Spectators watch as artists create 8' by 10' drawings at Chalk the Walk in Mount Vernon on Saturday, May 2, 2009. The two day event, which continues on Sunday, is Iowa's largest Madonnari, a form of street art that originated in 16th century Italy. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)
Mount Vernon’s main street will become a canvas for more than a half-ton of chalk in the hands of 200-plus artists this weekend.
First Street, lined with restaurants and shops, will be filled with 7,000 artists and spectators for Chalk the Walk, a mix of food, music, individual and group chalk drawings and a juried art show.
Want in on the act? For $10, visitors will receive pastel chalk sticks to create 2-foot squares that all together, form a 22-foot-by-37-foot re-creation of a photo showing Uptown Mount Vernon in the 1920s.
The whole project is rooted in history, based on the 16th century Italian “Madonnari” public art form, in which street artists typically drew religious symbols in hopes of drawing coins from passers-by.
