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An Interview with Houston Via Colori© 2009 Featured Artist Lysa Ashley

2009-11-02T10:58:01-08:00

Quantum Energy Partners Featured Artist: Lysa Ashley

Lysa Ashley, Quantum Energy Partners-sponsored artist, will showcase her work at The Center for Hearing Speech’s fourth annual Houston Via Colori street painting festival, which is slated for Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 in downtown Houston.

About Lysa

Lysa Ashley is an artist and teacher from Corona, California. She creates her paintings mainly in chalk pastel, but she occasionally uses acrylics, and sometimes does murals. Her favorite subjects include people and animals. Lysa began street painting 13 years ago and is a member of the Street Painting Society. For her, the performance aspect of street painting is intoxicating and she enjoys talking to the spectators.

Q and A with Lysa Ashley

Q: As one of our artists who has much more experience with street painting than the typical artist, a) do you have any advice for street painters starting out and b) do you have any traditions or routines you use when preparing for a festival or tackling a large-scale street painting?

LA: "The classic, and very important, street painting advice is to get up and move often, change your position often, and take frequent breaks that include drinking water. This will help to reduce sore muscles. I will add that there are some things to keep in mind when choosing an image. First, keep in mind the amount of time you have to complete it. A very detailed image might seem really cool, but until you are accustomed to pacing yourself, you might want to choose something with large blocks of color and a simple design. Also, think ahead about the colors you will need for your design. If you have large areas of a specific color, you might want to consider purchasing some extra chalk, since most festivals only provide one or two boxes, with only one of each color in them. Although you can always swap colors with other artists, there are some colors that are always a commodity, such as black, white, and flesh tones.

As for traditions, my favorite is socializing with the other artists. Meeting new friends and networking is lots of fun. Another is the 'celebratory beverage' when I have finished a piece."

Lysa’s favorite subjects include animals. Street Art Festival 2008

Q: How did you go about planning and deciding what artwork you were going to do for this year's Houston Via Colori? Does anything about Houston Via Colori in particular influence how you chose the artwork?

LA: "When choosing an image for any festival, my first consideration is the visual impact. Some images, because of its subject matter, composition, colors, and/or contrast just scream to be done on a large scale in chalk. I want the spectators to walk up and say, "Wow!" For Via Colori, I like to do a classic piece - a copy of a masterwork. I also like to include the aspect of sound and hearing, if possible, [since the festival benefits an organization that helps deaf children learn to listen and speak.]"

Lysa’s work at Via Colori 2008

Q: Coming from an artist who has experience with other street painting festivals and events, what would you say sets Houston Via Colori apart the most? Could you sum up Houston Via Colori in three words?

LA: "Friendliness, location, and professionalism. The Texans are the friendliest people ever and Via Colori really rolls out the red carpet and does its best to make the artists feel appreciated. The location at the park is a beautiful setting for the festival that spectators love to visit. Everyone that I've ever dealt with at Via Colori has been very professional, as well as friendly. Everything is very organized, as well."

Q: Since you have participated in Houston Via Colori from conception, how would you say it has grown/changed throughout the years?

LA: "There have been new faces, both organizers and the participating artists. I keep making new friends."

Q: Do you have any memory/story from the past three Houston Via Colori festivals that has stuck with you or touched you particularly?

LA: "My most memorable Houston Via Colori was my first [in 2007]. It is a bittersweet memory. Sweet, because it was my first time at the festival, and in Texas, I met lots of new friends and had lots of fun. Unfortunately, we got rained out, so it was a little sad, too. I felt so bad for the organizers and artists who had worked so hard and put so much into it."

Q: Do you have anything else to add?

LA: "I just want to add that there are no words to express my gratitude at being included yet another year in this fabulous festival. I am honored to be featured this year, and hope to do the festival proud. I am looking forward to it eagerly."

About Houston Via Colori

Presented by El Paso Corporation and Quantum Energy Partners, Houston Via Colori 2009 is a free, two-day street painting festival in downtown Houston. It features the art in progress of 200 artists, as well as live music, food and activities for the whole family. Via Colori runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, November 21 and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, November 22.

About The Center for Hearing and Speech

A United Way of Greater Houston agency, CHS has served as the only local, full-service resource that teaches children with hearing impairments to listen and speak without the use of sign language for more than 60 years. With the aid of highly trained staff and advanced technology, CHS provides education, audiology, speech pathology and family support services to children with mild to profound hearing loss.

For more information on Via Colori, please visit Houston Via Colori.

CHALK4PEACE: An Interview with John Aaron

2009-10-27T09:48:49-07:00

Valley View E.S., Richmond, CA 9/11/09 photo: Jerry Downs Photography

Blog Now on streetpainting.tv is always impressed by ambitious projects for street painting, and we are especially impressed by the mission of CHALK4PEACE. John Aaron, CEO of CHALK4PEACE, shares his thoughts on the growth of the movement of those dedicated to peace through sidewalk chalk in 2010…

John Aaron: "Thank you for asking me about CHALK4PEACE. Sidewalk chalk painting has gained quite a resurgence as both an artistic expression and medium for one's message across the globe. From the talent seen at the I Madonnari festivals to the massive-scale collaborative drawings of entire school districts, sidewalk chalk painting has gained a certain stature it has been struggling for decades. It is chalk painting's time."

Community Arts Therapy Programme St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town S. Africa 9/18/09 photo: Angela Rackstraw

Blog Now: Since 2006, CHALK4PEACE has encouraged events in twenty countries and five continents with scores of volunteers with positive results; what have been some of your favorite projects to date and what particularly made them so?

John Aaron: "There are dozens of stories worthy of note here. Moments in each that are as inspirational to the concepts of art and peace as one could imagine. Ones that are to me most moving are those which the organizers and artists break ground in their energy, innovation and effort to share their stories about their goals for peace. Nearly everyone who participates becomes inspired beyond their own belief.

St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town South Africa has done it since 2006. Angela Rackstraw, one of Ode Magazine's 25 most intelligent optimists for 2009 has brought the concept of peace to young artists who literally did not know what the word meant. They have decorated the step's of St. George's Cathedral ever since Archbishop Emeritas Desmond Tutu brought her the project as a way to teach peace.

The Crane Country Day School, Santa Barbara, CA, led by Debbie Williams, Director of Admissions, has joined CHALK4PEACE for the past two years, complete with beautiful videos and photo essays from Paul Westmacott, Teresa Pietsch, and Will Fredericks. The entire school literally ran for the chalk!

Marielle Mariano has almost singlehandedly launched CHALK4PEACE into 150 locations around the Washington, DC Beltway, including the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, The Organization of American States,Busboys and Poets and 150 locations in the Fairfax County Public Schools! She is the East Coast Coordinator for CHALK4PEACE. She is responsible getting more than one hundred thousand people to join with us for CHALK4PEACE since 2006. Maybe that number is low.

To visit the schools that CHALK4PEACE, and I've visited almost one hundred over the last four years (my colleague Marielle has attended more events than I, you see how similarly we envision the concept of peace and how differently ways we express it through art. It continues to be mind-blowing..."

Crane Country Day School, Santa Barbara, CA 9/17/09 photo: Will Fredericks

Blog Now: Do you feel that the call to service and volunteerism that is becoming apart of life for many has actually helped accelerate the participation of those who may not have turned to expressing themselves as creative individuals for the CHALK4PEACE?

John Aaron: "I think it's a larger notion: I think people want to volunteer their energy into things that can make the world a better place. CHALK4PEACE creates a global lens through which we can all see how the world envisions peace. Once it's recognized as hopeful and not hokey, there's no end to the positive collective artistic spirit that CHALK4PEACE fosters. As a non-profit, we are a legitimate organization working to encourage peace as a global tapestry that stretches around the world. It's a daunting task."

Grundschule Thadenstr -playground Hamburg, Germany 9 Sept. Organizer, photo: Katja Frank

Blog Now: What has been the reaction from public and private organizations towards the events since 2006 and do you see repeat events from some these organizations?

John Aaron: "95% of the sites continue the event on a annual basis. We do not actually know where ALL of the sites are. We try."

Woodlawn E.S. Alexandria, VA 10/01/09 Photo: Marielle Mariano

iNDIGO PROJECT'S Miracle Mile Art Walk/CHALK4PEACE, L.A., CA 9/19/09 photo: Leyna Roget

Via Apprendista & Via Bambini at Via Colori in Houston, TX - November 21 & 22

2009-10-18T14:53:18-07:00

Free Street Painting Festival ¨Downtown Houston¨ November 21 -22

The 2009 Houston Via Colori Street Painting Festival includes a high school art showcase and an area for children, called Via Apprendista and Via Bambini, respectively.

We discussed the 2009 Houston Via Colori Festival in a July posting. In it, we highlighted that Via Colori is an annual, two-day, FREE event that takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving in downtown Houston in Sam Houston Park and the surrounding streets of Allen Parkway and Bagby. This year's highlights include Melanie Stimmell as the 2009 El Paso Featured Artist and Lysa Ashley as the 2009 Quantum Energy Partners Featured Artist. The Center for Hearing and Speech (CHS) 2009 Featured Artists are Bryan Higgins and Kenneth Pierson, veteran Via Colori artists and local Houstonians who regularly donate their time to The Center for Hearing and Speech. Guest artists this year are Genna Panzarella and Cecelia Linayao.

The upcoming Via Colori's Via Apprendista section has doubled in size to include many more Houston area schools. In this section, budding artists from more than a dozen Houston area high schools and districts will be featured as part of the Via Apprendista High School Art Competition in which art students have been invited to submit designs created in pastels.

Each entry will be evaluated based on the quality of work and its aesthetic appeal as street art. All submissions from each participating school were judged at The Center for Hearing and Speech on Friday, Oct. 16.

The chosen winners from each of schools will then be awarded the opportunity to recreate their design to fit a 4 foot by 4 foot square at Houston Via Colori 2009 in the Via Apprendista section of the street painting festival. An “Honorable Mention” will be chosen from each school as well. The Honorable Mention artwork will be displayed at the festival.

Via Colori also has Via Bambini, which is a section that is a huge hit with children and families. In this section, anyone, but especially families with children, is invited to purchase a smaller square for a minimal fee to create their own street painting. Music and food are also a big part of the festival. Other activities include face painting, Radio Disney performers on Sunday, the Zoo Mobile on both days, Rockets Road Jam Tour.

Proceeds benefit CHS, which enables children with hearing impairments to realize their full potential by teaching them listening, speaking and literacy skills. The two-day event, free to the public, will raise awareness and critical funds to help CHS serve with hearing impairments, as well as inspire creativity and build community.

Event Details

· 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. on Saturday November 21

· 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sunday, November 22

· Sam Houston Park, 110 Bagby, Houston, TX 77002

Informational Links

Houston Via Colori

The Center for Hearing and Speech

Festival Bella Via 2009 Competition Winners - Monterrey, Mexico

2009-10-14T12:06:29-07:00

Festival Bella Via 2009 was an amazing festival this past weekend...and it showcased some amazing work by artists competing in two Semplici categories, Renaissance and Free Theme.

And the winners are...drum roll please...

Renaissance Category

1st Place (above): Madonnari Jesus Alberto Carrizal Esquivel and Helena Renee Guzman Chavarri. 'Virgen y El Nino', fragmento; original by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, 1490.

2nd Place (above): Madonnaro Juan Guerra Benitez. 'Virgen en el trono con San Juan Bautista'; original by Rafael Sanzio, 1505-06.

3rd Place (above): Wenseslao Garcia Abundis. 'Virgen y El Nino'; original by Giulio Romano, 1520-25.

People's Choice (above): Yurixie Padilla Zavala. 'Triptico de Frari', fragmento; original by Giovanni Bellini, 1488.

Free Theme Category

1st Place (above): Madonnari Omar Saenz Hinojosa and Eleazar Saenz Martinez. 'Cuauhtemoc'; original by Jesus Helguerra, 1948.

2nd Place & People's Choice (above): Eduardo Gabriel Bustos Almanza and Eduardo Jair Bustos Solis. 'La Oracion'; original by William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1865.

3rd Place (above): Ana Maria Pina Mendoza and Yeni (dominicana) Hernandez Herrera. 'El Resplandor'; original by Tamara de Lempicka, 1932.

There was also a Qualificati Category this year, which is the second level of titles one can receive. The order is Semplici (entry level), Qualificati (middle level), and Maestro (top honor). The winner of the Qualificati category was Adrian Monsivais Rosales, who now has the honor of title Maestro!

Above: 'El Velori' street painting by Adrian Monsivais Rosales; original by Jose Jara, 1889.

Blog Now on streetpainting.tv congratulates all of the Festival Bella Via winners! You created some beautiful and inspiring street paintings and truly turned the plaza into a 'bella via'...beautiful street!