I just love art!! It is truly is my first love. Since I was 10 years, I’ve had an appreciation for it. But more and more as I indulge in the Baltimore Art Scene, I’m inspired and reminded consistently why art is forever the first love of my life.
It provokes thought and emotion from something so inanimate; without speaking a single word.
To start off September 2017, artsy Baltimore memorized a plethora of eyes throughout a number of Art festivals over the weekend. To name two Festivals with outstanding attendance, art buyers pondered creations at the 1st Annual Sticky Buns Festival hosted by Appreciate Arts located on the Ynot Lot on North Avenue, and the 44th Annual Catonsville Arts and Crafts Festival in the midst of Frederick Road. But there was little attention given by my artsy peers to the art festival I attended.
Madonnari Art Festival 2017 is where I chose to feast my eyes on beauty. It was THE festival that truly made my eyes twinkle watching numerous artists work on their creations live in action, and inspired me to get into visual arts, again.
Madonnari Art Festival is annually in Little Italy, East Baltimore. This year is its third year. But the art form isn’t new to art culture. “Madonnari” has been going on since olden times. The festival is known for the immaculate pieces of chalk artwork created directly on the Baltimore City street’s asphalt.
While festival-goers stare in awe at each artist’s masterpiece, they also partake in visiting the stores and restaurants in Little Italy. But the apple of everyone’s eye for the weekend was focused primarily on the chalky artwork below their feet.
There were over 40 artists from around the country who came to Baltimore to participate in Madonnari. Some competed for prize money, and many like me came to experience the essence of the festival.
There was a variety of pieces that ranged from modern, contemporary, abstract, and even African art. So there could be a piece of every type of art to enjoy on on street.
While walking throughout the festival, you can catch some artists in the middle of their work concentrating on ways to appeal judges of the chalk artwork. Three of the judges were Master Street Artist Michael Kirby, WJZ-TV anchor and reporter Denise Koch, and Christine Sciacca, Associate Curator of the Walters Museum.
Winners of the art festival were chosen based on art categories of contemporary and classical. The winners of the 2017 Madonnari Art Festival according to Madonnari Art Festival website are as follows:
Contemporary Category
Ketty Grossi for “Black Mamba”- 1st
Ever Galvez for “Wild Horses”- 2nd
CarlosAlberto GH for “Freedom to live without fear”- 3rd
Erik Greenawalt for “Cap. Harvey West, Our Guardian of Freedom”- 3rd
KC Linn for her rendition of the Shepard Fairey posters from the 2017 Women’s March on Washington – Honorable Mention and People’s Choice
Classical Category
Katie Better for “Harriet Tubman” – 1st
Tomoteru “ToMo” Saito for “Butterfly Fairy” – 2nd
Dave and Shelley Brenner for “The Birth of the Flag”- 3rd
Francesca Arsi for the “Renaissance Woman”- Honorable Mention
High School Awards
Concordia Prep for “Modern Madonnari” – Classical
Baltimore School for the Arts for “We must fight for our freedoms”- Contemporary
What do you think about the Madonnari Artwork? Would you go to the 4th Annual Madonnari Art Festival in 2018? Leave your comments below.
Have you heard of Walk-A-Mile In Her Shoes event, where men put on a pair of red pumps to spread awareness of Domestic violence in Baltimore? Read GBMC Working to End Domestic Violence Through Gender Role Reversal on Doc’s Castle Media.