Chalk Paintings Color Plaza at S.B. Mission Print E-mail
By Santa Barbara Newsroom   
Monday, May 28 2007

More than 400 artists participated in this weekend’s I Madonnari festival, a colorful chalk display that livens the pavement at the Santa Barbara Mission each spring.

The plaza at the Mission was transformed into pictures of everything from brilliantly-colored fish to religious portraits to landscape and nature murals.

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Photo by SBN
The event, which drew about 25,000 spectators over the three-day Memorial Day weekend, is a fundraiser for the Children’s Creative Project, a program coordinated through the Santa Barbara County Education Office that provides visual and performing arts workshops and performances to thousands of teenagers.

 Dozens of businesses and companies sponsored the squares and hired artists to display their talent.

Santa Barbara’s Madonnari festival was the first of its kind in Northern America, organizers say. The concept of street painting originated in Italy in the 16th Century, when artists would travel from town to town and create street paintings for religious and folk festivals.
 
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Photo by SBN
Santa Barbara’s event started small in the 1980s, and has evolved into a popular event for tourists and locals. The weekend’s festivities also include live music, food and arts activities for kids.

The chalk drawings will remain on the pavement at the mission for the next few months until they are washed away from foot traffic.

 
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