Street Painting!

The masters are always popular at SPFs,
and this Mona Lisa reproduction was
beautifully executed.

I lived in Raleigh for about 12 years, and for three of those years I worked for Visual Art Exchange (a non-profit) and helped organize and produce the Raleigh Street Painting Festival (now part of SPARKcon), a public art festival during which artists (professionals, amateurs, and school groups) create large chalk pastel paintings on asphalt. In fact, I was at VAE in 2001, RCSP's first year. That festival grew from festivals here in Florida and, to be perfectly honest, putting together the festival was my favorite part of my job. It's an enormous undertaking, with planning for the next year beginning as soon as the current year's festival is over. I really miss that part of working with non-profits...it's so amazing to get involved with community. So when I discovered that I live about an hour south of the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival (their web site boasts they are the largest street painting fest in the WORLD), I was thrilled!

The LWSPF was a couple of weekends ago. I didn't have time to get my students involved this year, but next year I'll definitely be organizing some student teams. If you live anywhere near a street painting festival, I highly recommend spending a Saturday or Sunday purusing the art. I went on Sunday morning around 10am when I knew most of the artwork would be largely completed. There were still a number of artists at work, as well, so if you want to see the work in progress AND get a good taste of the finished product, Sunday morning is the time to go. (Most festivals are two days, beginning Saturday.)

Here are a few of my favorites from the 2012 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival. Visit their website to learn more about this beautiful tradition.

And a few student squares (Elem., MS, and HS):