Sarasota Chalk Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sarasota Chalk Festival |
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2010 Sarasota Chalk Festival poster for a week-long event, design by Jeff Bleitz
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| Status | Active |
| Genre | Festival |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Sarasota, Florida |
| Coordinates | 27°04′46″N 82°26′32″W / 27.079326°N 82.442147°W |
| Country | U.S. |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Denise Kowal |
| Organised by | Avenida de Colores, Inc. |
The Sarasota Chalk Festival is a cool American event that celebrates street painting, also known as pavement art. It's like a giant outdoor art show! Denise Kowal started it in Sarasota, Florida. During the festival, artists use chalk and sometimes special paint to turn the streets into huge, amazing artworks. You can even watch them create their masterpieces!
These artists are often called Street Painters, Chalk Artists, or Pavement Artists. In Italy, they're known as Madonnari. The festival happens every year in downtown Sarasota, in an area called Burns Square. In October 2013, the festival was even featured by the New York Times as a great place to visit!
Contents
Festival History and Growth
The Sarasota Chalk Festival started in 2007. In 2010, it became the first international street painting festival in the United States. This meant artists from all over the world were invited to join! Each year, the festival picks a special theme for the artists to follow.
A book about the festival, called Sarasota Chalk Festival, was published in 2011. It shares the history of street painting and features many famous artists. Many of these artists come back to the festival year after year. The book also talks about the music and arts scene in Sarasota and its beautiful beaches.
Festival Themes Over the Years
Each year, the Sarasota Chalk Festival picks a fun theme. This helps artists create unique and exciting artworks.
2010: A Spooky Halloween
The theme for the 2010 festival was Halloween. Many famous street painters from around the world came to participate. The event lasted seven days, from October 25 to October 31. More than 80,000 people visited! It was so popular that the city kept the streets closed for an extra day so everyone could see the finished art.
Several documentaries were made about the 2010 festival. The festival's founder, Denise Kowal, was even invited to be a judge at the Grazie di Curtatone festival in Italy. This is a very old and respected street painting festival.
Amazing 3-D Art A featured artist in 2010 was Edgar Mueller, a Maestro Madonnaro and Guinness World Record holder. He created a huge three-dimensional (3-D) street painting that changed how people saw street art. This artwork looked like a giant during the day, but at night, it changed into a fetus using special glowing paints and lights! It was 100 feet long and 40 feet wide.
Another Guinness World Record holder, Tracy Lee Stum, also created a 3-D artwork. It was a 65-foot by 30-foot interactive Mousetrap game. Leon Keer, a third Guinness World Record holder from the Netherlands, won third place for his art featuring characters from Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood.
Other artists created amazing pieces too. Genna Panzarella, the first woman to earn the Maestra Madonnaro title in Italy, painted a giant skeletal horse. Vera Bugatti from Italy created a Batman-themed artwork.
The 2010 festival also had other fun events. These included a film festival, a fashion show, a pumpkin carving contest, and live music and dance performances.
2011: Art Through the Ages
In 2011, the theme was 'Pavement Art Through the Ages'. About 250 famous pavement artists from all over the world came to Sarasota. Artists from countries like France, Australia, Germany, and Japan participated. The festival attracted 200,000 visitors!
Incredible 3-D Creations A special gallery showed works by Kurt Wenner, who invented 3-D pavement art. Wenner also gave talks and created a street painting with students to teach them about perspective.
Dutch artist Leon Keer returned and, with other artists, created a 3-D picture of China's Terracotta Army made of Lego bricks! This artwork got attention from media all over the world. It was painted around the same time a 9-foot-tall Lego man, named Ego Leonard, washed up on Siesta Key beach. The Lego man had "No Real Than You Are" on his shirt. He was "arrested" by the sheriff but was later released to Denise Kowal.
Another huge 3-D artwork was a 30-foot by 60-foot opera set by Michael Kirby. It was a mix of 3-D painting and real objects, created for a performance of Madame Butterfly by the Sarasota Opera. This was the first time something like this had been done!
Many other large 3-D artworks were created, including:
- Avatar by German artist Gregor Wosik (30' x 60')
- Mermaids by USA artist Melanie Stimmell (15' x 20')
- Four Continents by USA artist Julie Kirk-Purcell (15' x 15')
- A circus scene by Spanish artist Eduardo Relero (15' x 30')
- Books by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra (15' x 20')
- Augmented Realty by USA artists Art for After Hours (30' x 40')
- Pirate Ship by USA artists Wayne and Cheryl Renshaw (12' x 24')
- Skatepark by USA artist Rod Tryon (15' x 30')
Cellograff and Going Vertical The 2011 festival also introduced Cellograff to the United States. This is a type of graffiti painted on cellophane stretched between poles. More than five of these temporary artworks were made.
The festival also added Going Vertical, inviting graffiti artists and muralists to paint on buildings. French artist MTO, Kanos, Astros, and Katre from France, and Eduardo Kobra from Brazil were among those who participated. Eduardo Kobra painted a huge mural of downtown Sarasota from the early 1900s. This mural is now a popular background for photos at future festivals.
Murals were painted on walls of buildings around the city. After the festival, a reception was held at a new parking garage where murals had been painted on each of its five floors. These murals celebrate the arts in Sarasota, showing dance, film, music, opera, and theatre.
2012: Circus City USA
The 2012 festival theme was Circus City, USA. This celebrated Sarasota's history as the winter home of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in the 1920s.
Famous artists and performers were featured, including Sarasota resident and tightrope walker Nik Wallenda, 3-D pavement art innovator Kurt Wenner, and Ego Army artist Leon Keer. Performers from Circus Sarasota and other groups also participated. The festival had international acrobats, two life-size sculptures of Indian elephants, and two stages for performances and music.
A local newspaper, the Sarasota Observer, created a free guide to the ten-day festival. It included a map, event schedule, and stories about the festival's history.
Ego Leonard and Elephant Sculptures Ego Leonard, the giant Lego man who appeared on a Sarasota beach in 2011, was featured at the 2012 festival. He had missed the previous year's festival while in "protective custody."
Snowflake and Surus, two life-sized sculptures of Indian elephants, marked the entrances to the festival. They became very popular. After the festival, they stayed in Burns Square and became a favorite spot for photos.
Going Vertical Continues Going Vertical also returned in 2012. Artists like Pixel Pancho, Entes y Pesimo, and MTO created many colorful murals. One mural, "Go, Go, Denise, Go!", was painted by MTO and showed the festival director as a boxer. This was in response to some people criticizing the modern street art. MTO even made a documentary movie about it.
2013: A Legacy of Valor
The 2013 Chalk Festival honored veterans with the theme Legacy of Valor: honoring veterans, inspiring patriotism, and embracing freedom. This theme was suggested by David Taylor, the festival's official photographer and a Vietnam War veteran.
More than 500 artists and thousands of people participated in this event, which ran for six days from November 13 to November 18. The festival expanded significantly, doubling its size and stretching across downtown Sarasota.
Sculpture and Exhibitions Sculpture was a big part of the festival again. A minimalist sculpture garden, inspired by the Sarasota National Cemetery, was a main feature. It had headstones and memorials to honor fallen veterans. Ceremonies were held daily, ending with "Taps" at dusk.
The two elephant sculptures, Snowflake and Surus, returned and were part of the 2013 festival.
The festival also announced an exhibition of studio artworks by the street artists. Many of these artists have works in museums around the world. These studio pieces were shown and sold during the festival. A permanent Sarasota Chalk Festival gift shop and gallery opened after the event.
The Sarasota Observer again published a free guide to the 2013 festival, with a map and articles.
Going Vertical in 2013 Going Vertical projects continued throughout the year. A mural by JBAK (James Bullough and Addison Karl) appeared on the Ice House building. The final mural of the season, "Road Trip 2" by MTO, was painted on The Players Theatre.
2014: Extinct and Endangered Species
In 2014, the festival moved to Venice, Florida, after six years in Sarasota. Founder Denise Kowal organized artists to create a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Anamorphic (3D) Pavement Art' in the world.
Kurt Wenner, who invented 3-D pavement art, designed the massive piece. It covered 22,747.6 square feet! Artists, led by Julie Kirk-Purcell, finished the artwork in 11 days. In February 2015, Guinness World Records officially recognized this achievement.
Artists from all over the world participated, including past record holders like Remko van Schaik, Marion Ruthardt, Gregor Wosik, and Lydia Hitzfeld. Many other talented pavement artists from Mexico, Japan, Italy, Russia, and the USA also contributed. The City of Venice and many sponsors helped make this record-breaking event possible.
2019: Museum in Motion
The chalk festival returned to the Burns Square Historic District in downtown Sarasota on April 5-7, 2019. This special spring date was chosen because the November 2018 festival had to be canceled due to a red tide event in the Gulf of Mexico.
