PEOPLE
by Charlotte Kovalchuk
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s a chalk artist, Anita Laurentz has found beauty in ephemerality. “I’m actively doing something that is big and also brief. You can’t take it home with you. It takes hours to get it done and then, bye bye.” Specializing in portraits of people and animals, Anita didn’t consider chalk art until 2009 when she took an art class taught by John Howell, founder of the Round Rock Chalk Walk festival. Originally from Houston, she had just moved to Lago Vista from Austin with her husband and two sons and wanted to start painting again. John encouraged her to give chalk art a try, and Anita has been adding her art flair to the annual festival ever since. When she’s not teaching art at Liberty Hill High School, that is. While she doesn’t have as much time for her own art as she used to, Anita says, “I am where I’m supposed to be for sure. I love teaching kids and I love being at Liberty Hill High School. It’s the most wonderful place to be. The kids are unique, and their artwork is inspiring.”
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WINNING HEARTS & AWARDS
During this year’s festival in October, more than 60 artists were given a 10’ by 10’ square space on the pavement and a set of chalk to work with over the course of several hours. The process is the same as transferring a mural on the wall, only on the ground, Anita says. She prefers using the grid method – splitting the design into proportional squares that fit the wall space then drawing lines or using strings to mark the squares on the wall. She says she learned the hard way about the need for cushions when creating chalk art. “One year I lost feeling in my right hand when I was leaning on it for hours. I thought it would be fine after a couple days but it took four weeks to turn back to normal. Now I take every cushion in the world,” she says with a laugh. She adds, “Everyone is covered in chalk. You’ll look over and see others covered in chalk and realize you are too – a big black smear above your eyebrow or around your nose. It’s fun.”
Photos courtesy of Anita Laurentz, Bee photo from City of Round Rock website
CELEBRATING & INSPIRING THROUGH CHALK ART
