Photo: Andrea Waala
MOWA Art & Chalk Fest 2022
Artist Peter Davidson chalks his creation at MOWA Art & Chalk Fest 2021.
Ready to unleash your inner Van Gogh? How about dusting off your dormant Salvador Dali? Maybe it’s time to rally the reticent Rembrandt within?
You can do all that and more at the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) Art & Chalk Fest, a free outdoor live arts event scheduled for Aug. 20–21 outside the museum’s West Bend facility. Now in its fifth year, the fest will attract an estimated 20,000 art lovers, “graffitists,” and inveterate sidewalk doodlers over the two-day run to make their mark—at least until the next rain storm hits—in sidewalk chalk in the museum parking lot, sidewalks and grounds.
There also will be 20 professional chalk artists creating works during the event’s run, arts and crafts booths, music from nine different area bands and performing arts groups, and all types of food and beverages available for purchase. In addition, there will be glass blowing, pottery throwing and balloon sculpture, as well as free admission to the museum’s galleries during the festival’s two-day run. Art & Chalk is a way to connect art lovers both young and old with producing and viewing art, according to Jennifer Turner, MOWA’s director of marketing and communications. For many, chalk art is the perfect first step, she adds.
“There is a performative, interactive aspect to chalk art, and the artists are able to engage with attendees as they create their masterpieces, while the festival goers are able to see the creation process from beginning-to-end,” explains Turner. “If you ask chalk artists why they go through all that work just for it to be washed away, many will tell you that it’s a symbol of life itself—everything is temporary, and you need to enjoy the moment fully because tomorrow it could all be gone.”
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One of the fest’s best features is that anyone with artistic ambitions is free to participate in the artmaking, no matter how old or how talented they may be, Turner explains.
“Veterans Avenue, which runs between the museum and the Milwaukee River, is closed during Art & Chalk Fest, making it a perfect—and sizable—concrete canvas for a community chalking area,” Turner explains. “Amateur chalk artists often bring their own chalk pastels to chalk in the community area. But all fest attendees are encouraged to grab a free box of chalk from the Horicon Bank tent and chalk the street.”
Art, as they say, may be in the eye of the beholder, but for two days in August it also will be in the chalk-dusted hands of all those who choose to create it.
The 2022 Art & Chalk Festival will be held at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, 205 Veterans Ave., West Bend. The interactive art event is free and open to the public. Visit wisconsinart.org for more information.
