Moncton festival brings vibrant but temporary chalk art to downtown street - Action News
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New Brunswick

Moncton festival brings vibrant but temporary chalk art to downtown street

More than a dozen artists drew elaborate,colourful chalk-based imageson the street aspart of Moncton's first International Street Painting Festival.

The theme of the festival was the history of rock and roll, inspired by Saturday's Guns N' Roses concert

A person in a lime-green tee shirt and black pants works on a painting on the street surface, while two people standing to the left of the photo, in front of the painting, are watching.
Members of the public are able to watch the artists work and interact them while they work, which several of the artists said they enjoy. (Vanessa Moreau/CBC)

The faces of Elvis Presley,Sinad O'Connor, John Lennon, Slash, and other rock musiciansappeared on the asphalt in downtown Moncton, New Brunswick over the weekend.

More than a dozen artists drew elaborate,colourful chalk-based imageson the street aspart of the city's first International Street Painting Festival.

The theme of the festival was the history of rock and roll, inspired by the Guns N' Roses concert that took place in the city Saturday evening.

The festival lost most of its first day to rain Saturday, but continued as planned Sunday and Monday.

"I think it adds to our local art scene," said Patrick Richard, executive director of Downtown MonctonCentre-Ville, when asked what the festivalbrings to Moncton. "It adds to the vibrancy and the coolness factor that could be lacking sometimes."

Some artists used chalk pastels, some chalk pieces, others used diluted chalk paint and a brush, all while members of the public mingled and watched the artists work.

A person in a lime green tee-shirt, darker green baseball hat, black pants and dark sneakers crouches on a cushion in the middle of a chalk drawing of Elvis done on a street surface.
A black and white portrait of Elvis starts to take shape on Canada Street in Moncton, N.B. (Vanessa Moreau/CBC)

The one thingthe images all have in commonthough, is Tuesday's forecasted rain will likely wash them away.

Jeanie Burns, from West Palm Beach, Florida, worked on a portrait of John Lennon, and said that chalk art is performance art, not unlike a music concert.

Pieces can be recorded, but it's about the experience, not the permanence.

"It's the beauty of the moment," she said.

"The beauty is seeing it happen. That's the beauty of the art form is people get to watch it emerge. And so I don't have any qualms about leaving it behind. If I have one that I really like, I take several pictures of it and put it in my book."

A woman with short brown hair wearing a lime green tee-shirt and black pants smiles up at the camera from where she is kneeling on part of her portrait of John Lennon, with the text
Jeanie Burns is a graphic designer by trade, but has always loved to draw. (Vanessa Moreau/CBC)

Joel Yau, from San Rafael, California, worked on a striking portrait of the late Irish singer Sinad O'Connor.

He agreed that the ephemeral aspect of this art form, the letting go, is part of it.

"At the end of the day, at the end of any festival, we just let go," he said. "I'm not even feeling melancholy about it. I probably feel more sad that the festival has ended and the friends that you meet are already going away."

A person in a dark grey baseball hat and lime green tee shirt over a white long-sleeve shirt crouches on the right side of the photo. In front of him, taking up most of the frame, is a large chalk drawing of Sinead O'Connor, black and white except for her eyes and eyeshadow done in bright blue.
Joel Yau said he was happy to be in Moncton for their inaugural festival. (Vanessa Moreau/CBC)

Miramichi, N.B. artist Allie Howe said he's been doing chalk painting for a few years now and is starting to get comfortable with it. He also does a lot of large murals, and enjoys creating art in front of the public.

"I love the communities," he said. "When I do big murals, same idea. I'm communicating a lot with the public, and even more so in these festivals. You're talking to people every few minutes, which is great."

The rock and roll theme inspired him to do a portrait of his favourite guitarist, Slash.

A person wearing a lime green tee-shirt, dark shorts, black knee pads strapped on, grey gloves and a grey baseball-hat kneels to the left of the photo, facing his portrait done on the street to the right of the frame.
Allie Howe works on his portrait of Guns N' Roses guitarist, Slash. (Vanessa Moreau/CBC)

Meanwhile, Moncton-based artist Alicia Grayeb wanted to make sure a femalerocker was represented, using her experience as a calligraphy artist to bring the lyrics of Blondie's track Call Meto life alongside a guitar.

It's her first time doing such a large scale chalk piece, and participating in a street art festival, but she said it was a great experience.

"It's really cool that you get to interact with the people while you're doing your art, to explain it to them," she said. "It's just been great and just the interaction with everyone and see other artists work."

A woman with shoulder-length dark, curly hair kneels on the street, on a black painted section of her calligraphy painting on the street surface. She's wearing a lime-green tee-shirt, black pants and sneakers.
Moncton artist Alicia Grayeb was inspired by the opening lyrics to Blondie's song Call Me. (Vanessa Moreau/CBC)

The street painting festival also featured live music in the afternoons, a kids zone where families could try chalk art for themselves, and a variety of vendors were on hand.