It's the Weekend!: Denver Chalk Art Festival

Hello all, it's the weekend!

I had heard of the Chalk Art Festival over the years, but for some reason or another never attended the venue. Having seen photos from previous festivals (and bowled over by the impressive scope and vibrant color of these art pieces) I made it a point to do so this year.

The Denver Chalk Art Festival on Larimer Square.

Art on 14th Street.

A free, two-day event at Larimer Square, roughly 200 artists apply chalk to asphalt for hours to create their pieces. A good deal of them were sponsored and made nods to their patrons, often in a banner inscription above their work.

The weather was cruel to these artists Saturday with a storm that rolled in, hail-rained, and rolled right back out after about a half-hour. You know, just long enough to wipe the streets clean.

I had some concerns going into Sunday, but I worried for nothing.

The sun was out, the sky was blue. Larimer Square was packed.

And the first piece I saw looked reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel. This was going to be good.

"Sistine Chapel" piece.

According to the Larimer Arts website: "The event follows street painting traditions that originated in 16th century Renaissance Italy when artists began transforming asphalt into canvas using chalk. The artists were called 'madonnari,' after their customary practice of recreating chalk paintings of the Madonna. Historically, madonnari were known for their life of travel and freedom, making their living from coins received from passers-by."

And the art form was lost and brought back in 1972, after World War II. And, of course, scribbling on the sidewalks was brought back in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy.

The art was amazing. And the artists too. Hunched over in the blazing sun, pressed against hot asphalt, hands and clothes coated in their blended medium; it was engrossing to watch them work. I loved the use of the full spectrum to really make these images pop.

But my two favorite pieces by far are below:

Hello again, Alice.

This piece probably spoke to me most. You have darker, cool colors on one side, warmer colors on the other. One side is rigidly geometric, while the other is loose and free. This art gets me or I get it, something is gotten here.

There were three "Alice" pieces in three very different styles, but the one above was my favorite. You really get the gist of the world in that girl's head. The other just spoke to me on a number of levels--the chief one being balance and the beauty of that balance.

Hey kid, you got a little someth...forget it.

And the venue itself was so much larger than I thought it would be. I figured it would be along Larimer and stretch for maybe two streets.

No. The event formed a giant cross, just like Gothic churches in Europe.

Larimer had become an open-air church of fantastic chalk artwork, its stained-glass mosaics at worshipers' feet; God's tattoos made in man's venous asphalt.

There was even a section quartered off for kids to let their creativity flow. Now that's how you do an event right.

It was awe-inspiring.

Please enjoy the gallery of the 2015 Denver Chalk Art Festival below!