The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Rain and shine, the city celebrated with chalk

A woman dances with her son and four young girls dance to Los Nahuatlatos’ Vera Cruz-style music Saturday at Chalk It Up.

By Melody Mendoza

Chalk pieces sat in puddles and art pieces flowed down the street, but the sidewalks remained full of people at the 8th annual Chalk It Up hosted by Artpace San Antonio.

Art lovers, students and community members walked down Houston Street Saturday to see rain washing away art pieces into rivulets of color. Only drawings created under window awnings were left intact. The rain hit downtown San Antonio about 1 p.m., but didn’t seem to dampen the mood as teens in wet clothes danced in the drizzle and kids scribbled on the dry parts of sidewalks.

Chalk It Up is a free, community event, “where San Antonio’s premier artists transform city sidewalks into colorful works of art,” according to the Artpace website. The event encourages locals and tourists to appreciate and participate in the city’s creative resources.

The event was from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Houston Street between Main Avenue and Jefferson Street.

Showcase artists included Fernando Ardrade, Julia Barbosa-Landois, Gabe Garcia, Megan Harrison, Kathy Sosa and more, according to the press release. Also, over 35 local high schools and community groups displayed their talent along the strip.

Volunteer Shannon Nisley, 20, intern at Artpace and sophomore at San Antonio College, said rain or shine, the event would go on.

Cynthia Uriegas, San Antonio Police Department officer, said, “If it kept on raining, we would have shut it down,” but said of Artpace that “they just wanted everyone to have a good time.” Uriegas said the people found shelter when the rain came down.

As the drizzle paused about 2 p.m., 5-year-old Ella Barrus sat on the sidewalk and continued drawing with chalk.

Her mom, Emma Barrus, said this was the second year she brought her two daughters.
She said last year, they were at the event the whole time and her kids were covered in chalk.

“This year, they packed extra clothes,” Barrus said of her friend Nora Bass, who was visiting Chalk It Up for the first time this year.

Bass added that this year, because it was raining, “it’s even more of a mess.”

Barrus said, “It was fun anyways,” adding that she enjoyed the tables that were set up on the street with watercolor paints before the rain hit.

Hannah Prather, 15, Northeast School of the Arts High School sophomore, sat in front of the San Antonio Children’s Museum  coloring in an almost finished art piece. The art piece was not affected by the rain.
Her classmates Rachel Wilson, 15, also a sophomore at the art school, said she and seven others volunteered as the guest artists for the museum.

East Central High School students danced under the light rain nearby as their teacher, Tim McMeans, stood under shelter on the sidewalk.

McMeans said he brought 20 students from East Central’s art club and art honor society. Although part of their art piece was washed away, the students didn’t seem disappointed as they twirled each other in the street.

San Antonio resident Heather Morris and her four kids squatted down to color in bricks on the wet street.

“It makes it more fun,” Morris said of the rain, adding that she was glad it rained because San Antonio needed it.

Showcase artist Steven DaLuz, 57, was across the street from the Majestic Theater drawing a ballerina for the first time with chalk while an intern sat nearby shadowing him.

Although DaLuz has been drawing for about 40 years and painting for the last 12 years, he said, “It’s been fun experimenting with chalk.”

He said he was using “expressive color” or exaggerated color in his piece and said he likes painting dancers because it’s a beautiful subject. “It’s poetry of the body.”

DaLuz was under the roof on the sidewalk, but his piece had a few drops of rain.

“It started out OK and then we had somewhat of a crisis,” he said jokingly.

DaLuz said he has four art studios and painted the 2007 fiesta poster for San Antonio.

His intern, Grace Robert, 22, junior at the University of Central Arkansas, said she is familiar with Chalk It Up because they’ve had it on UCA’s campus.

Not only is the event celebrated on college campuses, but Chalk It Up is celebrated in other cities for various reasons.

Cities on the West Coast, such as Sacramento, began Chalk it Up in 1991, and celebrated Sept. 3-5 to raise money to benefit children’s art education.

At San Antonio College, students are encouraged to practice their First Amendment rights at “Chalk Day” every spring semester.

As the rain died up, Los Nahuatlatos, a local band who play elements of cumbia, salsa, Norteño, jazz and hip hop, played a style of music from Vera Cruz.

As the music played, adults and kids danced freely in the street as other community members stood around the band with bags of kettle corn.

By mid afternoon, the streets were dry and kids filled up the street again.

For more information about Artpace, visit http://artpace.org/.

About the Author

Melody Mendoza
Melody Mendoza is the Comunidad Editor for The Mesquite. Previously, she reported on the development of the year-old Main Campus Building and Brooks City-Base Campus, and has followed Texas A&M-San Antonio's growth through its plans for two new buildings. Melody is a communication-journalism major, serves on the Student Media Board and is a freelance reporter and part-time editorial assistant for the San Antonio Express-News. She is a 2008 East Central High School graduate, an award-winning reporter for The Ranger (San Antonio College's student newspaper), and a youth leader at her church.

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