Gerolimatos and Mark Bodah of Holyoke, winners of last year's, hope to return this September.
Stephanie Gerolimatos and Mark Bodah of Holyoke won the 2012 Northampton Chalk Arts Festival with this drawing of "a two-headed, multi-eyed monkey-demon-politician beast." The two hope to participate again in this year's festival. Artists will once again take to Northampton’s sidewalks on Sept. 6 for the fourth annual Northampton Chalk Art Festival.
Using only solid, non-oil based soft chalk, each participant will transform a five-by-five-foot section of cement sidewalk into a work of art. The Northampton Center for the Arts is now calling artists to apply to participate in the event.
“It’s grown a little every single year in terms of applicants,” said Penny Burke, the center’s executive director. The festival normally features eight artists, though according to Burke, that number could grow to 10 this year if space allows. The downtown area sees much traffic, so the festival is restricted by location, Burke said.
Participants do not have to be professional chalk artists. Watercolorists, painters, drawers, and tattoo artists have all displayed their skills in past festivals. “The level of creativity is there, you can see that,” said Burke. She compared the event to the city’s Ice Art Festival where sculptors, some of whom only work with marble or other materials, test their ice sculpting crafts.
Stephanie Gerolimatos and Mark Bodah of Holyoke drew last year’s winning creation: “a two-headed, multi-eyed monkey-demon-politician beast,” as Gerolimatos described. “We were inspired by everything circulating in the news at the time,” she said.
Despite her talents with the medium, chalk is not Gerolimatos’ primary art tool. Normally, she works nonrepresentationally, meaning her art is abstract and does not depict real-world objects. Gerolimatos uses a wide variety of media and tends to make objects that have organic feels to them, often creating pieces that combine differently-textured paintings with three-dimensional objects such as nails and screen.
The artist, who has also worked with materials such as vine and eggshells, says sidewalk chalk drawing, like any other medium, comes with its own set of challenges. “You just have to do it, get a feel for it, and figure out how to use the materials and their properties to your advantage,” she said.
Gerolimatos also brought out the positive in chalk’s non-permanent property, a turn-off to those who want to preserve their work. “It doesn't matter what a drawing looks like. It's only going to last as long as the weather or the garden hose permits anyway,” she said, “so you might as well just have fun with it.”
At her home, Gerolimatos sometimes draws on her sidewalk in both warm and not-so-warm weather. Neighborhood kids often join in on her creativity by drawing along or, when it’s cold, making suggestions to
“Add armpit hair!” or “Give it a big nose!” Gerolimatos added that she’s made great friends through drawing on her walk. “Some have become like family,” she said.
A sore back, hot sun that induces tiredness or dizziness, and cold temperatures that numb fingers are among the things that Gerolimatos says can interrupt “a great zen-like state” that sidewalk drawing creates for her.
“I've probably spent four or five hours straight drawing on my front walk while everyone was away doing their thing,” said Gerolimatos.
According to Gerolimatos, the space allotted to participants in the festival is small enough to fill in less than the eight hours given to work, allowing ample time to chat with passersby.
“Public art is a great way to bring people together,” she said.
“Drawing on the sidewalk is especially great because there you are sprawled out on the ground, in the way, underfoot,” a positioning that Gerolimatos said makes the artists more approachable.
One year, Gerolimatos brought extra chalk and a homemade standing chalkboard with a hole cut in it to get the public involved. People would stick their heads through the hole and draw pictures around themselves.
“We made a couple of those for a festival we organized with neighborhood kids one year at the park by our house,” she said. “They're loads of fun!”
Gerolimatos and Bodah are among those in the “core group of artists” that Burke says return to the event each year. For the festival’s first year, Gerolimatos drew by herself, and Bodah joined her for the following two years. The duo, with “something special in mind for 2013,” hope to return to the festival this year.
The chalk event’s origins lace with Northampton’s Arts Night Out, a monthly gallery walk hosted by the city’s art spaces.
“It was suggested that we have a chalk festival and someone came up to me about it,” Burke said. “And I thought, ‘Hey, let’s try to tie it in with Arts Night Out.’”
Burke said Arts Night Out has grown over the years as well, and the festival definitely adds to the walk’s crowds.
Arts Night Out is usually held on the second Friday of every month, but due to the observance of Yom Kippur on Sept. 13, the festival and gallery walk will be held on the first Friday.
Artists will hit the ground drawing at 8 a.m. and will have until 4 p.m. to complete their works. A brief ceremony will be held on City Hall’s steps at 5 p.m. where a panel of judges will award the top three creations with cash prizes of $250, $150 and $100. All participants will receive a $100 stipend.
Throughout the day, the public is welcome to observe the artists at work and view the completed pieces during the gallery walk from 5 to 8 p.m. that evening. The chalk art will remain on the sidewalks for the rest of the weekend for the public’s viewing pleasure.
Festival sponsors include
the Northampton Business Improvement District, Chartpak Inc. and PeoplesBank.
The application deadline for participation is Aug. 23. Application forms can be picked up at Guild Art Supply at 102 Main St. in Northampton or requested by emailing ncfa@nohoarts.org with “Chalk Art” in the subject line and the artist’s name in the message body.
Along with the form, applicants must submit a description and sketch or image of their proposed chalk piece as well as examples of relevant work. Submission details are available online at nohoarts.org.