Nearly 500 artists are creating about 200 chalk masterpieces just outside the Pasadena Convention Center this weekend, as the Lightbringer Project presents its 31st annual Pasadena Chalk Art Festival.
Under umbrellas shading them from scorching skies with temperatures in the 90s, artists are creating famous art reproductions, movie posters, cartoon and sci-fi characters, and original pieces on the walkways just outside the convention center on Green Street.
For most of its 31 years, the festival was held on the grounds of the Paseo Colorado, just across the street. However, an ownership change last year found the festival scrambling for a new location.
“This has been such a great location for us and the Pasadena Convention Center people have just been great,” said Patricia Hurley of the Lightbringer Project, which has produced the festival since 1993.
“We are able to have artists come in early and stay late,” said Hurley. “Some of them may work through the night to finish their art, and it’s just great, nobody bothers them.”
As Hurley recounted, “The idea of this festival came to us from an intern of ours, who had visited Europe in 1993, and saw artists creating murals on sidewalks all over the great cities there.
“She came back and said, ‘We’ve been looking for a way to bring our artists together. Why don’t we have a chalk art festival here in Pasadena to do that?’”
Thus the festival was born.
“The artists want to be creative together and kind of be a part of their community all together outside with the public, and this is a unique opportunity for them to do so,” said Tom Coston, a founding member and current board chair of the LightBringer Project.
”We think of artists working in isolation alone in their studios,” he continued, explaining, “This artwork is very unique. It’s outdoors, it doesn’t last, it’s temporary, and its an experience, kind of like a dance or music. That’s the way it’s engaged in, with the audience. In that sense, these artists are actually visual performers.”
The Pasadena Chalk Art Festival runs through 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 23, outside the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 East Green Street.
