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Photo By Jymi Bolden
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Cincinnati artists learn the fundamental techniques of
preparing chalk for street painting, set to take place
this weekend in Clifton at StreetScapes.
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Out of wisps of baby powder, suddenly a hand appeared on the sidewalk outside the Clifton Recreation Center, bold shades of burnt sienna, bronze and chocolate-colored chalk transformed the bland block of cracked concrete into the beginnings of a masterpiece.
On Saturday and Sunday hands, feet, faces and landscapes will similarly appear on Telford Street in Clifton when 40 artists give the gift of their talent to the community during the second annual StreetScapes Festival.
The artists convened at the Rec Center over the Labor Day weekend to learn how to reproduce the work of the masters with chalk on a canvas of asphalt. Many were repeat performers, but there were a few fresh faces sipping coffee and munching on donuts as national street-painting experts Ken Richmond and Joan Gallagher of Traverse City, Mich., showed slides of other StreetScape events, offered advice on how to create the chalk creations and how to deal with the more than 5,000 visitors expected to meander by to watch the pictures appear.
"There is a lot of winging it in the field," Richmond cautions. "We like to tape down a picture of the image so people can see what you're doing -- they like that. Frankly it doesn't look like much for a while. It looks like a mess."
So how do these artists re-create the works of Henri Matisse, Georgia O'Keefe and Vincent Van Gogh and other famous artists? Richmond and his wife Gallagher darkened the basement room in the Rec Center and projected a large image of a toga-clad gentleman and began to trace the main outlines. When the lights came on they had a reasonable facsimile of the masterpiece, but cautioned the artists their talents will be called upon in the field since it doesn't work to copy every detail. Why? Well the next part in the process, called "pouncing," made that pretty evident.
They take a small seamstress' tool -- a stick with a serrated wheel on the end -- and punch holes in the traced lines. If they copied every line, not only would they shred the paper, but they'd muddy the next step in the process. Once they pounced the paper, they brought it outside and proceeded to rub baby powder into the holes to reconstruct the Renaissance reflection. After removing the paper, they reinforced the image with chalk because baby powder -- especially in a stiff wind -- isn't exactly enduring.
"Quickly take your chalk and go over the holes, really quickly," Richmond says. "Then you can take a breath."
Armed with a box of rainbow-hued chalk, Richmond and Gallagher began attacking the hand of the man they had just traced on the sidewalk. And at first, it was a mess. But as they began to blend and massage the material into the walkway, the digits and fleshy palm began to appear.
But almost as quickly as the illustrations are introduced, they'll fade. So what's the point of toiling more than 16 hours -- all day Saturday and Sunday -- only to see your work evaporate under car exhaust and the elements?
"The main thing about this whole project is it's about the process, not the product," StreetScape committee member Kip Eagen tells the assembly of artists. "You are doing it with other people, working together to produce something beautiful. It is not a competition, it's about working together, communicating and interacting with the public."
"It's not precious," Richmond says. "And when you think about it, if you don't like it, it'll be gone in a week."
Eagen says onlookers can expect the 16 or so paintings to hang around for several weeks, because the artists will be using special chalk they cooked up on Aug. 30.
Lisa Jameson, a Mount Washington resident who teaches art education at Northern Kentucky University, hit the pavement last year. She'll be back this year with some of her fellow faculty members and students. She waxed philosophical on the ethereal element of the work .
"It's like Kip said -- it's all about the process," she says. "It's sort of a metaphor for life. The paintings are there, they are beautiful and you enjoy them, and then they go away."
Western Hills artist Jennifer Grote, who is teamed with others from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, looked up at the dreary sky that day and said she hopes the weather is good again this year. If there is a dousing rain the event will be postponed to Oct. 4-5; if it just intermittently showers, the artists will protect their work with tarps.
A professional streetscaper from California will get to work Friday night so people can see what will eventually unfold on the block during the weekend. The local artists plan to pounce around 8 a.m. Saturday; they'll continue to ply their craft on Sunday. Children can chalk in a special area behind the dry cleaners building from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
And if you go, you're encouraged to engage the artists: They've been asked to bone up on information about the artist they are copying and the painting they are re-creating.
"The paintings were all so beautiful. It is an amazing process," Grote says. "Talking with the people who come by -- it's a wonderful social event. It's all part of the fun, seeing how the artists mix the colors, the whole process, it is such a mystery to some people." ©
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