PHOTOS: Park Chalk Art Festival
On September 19, the eighth annual Luna Park Chalk Art Festival was held in Backesto Park. This community event featured over 150 unique works by several artists from all around the Bay Area. In addition to the art, there were live performances, food, and crafts for attendees to enjoy. People of all ages flocked to Backesto park to witness the stunning sidewalk creations, and enjoy the festivities.
The day-long event began at 10am, with artists and vendors arriving even earlier to set up. Many local organizations like Lincoln’s branch of the National Art Honor Society were present at the festival.
“NAHS is recognized nationally for our art involvement and basically what we do is…partake in as many community activities as possible to be known as a National Art Honor Society, a part of Lincoln High School. We do a lot of activities such a Luna Chalk Art Festival, ICA art auctions, Relay for Life; we’re a part of a lot. That’s our main goal,” said Givanni Flores, president of Lincoln’s NAHS club. “We’re doing an ode to Dalí where we incorporate all of Dalí’s most memorable pieces of artwork, one of them being The Persistence of Memory, Swans Reflecting Elephants, and then we’re also doing a little bit of The Hallucinogenic Toreador and basically we just want to get as funky as possible since it is Dalí.”
In addition to hosting large groups like NAHS, the festival was also rich with artwork from independent creators. Artists Wayne and Cheryl Renshaw created a special piece which required viewers to step onto a ladder to get the proper perspective. The piece titled Dog, Kat, and Horse, paid homage to their friend Katrina, one of the festival’s original organizers.
“[Katrina] teaches junior high school art, she is a leader in the community, and one of her passions is horses. Unfortunately, she was in a horsing accident a couple of weeks ago and she fell from the horse. She was in a coma for a few days and she suffered a traumatic brain injury so she’s in recovery. Physically, she’s fine but mentally she needs a lot of cognitive therapy, probably for a year or more before she comes back to normal. So this is our tribute piece to her. This is a horse that was born on her ranch a little while ago. She rescued the horse’s mother and then the horse passed away but [it] left a beautiful foal. And this is her dog Ozzy, so we’re doing Katrina and Ozzy and her horse, Belle, so: Kat, horse, dog.”
This event was a perfect opportunity for small local businesses to connect with potential customers. Amanda Perez, owner of Water Sunshine Love, spoke about her company.
“It basically consists of me upcycling different containers like a makeup stool or a mailbox and I just stuff it with succulents and overflow it and I get all my succulents from around California, like I got some of these from Santa Cruz, some from San Francisco. I just came to be a vendor here, to network, and to get my business out. It’s my first time and I’m really excited and it’s been really really great!”
Other sellers sold handmade products at the festival. Joe Mandrick of Land and Sky sold his original paintings at his booth, and created his own chalk art piece as well.
“It’s different, I don’t usually get a chance to work with my hands down on the ground on the sidewalk so it gives me a chance to kind of branch out,” said Mandrick. “I like the overall atmosphere…you can’t really beat outdoors so it’s fun. This is my second year attending and each year it gets better.”
Chau moved from Saigon to San Jose in the early 2000s and has been a Bay Area local for over 14 years. As a senior, she participates in the school’s...
