After 6 successful seasons in Burns Court, Sarasota, one of the areas most beloved festivals, the Sarasota Chalk Festival, migrated to Venice this year.
The chalk festival is an internationally drawn community-based event where pavement artists from all parts of the world come together to participate in the week's festivities. Hundreds of artists use the pavement as a canvas to create jaw dropping oversized traditional masterpieces and 3D illusionistic drawings. The festival is free to the public and it is encouraged for people to participate in, attend, and interact with the artists as they create these amazing pieces of art.
The Chalk Festival’s theme this year was ‘Extinct and Endangered Species’. Artists gathered to create artwork of the animals that we used to share our planet with and of those that we are close to losing.
The festival began on November 14th and it sure did not disappoint. In additional to dozens of artists creating traditional chalk work, 3D illustrations covering the streets of Venice, the Sarasota Chalk Festival founder, Denise Kowal, announced that artists from this year's festival broke the Guinness Book World Record for creating the largest anamorphic pavement art. The artwork featured the extinct megalodon shark to honor Venice as the shark tooth capital of the country.
The 450-foot tall and 42-foot wide masterpiece was created by a team of extremely talented and experienced artists led by Julie Kirk, the author of "Sidewalk Canvas: Chalk Pavement Art at Your Feet," which is the the first published book written about street painting as a form of art. The entire painting took the team a total of 11 days to complete.
Visitors were invited to park at the Venice Airport Fairgrounds, where the world's largest 3D pavement art was displayed, for $10, or to walk in at no charge. Those who wanted a better look at the masterpiece had the option to pay $5 to get a look from higher in the air. And if visitors wanted to get their picture taken inside the shark's mouth, they had the option for another $5. Buses then took visitors to downtown Venice to see the rest of the artwork.
The chalk festival has been a popular local event for years. Below is some of the artwork created from last year's event that equally impressed us. We hope you had a great time at this year's festival and we look forward to seeing you next year!
