In an explosion of color and crowds, Pineapple Avenue transformed into Memory Lane this past April as the Sarasota Chalk Festival made its triumphant reappearance on the streets of its home city for the first time in six years. A truly international event, the festival saw more than 50 chalk artists from around the world traveling to Sarasota to make their mark side-by-side on the blacktop—met by a crush of more than 30,000 gawking festivalgoers crowding the streets from sunup till sundown throughout the three-day spectacle. “We’ve been able to build a global family,” says festival founder Denise Kowal. “This festival is the only place where this global family of artists can assemble each year.” And Kowal’s not one to let down family.

More than an exhibition, the event becomes an artistic resource and celebration of the craft, where practitioners long separated by geography can meet and grow together. Veterans innovate, newcomers discover their passion, spectators snap photos and everybody wins. And though red tide may have spoiled the family reunion this past November—postponing the world premiere of another groundbreaking chalk art installation from American artist Kurt Wenner—Kowal was certain to get them all together on Pineapple Avenue in April.

Photography by Dylan Jon Wade Cox.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DYLAN JON WADE COX.

Because while spectators enjoy the obvious benefit of their adorned surroundings, the artists take the weekend as rare opportunity to observe each other in action, swap stories and secrets and find inspiration for their own future projects. It’s a time when local artists like Luther Rosebaro can discover their love of chalking, and international leaders like Wenner can display their latest creations. Rosebaro had never chalked before being volunteered as an artist for the Sarasota Chalk Festival in 2009. And that first day was rough for Rosebaro, a pencil artist unused to kneeling outside on steaming hot blacktop for hours, trying to make the dusty medium do what he wanted. “It was grueling,” he recalls, “but a lot of the other artists were helpful, giving me pointers.” He’s now chalked at the festival five times and will be participating again this coming November. “It’s the camaraderie and the fellowship with people from all over,” he says. “We can come together for one weekend and be one big family.”

Covering nearly the length of Pineapple’s stretch through Burns Court, the big family’s artistic output this year ran the gamut of chalk’s possibility, showcasing both traditional techniques and anamorphic pavement art, with topics ranging from the whimsical and humorous to the strident and socially-conscious. On the international side, Mexican and Italian artists dominated the scene, including Ignacio Chavez, whose dark and moody portrait of an old laborer and his lantern emphasized the dramatic potential of the medium, and Vicini Michela, whose Escher-esque creation showcased a more modern sentiment (along with a Florida nod in the big purple-pink flamingo taking center-stage). American artists like Colorado’s Chris Carlson injected some humor into the blacktop gallery, reimagining Jabba the Hutt as middle management, complete with a hands-free headset and lavender tie, while artists from Thailand and the Philippines eschewed pop culture for more traditional imagery. Several local chalk artists made their mark this year as well, including a pair of art teachers from Manatee School for the Arts, Michelle Clinton and Melissa Aldan.

Photography by Dylan Jon Wade Cox.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DYLAN JON WADE COX.

Perhaps one of the biggest draws of the festival remains the anamorphic pavement art—where artists use tricks of perspective to
create the illusion of three dimensions on the flat street. And this year, many artists took advantage of the added immersion to send a message. While some reveled in the fun of the illusion, creating snapping alligators and lizard creatures with saddles for kids to pose on and pretend to ride, others brought attention to ongoing epidemics such as opioid abuse, with a giant OxyContin bottle seemingly upturned on the pavement with candy spilling out. Milanese artist Cubaliquido’s spin on the iconic shot from Creature from the Black Lagoon saw the famous creature carrying a life-size plastic Barbie doll from the depths, posing questions about both authenticity and pollution.

But garnering the longest line of the festival, the world premiere of a new chalk art installation from Wenner—also the inventor of anamorphic pavement art—again upended the paradigm for chalk art’s possibilities. Entitled Shangri-La, the three-dimensional construction once more sees Wenner playing with the geometry of his art, creating a consistent framework that lends itself to warped images and bizarre tricks of perspective. And though the artist adorned the installation surfaces with images from nature, creating a butterfly garden for viewers to immerse themselves in, the real discovery lies in the design.

Unlike the traditional Euclidean geometry that governs understanding of the natural world and posits three vectors—x, y and z—all at right angles to each other, Wenner’s new geometry tweaks two of those vectors, creating vanishing points and eliminating all perpendicular intersections from the framework. The result is, when viewed from the proper perspective, a space that defies the eye as elements traveling through it seem to grow and shrink in strange ways. “Geometry is a clue to understanding universal truths,” says Wenner, “a symbolic language composed of creative principles.” And just as traditional geometric concepts like perspective and proportion have made heavy impact in the traditional art world, he suspects more lie undiscovered, waiting for the artist’s hand to go exploring. “So it’s important that Denise invites everybody—all these global artists,” Wenner says. “We get to meet each other and work with each other.”

The Sarasota Chalk Festival returns to Venice this November 15–18, where more than 250 artists are expected to participate in this year’s “Garden of Wonders” theme. The massive Megalodon shark will get a facelift, and a giant pterosaur will be added to the scene. In a first, festival artists and staff will also create a chalk art maze that visitors can walk through to immerse themselves in the medium. And Wenner, and his installation will return.