Coventry PEACE Chalk Festival is Aug. 20

Spectators watching featured artists chalking.

On Saturday, Aug. 20, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., ARTFUL will host the first Coventry PEACE Chalk Festival. (It's taking place the same day as the Harvey Pekar festival on Coventry.)

The community is invited to participate and celebrate the four-centuries-old Italian tradition of street painting, in which artists of all backgrounds and styles work side by side for a set amount of time to showcase their workmanship.

Unless artists opt to dampen their surface with mists of water, street painting involves no liquid. Instead, artists use paint in its solid form—soft pastels.

Four featured artists, Bruno Casiano, Hector Castellanos Lara, Wendy Mahon, and Jerome White, will be on hand to share their talents in this often-underestimated art form. Together, the four have 50 years of experience in the craft.  

In the week leading up to the festival, three community groups are practicing their street-painting skills. Members of Grace Community Church, families from Reaching Heights' Exceptional Children's Advocacy Group, and students from Roxboro Middle School and Heights High will be working with the featured artists to learn a variety of techniques.

For $10, participants will receive a box of 12 colors; $20 will buy a 24-color box and a larger piece of real estate. 

Live music will begin at 11 a.m., with Cats on Holiday. From 2 to 5 p.m., No Bad Day will play some hip-swinging reggae.

Light refreshments will be available to purchase.

For more information, and to register for the event, visit http://artfulcleveland.org.

Robin VanLear

Robin Van Lear, a member of ARTFUL at Coventry PEACE Campus, is the founder and former director of community arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and creator of Parade the Circle. Van Lear and her artist husband, Jesse Rhinehart, are 33-year residents of Cleveland Heights.

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Volume 15, Issue 9, Posted 10:54 AM, 08.16.2022