Chalk it up

Artist Stacey Williams-Ng at work. “At its core, it’s a performance art that’s highly ephemeral by nature,” she says.

Early humans used carbon-blackened sticks from fires and other earth pigments to tell their stories on cave walls throughout the world. Today’s chalk artists eschew caves for sidewalks and streets, using their own sticks — of calcium sulfate — to produce stunning, albeit temporary, art.

Chalk art festivals have long been a fixture in such warm-weather states as Florida and California, and this year the Museum of Wisconsin Art held its own Art & Chalk Fest in late July.

Participants came to the West Bend museum from across the country, including three Milwaukee-area artists who are making names for themselves in this powdery public medium.

Here are introductions to some talented local chalk wranglers.

STACEY WILLIAMS-NG

ORIGINS: I am originally from Memphis, Tennessee, but have been living in Milwaukee for 12 years.

I am primarily a muralist, and Milwaukee readers may know me for my leopard mural on the side of the Kashou Carpets building on Farwell Avenue and the windows of the Milwaukee Ballet building on National Avenue. I like to draw big.

I got into chalk art eight years ago at an event at Bay Shore Mall and ended up falling in love with it. I have a BFA from the University of Memphis, but I’ve been holding a crayon in my hand since I was 2.

WHY CHALK ART? At its core, it’s a performance art that’s highly ephemeral by nature. If I’m painting in my studio, I’m doing it in my own time. When I am doing a chalk piece, very few people see it finished, so you want to do the focal points of the piece first to get people interested in the work. It’s an exciting way to engage with the public.

I was the one who first brought up the idea of a chalk festival to (MOWA events coordinator) Julia Jackson as a way to boost museum attendance.

SPECIAL TECHNIQUE: There is an old joke that chalk artists are either “strokers” or “grinders.” Grinders draw some color on and then use their hands to smooth it into the pavement to create an air-brushy look. Strokers like to maintain the line quality. I’ve been told I’m more of a stroker.

LIFE LESSONS FROM CHALK: All beauty is temporary. When people try to preserve chalk art, they miss the point. What’s titillating is that you see an artist doing an arduous piece of work that will only be there a few hours. It’s just a reminder of how quickly the beautiful things in life can pass us by.

NEXT UP: I will be doing a large mural for Radio Milwaukee 88.9 FM on the Penfield Children’s Center on 26th Street. It will be an image celebrating community and music and will have an underwater theme.

ALEX SILVIA

ORIGINS: I was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and always loved to do art with my dad. We did a lot of superhero stuff. My mom signed us up for a Via Colori chalk-art fundraiser and we really had fun. I love to draw.

After the first time my dad and I did it at Via Colori, we got asked back for a second year and became the event’s featured artists.

But I also was interested in health care and eventually became a dentist. I have a general practice in Pewaukee. I do some advanced dentistry procedures, but mostly crowns and fillings.

My dad contracted cancer and then passed away in September 2015. My mother-in-law heard about the MOWA event and signed me up without my knowledge. When my mom found out that I had been accepted, she knew I would have too much of an emotional bond to back out. I know how much this experience means to my mother.

WHY CHALK? I’ve only done this twice. What appealed to me was hanging out with my dad, but the impermanence of the art form also is appealing. I went to a Catholic school and, as a class project, we had to create a mandala that, in the end, we destroyed. Chalk art is a lot like that. I also paint, sculpt and do digital art and occasionally design logos for friends.

CHALK AND PAVEMENT AS A MEDIUM: It’s mostly about overcoming limitations. I have seen artists who grind the chalk, mix it with water and use it like paint. It’s interesting and you can get pretty creative, but honestly, it’s not enjoyable being on your hands and knees in the sun and rubbing your fingers raw on the pavement.

LIFE LESSONS FROM CHALK: You don’t know where the next great life experience will come from. I still cherish those memories of my father. I learned to just be present in everything you’re doing because it may be something you carry with you for the rest of your life.

NEXT UP: My mother-in-law might have a better grasp at this point.

KITTY DYBLE THOMPSON

ORIGINS: I was born in Milwaukee and though I’ve traveled a great deal in Mexico and Europe, it has always been my home. I earned a BFA in drawing and painting from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I first tried my hand at chalk drawing in 1989 when I participated in Milwaukee’s Locust Street Festival. I fell in love with the medium then and haven’t stopped doing it since.

I also paint murals, which can be seen at Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center, Wisconsin Humane Society and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. I have illustrated several children’s books and exhibit frequently at Milwaukee art venues. I’m also currently illustrating a comic strip called Finch Corners, which can be seen online at finchcorners.com.

WHY CHALK? There is a performance aspect to my chalk work. Engaging with people as I create is very energizing. Answering questions, demonstrating technique, and sharing ideas with an audience makes producing a chalk drawing an interactive teaching-learning experience, which is quite different from the often solitary effort that’s required in my mural, illustrations and other work.

SPECIAL TECHNIQUES: I became intrigued by optical illusions while I was an art student, and using them in my street art has become a challenge that often delights and surprises me!

Several years ago, I began experimenting with catoptric images. These drawings look like swirls of distorted colors when viewed directly on the pavement, but become clearly defined images when viewed as a reflection in a cylindrical mirror. Though there’s a great deal of preparation involved … I continue to be delighted every time the finished image magically appears in the mirror!

LIFE LESSONS: To do pavement art requires that you embrace its transience and the varying conditions under which you work.

You must be able to adapt to the condition of the pavement … the manhole cover that you didn’t envision in your original design, the pothole repair and so on. And, of course, you must be able to appreciate the river of colors created when a torrential downpour sends a half-finished piece down the storm drain.

In pavement art, everything is flux. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Everything flows and nothing abides. It is in changing that things find repose.”

NEXT UP: I’ve been invited to participate in the special curated section of the 10th season of the Sarasota Chalk Festival in Venice, Florida, which will be held Nov. 10–12.

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