Modern festivals emulate the 16th century art form by turning street painting into performance art, but are well-planned events that typically incorporate other forms of entertainment. These festivals can range in size from dozens of artists, such as the Tivoli Street Painting Festival in upstate New York, to hundreds of artists located in multiple and linked festivals, such as the Via Colori. While the chalk art is the main event in the Royal Palm Art & Music Festival, other festival happenings include jazz bands, kayak races, carnival rides and a beer garden. Structured as fundraisers, these Madonnari festivals are sponsored by combination of organizations and private donors. In some events, individual artists seek a list of sponsors, which is similar to marathoners who contribute funds to charities by racing.
In these chalk art events, artists are given a prescribed area and paint supplies. For example, in the Tivoli Street Painting Festival, each artist must paint an 8-foot square that has been given an undercoat of tempera. Each participant receives a box of artist’s pastels. Because artists use their fingers to press the chalk into the small fissures in the street, their fingers frequently become raw. After a few hours, their backs and knees become sore. While adult artists typically have one to two days to finish the work, children take about an hour to paint a much smaller area.
While the majority of chalk artists are amateurs, hundreds of professional artists partake in these festivals, according to the Sarasota Chalk Festival. These professionals journey from event to event, earning between $2500 to $25,000 for a few days of work. Major artists, such as Tracy Lee Stum and Edgar Mueller, can make more than $100,000 for one installation.
Artists can select an old master to mimic or invent their own designs for chalk art events. Some artists spend a great deal of time studying their subjects. They create stencils of their designs and use paper dropcloths to translate their designs to concrete. Other artists magnify their ideas on paper via the use of diagonals, which begin at one corner of the design on the street. Using a mapped out grid, they proceed to fill out their design square-by-square.
Other chalk art events revolve around children, such as the “Kids’ Chalk Art Project” in Alameda, California. Founded by local artist, Mark Wagner, the project involved more than 3800 children who created the 90,000-foot, 2 chalk art, according to Drawing on Earth. Wagner’s next project is the “Global Storybook Art Project: 2009–2014,” which is the world’s largest chalk-illustrated storybook done by children, according to Drawing on Earth. Launched in Caracas, Venezuela in December 2009, the project will take five years to complete by children located across the globe.