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!

I love deer. I love deer with ornamental antlers.

A Colorado vista on the rougher asphalt.

This phoenix just flew out of the pavement.

What music really looks like.

Even the children get to try their hand decorating the street.

The colors!

THE COLORS!

Obon Dancing

Hello all, it's a late "It's the Weekend!" post!

So, several weeks ago, I attended the first Obon dancing meet during the 24th Annual Obon Celebration, which is still actively running through the summer, with my family.

The Japanese Buddhist tradition of Obon celebrates the dead similar to the Spanish Day of the Dead tradition, where families return to the resting places of their ancestors to pay their respects. It's a joyous celebration and the songs reflect a very upbeat refrain in their pieces.

The festival usually lasts three days but begins depending on which calender you go by. Some observe the tradition in the early summer, some late. Here in Hawaii, the festival season begins in June and lasts through September. Several Hongwanji/Missions (Buddhist temples) rotate locations around the island to perform their set of music and dances for a roughly four-hour celebration where all are welcome to dance and dine on traditional Japanese festival cuisine.

We went to the first meet this year at the Hawaii Plantation Village, a bit of a spooky place in Waipahu. We had never attended an Obon in this location before and the place was already hopping by the time we arrived.  

Dancers move in a ring around a centerpiece--this time a light-strung bush.

 I always love seeing the different yukata and kimonos folks wear to these celebrations. I particularly like the crane designs when they crop up.

The dancers move around in a ring with the experienced dancers in the innermost showing the rest of us the steps to the song.Some songs have a complicated set of steps (up to 32 count for a couple) while others repeat after only the sixth bar such as my absolute favorite, the Fukushima Ondo.



And this song runs anywhere from 10-30 minutes nonstop. It's often the only song this Hongwanji will play and one that is super popular among the locals. If you watch closely, you'll see the inner ring is moving much faster than the outer rings because they're doing a modified version of the traditional set. I usually am in the thick of the inner ring and shrieking the Japanese rejoinders with the rest. I'm sweating bullets at the end of this one. And I love it.

The Hawaii Plantation Village Obon from another angle. 

The Hawaiian Plantation Village was a different experience and I was sorry to not have any undagi (deep fried doughnut holes with a cinnamon breading, superb!) this time around--a highlight of the experience. This location also didn't have the tower to dance around like you see in the above video, but the plantation was in this grassy, wooded area steeped in the history of a former plantation village. Their sound system was plenty loud enough, but a bit grating on the ears when you passed the speakers on the stage to the east side. They did play a number of songs I enjoy though including the Sakura (flower) and shovel one which I do not know the name of.

No undagi in the lineup! But plenty of other local fare.

So while I still prefer the Aiea area Obon the most, I still had a great time kicking up my heels to the local Japanese Buddhist tradition that welcomes anyone willing to join the dance.

Down the "lāpaki" Hole

Hello everyone, it's the weekend!

I actually went to the swap meet and 9th Annual Hawaii Book and Music Festival today, but I'm going to pin my focus on the latter. (I will cover the swap meet on another day.)

I nearly forgot this festival was going on until I spotted another sign for a craft fair happening on Hickam. So after shopping the swap meet today, I met up with a friend of mine to check out the books and tunes.

The event was 'presented' by what I assume was the chief sponsor, the Bank of Hawaii, for Saturday and Sunday this weekend at the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds near the Honolulu Hale. I was particularly eager since the event and parking were free. After emerging from the underground fight for parking, I saw a sprawl of tents with the information booth smartly placed closest to the parking structure.

I strode past the stage where Hawaiian dancers and singers performed on a stage and headed for the Book Swap booth, where my buddy Christine was waiting for me. There were a bunch of folks already perusing the book aisles looking for the next riveting read to trade their old tomes with and I was so sad I could not participate. If I had known to bring some old books I've already read, I would have eagerly traded for some new reading material.

I spy a Hobbit in the lineup. 

Christine and I found each other and agreed it was extremely hot and iced beverages were in order. We wandered to the end of the lawn where 'I'iwi Kona Coffee Co. had set up shop. (The i'iwi is that red honeycreeper with the probing beak in the background--so named for its "ee-ee-vee" call.) Our appraisal of the heat was confirmed when the shop keep said they were out of ice.

Their iced hazelnut latte was refreshing!

We waited out the ice by swinging by the Barnes & Noble stand, one of the only major book store chains left on the island, and chatted over the titles. Christine recognized one of her mentors on the front cover of one which I thought was really neat and beside it I found Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"--IN Hawaiian! Titled Na Hana Kupanaha a 'Aleka ma ka 'Aina Kamaha'o, which I believe roughly translates to 'Amazing Work of Alice in the Land of Wonder.' Taken with a grain of salt.

Alice's adventures blow my mind in an entirely new way.

Alice in Wonderland--IN HAWAIIAN! AHHHH!

So that was really neat to see. I notice there was this "Wonderland" theme with a number of the new books at the Barnes & Noble table. Alice surviving zombies. Another AIW spin off titled "Splintered." While I think it's great people enjoy Carroll's work so much, I would rather see what sort of wonderlands other people can create. You can't top a masterpiece, so craft your own that you're master of. Or translate an existing one into an obscure language. That works too in a lateral sense.

Still hot, Christine and I made our way back to the 'I'iwi and they had their ice! We each ordered their chilled hazelnut latte concoction and sat to sip and catch up on one of the many umbrella-ed tables scattered across the lawn. (Thank you for treating Christine!)

Afterward, we checked out the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and Hawaii State Public Library booths where I picked up a new [old] Celtic CD of the Narada collection and a number of brochures/flyers from the public library. I read a sign that if I flashed my library card I would get a goodie! So I did! Turns out they were out of goodies, but I was given a Hawaiian-decorated plastic bag to store my things. It actually came in quite handy.

We headed toward the publishing side of the 'house' and I got us sucked into the Mensa table loaded with books for $.50 - 2 and my eyes caught on the red and black spine of "Raptor Red" by Robert T. Bakker. The slug pulled a key word ploy on me in the form of Jurassic Park--and the book is told from a velociraptor's perspective. Moreover the cover has a holographic image of a raptor on it. Too interesting not to buy. Sold. SOLD!

I'll let you know how the book is.

After chatting up Mensa proctor, diver, and Dungeons and Dragons master Bryan, who encouraged us to get tested for Mensa admission (having to roughly score over 130 points), Christine and I finally made our rounds of the publishing tables. It's neat to note that a number of authors I saw on the Barnes & Noble table will actually appear for signings tomorrow.

I wanted to ask the local publishing houses like Bishop and Bamboo publishing how they choose their authors, but we were nearing closing time and I wanted to see what the other tables had on display. One table, I believe it was Watermark Publishing, challenged us to do that six-word memoir thing. So Christine and I did! Think you can pick mine out of the others?

I'm on here somewhere!

Christine pinned hers here. I particularly like the "Rage quit" one.

And so, with every booth closing up shop a little after 5 p.m., Christine and I tucked into a vanilla- and chocolate-flavored creme brulee each and a couple of madeleines while listening to music ala Christine as the sun set. It was a lovely afternoon.

Tomorrow? Hiking.

Happy Saturday!