March 29 through August 13, 2017
The Pasadena Chalk Festival, one of the area’s most popular arts attractions, celebrates its silver anniversary in 2017. The chalk festival began as a small event with a humble launch in front of Pasadena City Hall in 1993.The unique event now includes about 600 visual artists a year and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the Civic Center over the two-day festival weekend. Tom Coston and Patricia Hurley of Light Bringer Project, founders and organizers of the Pasadena Chalk Festival, have teamed with PMH to produce an exhibit exploring the history and impact of the festival's medium.
Art in the Street is made possible in part by the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division.
This centuries-old style of street art, also known as pavement art and street painting, can also be viewed as a type of performance art. Artists use impermanent materials such as pastel chalk to create a variety of images and designs on streets and boulevards, sidewalks, plazas, and public spaces. For the past twenty-five years, the Pasadena Chalk Festival has celebrated this medium, attracting artists and design teams from many regions of the country. Leading art schools, museums, and cultural centers are also represented in the annual event.
The creation and installation of chalk festival murals, some of which are site specific, and chalk drawing demonstrations are featured. Photographs, a video history, and artists’ stories are included. Major accomplishments highlighted in the exhibit include breaking the Guinness Book of World Record in 2010 and presenting centerpiece artists like the Aboriginal team from Alice Springs and their “dream painting.” A special “tools of the trade” display gives visitors an inside look at the art form’s process and techniques. Chalk Festival Artists will demonstrate drawing, and the public will be encouraged to join in (chalk materials provided) on specific dates throughout the run of the exhibition.
Concurrent Exhibition
The Art of Getting There: Railroad Inspired Artistry, (March 29 through August 13) celebrates the history and beauty of railroads. Artists, photographers, and countless others have tried their hands at making their own rendition of railroad culture. Traditional art such as paintings and photographs, advertising art, sculpture, and carvings are view in this exhibit. Read more...
Images: Gloria Ing & Team, Masquerade Party, 2016. Photo by Brian Biery; Shaina Joel. Liz Taylor, 2016. Photo by Brian Biery; Yoko Mazza. #40 at Speed, 2013. Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches.