TAKE
IT TO THE STREETS
Sidewalk
chalk takes over Marietta Square
Dap Tales and I have a
daughter. We call her The Bean, ‘cuz
when she was born, that’s all she was; a
tiny little bean, wrapped in a swaddling blanket in our arms. She has her mother’s radiant smile and
shimmering eyes. Lingering there, behind
that bright countenance, was a world full of curious questions and big
ideas. Even when she was little, the
ideas were big, super-sized in fact.
Case-in-point: Barely old enough
to have started drawing, her mind would float from idea to idea like a
butterfly from flower to flower, and her hand, from surface to surface, until
her tags were everywhere; multiplying like locusts throughout our home.
I know, every kid eventually earns their
stint in solidarity for drawing on the walls, but this kid; the level or
immediacy of the punishment couldn’t dam the flow; redundancy of punishment was
a wasted effort. It soon became evident
that we were dealing with a brain experiencing ideas that simply were too big
to fit on any page. It seemed the way
the world was around her, immersive and encompassing, so it was with her
interior world as well. Ideas were
everywhere and when she wanted to express them, that’s how they appeared, from
her big little brain onto our walls.
Then… it came into our lives; the magic that is Sidewalk Chalk. Genius!
Finally, a medium that could match the size of our Beanie’s big dreams
and didn’t require a home remodel afterwards.
So, you could say we have a personal connection with “street art” of
this nature. It was from this
perspective that we planned a family day excursion to Marietta Square to
witness artists, from Georgia and afar, dressing up the asphalt with splashes
and dashes of colorful chalk creations of all kinds.
The entire event was a two day
affair, with artists setting up and drawing all day Saturday, finishing and
presenting to a panel of judges Sunday.
We went Saturday, so saw the works of art in their early stages. Even at that stage of the game, there were
some truly impressive things to see: Concepts
ranging from the realistic to the whimsical and art styles as varied as the
artists themselves.
There was everything
from art deco and graphic styles, to lush realistic portraits to glowing
fantasy mélanges. With techniques featuring
striking sharp contrasts in edgy designs and soft, blended hues and shading
bringing human faces richly to life. And
this smorgasbord was while the pieces themselves were still mostly incomplete.
We stopped in at an ice cream
shop there on the Square for some refreshment, which did not disappoint, and
found some chairs out on the sidewalk to chill.
A live band started cranking out hits from the seventies, the sound rebounding
throughout the Square over our heads and those of milling spectators.
Band: Brother Whitlock. They sang some Southern Rock Hits. (Photo)
We strolled.
Just in front of the bandstand was a park, littered with rambling,
chattering children. DAP and I perched
atop a brick wall and watched Beanie frolic among the laughing throng of kids
as the music played, until it was time to get outta Dodge. We were not able to return Sunday for the
finished works and the judgment of awards but we still had the chance to be
wowed, as we invariably are, by the craft and dexterity of brilliant minds
expressing the ideas that just won’t stay confined within the walls of their
brains.
******
About al-Falaq (a.k.a. Phil Bates):
al-Falaq is a writer and illustrator living in Atlanta, Georgia. He loves cats and shares his home with an ornery fur ball with nine tales, at least! His collection of poetry and short stories, Threadbare is available on Amazon. al-Falaq is also our resident blogger for our RGN on Location Blog.
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