Tag archives: chalk

I Madonnari meets Michelangelo at the Mission 
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 30, 2023

The ephemeral meets the everlasting in the world of arts at the Old Mission Santa Barbara this Memorial Day weekend. I Madonnari – the annual chalk drawing that turns the pavement in front of the Santa Barbara Mission into a huge series of asphalt canvases for artists of all ages – celebrates its 37th edition […]

I Madonnari: Beloved Event’s Triumphant Return 
By Madeleine Nicks   |   May 31, 2022

On Memorial Day weekend, the I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival will finally return to Old Mission Santa Barbara after three years. Admission is free and open to all, and the event will take place from Saturday, May 28, to Monday, May 30, from 10 am to 6 pm each day. Along with the art […]

May Day for Lemay
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 21, 2020

Festival artist Jennifer Lemay, who started street painting with chalk for I Madonnari in the festival’s second year in 1988 and has missed only a handful of I-Mads over the ensuing 32 years, is joining nearly 60 other artists in creating works in her own driveway to celebrate the Memorial Day Weekend event. We caught […]

Chalk it Up! I Madonnari Street Painting Festival Persists During Pandemic
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 21, 2020

Street painting artists have been compared to masochists, in that their hobby of drawing with chalk on the sidewalk has become an obsession, back pain and sore knees ignored in a mission that is exhibited annually on the pavement in front of the Santa Barbara’s Old Mission during the I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival […]