Bragg Jam is a music and arts festival in Macon Ga in honor of the Bragg family. You can read all about the background of the festival here. It has grown so much since we first started going and has a lot of publicity. I created the logo for it a while back and Chalk for the event every year. This year I wanted to create something a little more detailed. I decided to chalk the headliner Shakey Graves. I got permission to draw a really unique picture of him with his guitar. Here are some highlights.
In March 2016 I chalked at Bloom’n Chalk Fest in Safety Harbor, Florida. Over the festival weekend, March 18–20, I created a portrait of a woman in a feathered headdress topped with an animal skull, with red and blue face paint against a teal background.
This time-lapse follows the piece from the blank square on the street to the finished portrait:
Our Georgia Chalk Artists Guild has grown so much in the year that we have been established. This past Sunday we had our very first Mini Pop Up Chalk Festival. Atlanta Streets Alive is an awesome event backed by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and the city of Atlanta. Peachtree street was closed for a long stretch from Midtown to downtown. They had a bicycle parade and the street was open for people to walk, run, bike and play. The event is meant to encourage individuals to get out of their cars and enjoy the city. We were chosen as a vendor and were very excited for the chance to draw on a road that is never free of traffic. Located right next to the Fox theater we were able to hear Broadway singing as we chalked. Here are some of the highlights…
We started by setting up a sign and putting out some chalks. I planned a few large collaborative drawings for audience participation that Zach managed.
I had invited fellow artists Kristen, Adam and Jaimie to do chalk art demos with me. It was their first time chalking and they really enjoyed trying it out.
Kristen drew a cover to her favorite album.
Kristen’s work in progress
Adam and Jaimie also chalked some nice pieces.
Jaimie’s Jack Skelington
Adam in the zone.
Zach is really great with kids and directing the collaborative pieces. The pop up chalk fest was really about educating the public about using chalk as an art form. Many people were inspired by the process and wanted to chalk.
Chalk artists can be any age
Paul started the witch drawing and gets the hang of it
I kept to my demo most of the time but also got people to help me fill in the orange on the leaf or add some shading.
Marc helps fill in some orange
We really enjoyed a successful day on Peachtree Street making new friends and sharing the craft with so many people. Keep your eyes peeled for more events in the coming months.
If you’re interested in organizing your own event, please reach out to us and we can help you get started.
I was honored to come back to the Marietta Chalk Festival a second year in a row. It is such a rewarding experience to chalk by so many talented people. This year there were even more people from Florida and some from California. It is popular to have festivals in those states because the weather is nice most of the year. This year’s theme was fall. I really enjoy drawing portraits so I decided to draw a fantasy character who is a woman with horns. This is absolutely my favorite piece I have drawn so far. I am never really upset when they are removed or washed away but when the street opened up I nearly cried. I put everything into this piece and it really showed.
This year I was given the opportunity to create the Atlanta Maker Faire poster and t-shirt designs. On top of that I was asked to be included in the event as a 3-D sidewalk chalk artist. I am very happy with the way the designs turned out and had fun trying such a large scale chalk piece.
I always start with sketching. The Maker Faire team was looking for something Atlanta related that also incorporated activities from this year’s makers. I did some research and compiled some words and images that I thought encompassed the idea of making, doing and creating. I then took my sketches and formed them into a composition using tracing paper. I did this several times, tracing and re-tracing until I was satisfied with the design.
Dachshunds, weenie dogs, teckel, hot dog puppies! You name it we got it at Howl-o-weenie! Dream Rescue of Atlanta is a dog rescue group focused in saving lives of dachshunds everywhere. They run solely on foster care and do not have a facility. This allows them to help with overcrowding in animal shelters and humane societies. It is overcrowding that leads to the unnecessary euthanasia of perfectly healthy and loving furry friends. There are many homeless doxies in the southeast. Dream even has to turn some of them away due to lack of resources. This is so sad and the exact reason it is so important to support them.
But, this post is not meant to be preachy. I want to share with you the good that can come out of a support system like DREAM Rescue and show you how I use my talents to do what I can to bring awareness. I want to encourage you to do the same. I am a firm believer that we all have a purpose and can help in some little way. Even if helping dogs in need is not your passion, maybe you want to make a child with cancer smile, donate to the homeless, or help to clean our world by picking up trash or recycling. You can use what you have to make the world a wonderful place for yourself and those who will follow in your footsteps.
Anyways, back to Howl-O-Weenie! With Halloween right around the corner, we do what we can to bring our doxie lovers out to support this cause. Howl-O-Weenie is a very large event and is an opportunity to have fun while spreading awareness. This year I volunteered to create the t-shirt design. They did so well and sold out at the event very quickly! They also put my design on a glass to sell beer at the event. It was such a fun time! Here are the highlights…
DREAM Rescue wanted a wordle for the t-shirt design and asked me to make it. First I gathered a list of words that described our short legged friends and I sketched it out into the shape of a dachshund.
In Adobe Illustrator I was able to use my wacom tablet to trace over my sketch. The design had original hand drawn words as well as typed font.
I am quite pleased to see how it turned out. I am glad I was able to create something that would bring joy to people as well as awareness for DREAM. Not to mention all the money that these shirts raised for the cause.
I did a small sample chalk drawing. I kept it short and sweet because we all know Howl-o-Weenie is a very busy day!
And now for our favorite part, the costume contest!! Zach slaved away making Angry Bird Costumes for Daphne and Maxwell. Our adult costumes were store bought.
We won the costume contest!!
Maxwell is our foster dog. This means that we keep him until he gets adopted. If you want to know more about him visit his pet finder profile.
The events of the day also included a dachshund race, costume contest, hot dog eating contest, face licking contest and a howling contest. There were venders and dogs for adoption. Food and beer was also for sale. It was such a wonderful time!
Maxwell and Daphne showed their twitter friend Reagan how to climb a mountain!
The pups all were sooooo tired by the end of the day!!
Passion for chalk art was instilled at an early age. As just a high schooler in 2007, I became a chalk artist when I first drew on the sidewalk at the annual SCAD Street Art Festival. I enjoyed all the talent and the fast paced nature of the event. I was privileged to attend art high school Savannah Arts Academy and received extensive training in the visual arts. The program prepared me to attend an art college.
Growing up in Savannah, the influence was all around me. I had dreams of attending SCAD and eventually made those a reality at the Atlanta campus. I traveled back to Savannah each year to participate in the festival. I still do now as an alumni.
In 2011 I took my skills to the streets chalking for local businesses such as The Melting Pot. Zach Herndon and I would chalk for charity events every weekend. We would create large 20-40 ft drawings. Each one had a theatrical theme for the dinner and show. We enjoyed putting the talent to use in this way. All I wanted to do was chalk more. I applied to chalk at the Marietta Chalk Festival hosted by the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. I was super excited for the opportunity.
Peter Pan Drawing at the Melting Pot Atlanta
I was interviewed by the AJC in preparation for the Marietta Chalk Festival coming up this weekend. Here is a snippet from the article by Jon Waterhouse:
Q: What do you like best about chalk art?
A: I like being outdoors and working with an environment rather than just inside in a studio. It’s a lot nicer to be able to share my art and get the exposure and share it with other people. The chalk pastel medium has always been my preference. It’s fun to blend, easy to work with and your hands get dirty.
Q: What’s your favorite part of the process?
A: It’s kind of a rush knowing that I have this certain amount of time that I need to get this art piece done before it rains or whatever. If it rains, I can come back and do it again. There’s this one piece that I did that was for the Melting Pot restaurant on Peachtree Street. They commissioned me to do one for the “Mamma Mia” show at the Fox (Theatre). They have a charity where they have kids come, eat dinner and go to a show at the Fox, so I would draw for that. The “Mamma Mia” one washed away, so I had to come back the next day and draw it again. Each time I drew it, it was a little bit different.
Q: What are you going to be drawing this weekend?
A: I’m drawing a Civil War scene about Kennesaw Mountain. It’s kind of complicated, so you’re going to have to come out and see it. It’s going to be an Atlanta scene, and I’m going to have a phoenix coming out of the flames, so it’s going to be symbolic as well as visual.
I went to the chalk festival expecting it to be small like the one in Savannah but it was so much bigger with professional chalk artists from all over the southeast US. I quickly realized that I was in over my head but it only fueled my passion. I learned that people travel for chalk art and made that my goal. This was only the beginning.
My unfinished drawing ruined by the rain.
The event rained out but I enjoyed chalking with so many talented people and getting introduced to this chalk world. I plan to continue to grow as an artist and chalk every chance I get.
Bragg Jam is an anual summer music festival that takes place in Macon Ga. It hosts a variety of bands all across venues downtown. Headliners include Dirty Govna’s and Noot’d Noot. It is such a fun event and I had the honor to create the logo.
I was a little overly excited to see my logo EVERYWHERE! It was seriously all over downtown Macon.
