A Chalk festival
I couldn’t really explain these pictures better than Mt. Vernon / Lisbon Community Development Group does…
“The event will present the work of more than 200 artists utilizing a downtown city street as a canvas and more than a half-ton of chalk. This year’s event will be a juried art festival, and will include awards for 22 artists totaling $1,250 in cash prizes. One artist will be given a $250 cash prize, and will be asked to return to the 2012 Chalk the Walk festival for a paid spot as the 2012 Chalk the Walk featured artist.
Chalk the Walk is based on an original art form that began in Italy in the 16th century. Called Madonnari, this form of public art was originally done by street artists hoping to collect coins from passersby. Images back then were based on religious themes, and as the Madonna was a popular subject, the artists became known as the “Madonnari.”
“Chalk the Walk always takes place the first Saturday and Sunday in May,” says Scott Rose, Chair of the Chalk the Walk Committee. “This year, that happens to be Mother’s Day weekend. What better way to spend Mother’s Day 2011 than at Iowa’s largest Madonnari festival. Imagine a beautiful spring day in Iowa with hundreds of community members and visitors from all walks of life, gathering together to work on a single collaborative piece of art. That is Mount Vernon’s Chalk the Walk.”
This year’s large collaborative piece of art is a 22’ by 37’ recreation of a colorful, large map of Iowa. For a $10 donation to the festival, participants are given a set of pure pastel chalk sticks and will be asked to color a single 2’ by 2’ section of the State map of Iowa, and when finished, the chalk drawing will appear on Mount Vernon’s Main Street as a giant Iowa quilt, colored with pastel chalk by artists of all ages and abilities.
More information is available through the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development’s Web site at www.vistmvl.com.
About Mount Vernon
Historic Mount Vernon, Iowa, is home to 4500 residents, including1200 college students enrolled at Cornell College. Located in Eastern Iowa at the intersection of Highways 30 and 1, 20 miles north of Iowa City and 15 miles east of Cedar Rapids, it boasts a vibrant uptown business community with numerous antique and specialty stores, restaurants, coffee houses, commercial art galleries, and three National Historic Districts.”
