2013 Challenge: Ancient

Man has always tried to express his feeling through various forms of art. Painting on cave walls then progressing to other mediums. I was reminded of this ANCIENT urge at the 19th annual Little Italy Festa 2013 where Gesso Italiano (Italian Chalk) Art was one of the major attractions.

Each artist has an 8 ft by 8 ft square in which to draw their registered "Italian" theme artwork. Date Street is closed for several blocks and the artwork is done on both sides of the road. Each "canvas" lists: the Artist or Team name, all the "chalkers", their home city, and their business sponsor.

Most artists choose to copy artwork from an Italian Master, others draw a portrait of a recognizable Italian. The "Italian" interpretation can be quite broad - this year, two artists did different Pinnochio scenes from the Walt Disney animated movie, and others did pre-approved original artwork with an Italian focus.

Some artist's do all the work by themselves, others have a team who assist with filling in larger background areas, allowing the artist to block, draw guidelines, oversee the under layers, then finish the final shading, highlights and details.

Returning artists are easy to spot - most tape a colour copy of their work at the bottom of their asphalt canvas so passers-by can compare their progress up to completion. They prominently display the name of "their" piece and many will have historical information about the artwork posted as well. Some even have notebooks you may flip through, with laminated photos of previous exhibitions in which they have participated.

A few artists will extend their art beyond the square, as seen in this foreground piece, done by Lilianai Mai of Tustin, California working on her "Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo.
What you cannot see is that to the left she laid out a blanket with signage telling you to "become part of the artwork", and pose on the blanket as if you were Adam with your arm and finger reaching towards God (just as it is painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel). That was a great foto op for many of the Festa attendees.

In the background is "Medaglia D'oro" , the Vatican Guards, chalked by Cecelia Linayo of San Diego.

The most stunning art was done by C. Brake from Santa Clara, California.
His link is: streetchalkartist.com
He did a wonderful green eyed, red head's portrait with grapes and grape leaves framing her face!

people: Rich, Ben, Christine, Lou, Ginnie, Ray, Patricia
places: Spring Valley, Little Italy, City Heights
particulars: got "free" parking - found unused stub in the vend machine