chalk festival 2011: cleveland museum of art

Every September, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts a Chalk Festival on their spacious back lawn. Their walking paths are paved with large stone squares whose smoothness is ideal for chalking. The museum is a very short walk from Case’s main quad, so every year I’ve ended walking by in time to witness the colorful aftermath. Last year, I swore to myself that no matter what I was doing, I would not miss the 2011 chalk festival.

So despite being exhausted and haunted by an extremely challenging group project, Brad and I headed down early Saturday morning, the 17th, to pick out our squares and get sketching.

After multiple hours of laying in the sun on this gorgeous day, this is what we ended up with. (click for an even bigger picture!)

Participating in a community art project was a new endeavor for me. This was especially fun because there were so many children there… they all had the most delightful comments. Some observations included, “that looks just like a giraffe!”, “i like your grass, that’s really good grass”, and my favorite: the little boy who said, “wow! you’re a really good artist.”

It was exciting because all day people were walking by, and a member of the party would say, “ooh, look at the giraffe!” because they considered our squares among those that should not be missed.

Did I mention that it was a gorgeous day?

We also got to walk around and see everyone else’s wonderful drawings. There were so many people, all making amazing things and enjoying the lovely day. It was good for the soul.

This one was drawn by a boy who couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 years old – it was incredible!

Pancake Explorers! See the little guys climbing the pancake? They have a tent!

After waiting so long to actually participate in the Chalk Festival, it made me really, really happy that we were able to draw something so awesome. In the midst of such a stressful weekend, the opportunity to make something outside in the presence of other creative people was just perfect.