artist ever to be selected for the Street Banner Program in the City of Nanaimo.

“It was really crazy. I almost didn't believe it at first,” she said. “I remember my mom telling me, and I was just like, ‘wow.’”

She said now that the banners with her design are up and now displayed, she can’t believe how cool it is to see her artwork so prominent throughout the city.

“It's really cool,” she said. “Every time I see it, I'm in a little bit of disbelief, like ‘wow, I actually designed that,’ and it's there, just like hanging from the poles. It's really cool.”

While Van de Leur still has a bit of time before she finishes high school, the grade 11 student already has dreams to continue art and pursue either art or graphic design once she graduates.

“I do want to do some kind of career in the arts, even if it's not particularly just being an artist,” she said. “I want to be able to work my creativity into my career.”

The City of Nanaimo said Van de Leur represents a new generation of creative voices that will help shape the identity of the city.

The 2026 Street Banner Program featuring artwork by Van de Leur has now been installed throughout Nanaimo’s downtown, and along Bowen Road and Third Street.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.