Daniel petti

Leaving Our Mark Written and Designed by: Daniel Petti

Acknowledgements First and most importantly, I would like to thank Wayne and Cheryl Renshaw (left) for their never-ending support and generosity, as well as Katrina Loera for her commitment and unique perspective. I would also like to thank all the teachers at Freestyle Academy for their devotion to sharing their knowledge of complex and counterintuitive computer programs.

Table of Contents Foreword: 6 Introduction: 8 Chapter 1: 10 Chapter 2: 16 Chapter 3: 22 Conclusion: 26 Works Cited: 28

A shirt featuring the “do’s”, “don’ts”, and dangers of chalk art.

Foreword

When I first saw the pictures of chalk paintings on Cheryl Renshaw’s phone, I would never have imagined that only a year later, I would find myself filming a documentary focused on their making. I merely thought they were pretty, interesting, but superficial, much as I thought of most art at the time. Little did I know that there was such a thriving culture built around this medium, with so many internal stories, ideas, and anecdotes. Over time, these exceptional artists have taught me that art is not just about what’s on the page in front of you. Art is ultimately about a process, it’s the story of ideas and creation, and chalk art has put that story, so often locked away behind closed studio doors, on display for the entire world to marvel at. I hope that, by adding my camera to the mix, I will be able to make it a little easier for the world to do just that.

As I found out, it’s a very long and bumpy road from insight to documentary. When I first had the idea for this documentary last winter, I thought I was practically done, but, in reality, that was just the first of a long series of challenges. Luckily, people were very good about talking to me, and sharing their exceptional passion for their medium with me and my cameras. Their help allowed me to capture a larger chunk of their world

than I would have otherwise been able to. As the project progressed, I went through periods where I would look onward and think that it would never get off the ground, periods through which the grade was all that kept me pushing forward and creating mediocre work.

Every time this happened, though, it was always a conversation with one of these exceptional artists that renewed my faith in the ability of this topic to enchant and delight an audience, and my ability to make it happen.

Despite the setbacks, I think I learned more in this project than I have in any other Freestyle project so far. I learned how to interact with real people in the real world, and felt the weight of having the sole responsibility for telling other people’s stories laid upon me. Every time that the audio didn’t work, or the shot was poorly exposed, or one of the subject’s body parts was irreparably cut off, I felt like I had personally failed them. I think that this has compelled me to improve significantly as a filmmaker. It has forced me to work harder, simply because I feel that my actions have consequences for people other than me. I think that’s what we all eventually have to learn as we grow up and become responsible adults.

-Daniel Petti, 3/23/14

Introduction

Painting has never come easily for me. In fact, it would probably be more accurate to say that painting has never come at all for me. I’m a terrible painter. When I was little, I was too impatient to let the paint dry before applying a new layer, and consequently, much of my body of work features ugly gaps and smudges between colors. Nor could I ever get the colors that I wanted in the first place: my skin tones always ended up as ghastly shades of orange and yellow, the kinds of pigments which, in the general art world, would only be acceptable for portraying Neo-Cubist tropical fruit. As soon as I discovered that, to my great shock and dismay, I embodied a startling lack of talent for painting, I quickly gave it up and never looked back. Even to this day, I haven’t touched a brush in years.

My story has a happy ending, though; I eventually discovered tools such as Adobe Illustrator that circumvented many of my previous problems. Much as I find it hard to believe, there are people who have mastered the art of painting, and, if anything, my own misadventures in the genre have lead me to develop a greater respect for them. Furthermore, much as Illustrator allowed me to paint on the computer,

I have learned that one can paint with far more than, well, paint. Even though our stereotype of “the artist” generally involves easels, brushes, berets, and perhaps large moustaches, anyone who surveys the art scene and sees only hipsters with colored liquids has merely scratched the surface. In fact, there is a small but vibrant community right in our backyard that is quietly redefining the verb “to paint”. While the world of art swirls around them, in all its bold, cutting-edge vibrancy, these people crouch quietly on the pavement, rubbing cheap chalk into the ground.

For a long time, nobody took any real notice of them, but that is starting to change, fueled by a shift in public awareness. For many of us, art was historically something large, bold, and abstract that we consistently failed to connect with.

What we didn’t realize is that there are many lesser known forms of art that, while not something you would see hanging on a museum wall, are nonetheless thought-provoking and visually eye-popping. Chalk art is one of these forms. The artists are rarely noticed or paid, and they work on the street instead of the canvas, but their art is still a bold reminder of the value of seemingly simple aesthetics in our society.

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I C h a p t e r

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t seems an unfortunate fact of human nature that people devote a significant portion of their finite time and energy to criticizing what other people read, watch, and listen to. Even 3,000 years ago, Plato was yammering on about the crassness and moral corruption embodied by theater and poetry. The situation is not all that different today.

According to Martha Bayles, a professor of humani- “ ties at B.U., “ roug hl y six-in-ten [ A mer i cans] say they are very concerned over what children see or hear on TV, in music lyrics, video games, and movies” (2). As you can see, disapproval of popular culture is not simply limited to curmudgeonly old men or snobby hipsters. Millions of ordinary Americans find the extreme modernism they see in arts and culture unsettling.

Even if you don’t agree with

this, it’s simply undeniable that this significant demographic cannot be ignored.

That being said, it would be absolutely fatal to the art community to lose out on this entire class of patrons. Therefore, while photographing a crucified Jesus submerged in urine or painting the Virgin Mary with elephant dung, as some artists have recently done, at least theoretically

This is where chalk painting comes in. As a medium which is traditionally created upon public surfaces, often with the public only one f limsy strip of yellow caution tape away, chalk paintings are, unsurprisingly, not a terribly disruptive art form. Even though some might see chalk art as not being sufficiently avantgarde to merit serious attention, it seems that many Americans are seeking a safe, sane place to take their kids and get them i n teres t ed in art.

Chalk art festivals are beginning to fill that need, because of their natural and traditional accessibility, but also due to their added “wow” factor, that unique sense of amazement that kids can get behind and even participate in. Wayne Renshaw, a street painter from California, explains that often times, “someone will come along, usually a kid, who’s

Roughly six-in-ten [Americans] say they

are very concerned over what children see or hear on TV (61%), in music lyrics (61%), video games (60%) and movies (56%).” proves some mighty, philosophical point, perhaps the art that we choose to showcase to the public at large should be a little more tame. Don’t interpret this as an argument for widespread censorship.

I’m simply making a case for the more conservative class of art, that which has often been dismissed as “not serious” by the art community.

The plotter is where all great ideas start. In order to create art, Wayne and Cheryl first plot out their design on very large pieces of paper, which are then perforated, and, with chalk dust, used to mark the basic line pattern on the ground.

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very excited about it, so I’ll have them color in a little corner, and then, at the end of the thing, I’ll say, ‘Here, why don’t you take my box of chalk.’

And they’re always very excited.

They think it’s a million-dollar box of chalk. It really isn’t, but it’s enough of something to say ‘Here, go home and play with this. Go home and try this yourself’” (7). Chalk art is the medium of the masses, the people without time, money, and experience

who would otherwise not be able to participate in the creation of art. Especially in times when the economy is bad, and when “the young are feeling the brunt of government cutbacks,” (3) the relative inexpensiveness and easiness of chalk art starts to make it seem like a very attractive hobby for our nation’s youth. I would argue that this neater, tidier, perhaps less powerful art form is doing far more than all the deep and mov-

ing works gathering dust on gallery walls to advance the culture of art in our society. As one excited blogger exclaimed after viewing a chalk painting of a three-dimensional rope bridge, “There is no denying that this is one of the most beautiful 3d chalk drawings I’ve ever seen.” (5).

To a chalk art enthusiast, the only thing that would have made that sentence more heartening would be if he had omitted the “3d chalk” part.

“There is no denying that this is one of the most beautiful 3d chalk drawings I’ve ever seen.”

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A finished plotter printout.

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These chalk art materials are rather well-loved.

“Someone will come along, usually a kid, who’s very excited about it, so I’ll have them color in a little corner, and then, at the end of the thing, I’ll say “Here, why don’t you take my box of chalk.” And they’re always very excited. They think it’s a million-dollar box of chalk. It really isn’t, but it’s enough of something to say “Here, go home and play with this. Go home and try this yourself.”

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E C h a p t e r 2 16

ven though there’s nothing reprehensible about creating culturally conservative works, some chalk artists do feel unhappy about their inability to take their medium to the next level of emotional power. Wayne and Cheryl recounted a story in which their German friend wanted to paint an image lifted from an old photograph of the surrender of Berlin at the end of WWII. This image, which is, of course, in black and white, features the desolate landscape of a city in ruins.

The focal point is a soldier climbing a parapet out of the rubble in order to hang a flag. The image itself was very powerful, and it would have been rendered even more so by the artist’s plan to make the flag the only part of the painting that was rendered in color. The only problem was that the flag in question was not the stars and stripes, but the hammer and sickle. Wayne and Cheryl eventually advised

her against doing the painting, because they felt that the art would elicit sharply negative reactions, especially in deeply conservative Florida, where the festival was taking place. Cheryl Renshaw, also a chalk artist, explains that she just kept thinking, “I don’t want our friend Marion to have to deal with all of the people upset by that flag, who don’t know the history of what’s happening” (8).

For this reason, her friend decided to do a different piece instead, one that was more likely to have a favorable reception. Wayne and Cheryl felt bad for disrupting such a powerful artistic idea, but they didn’t feel that they had a choice; they wanted her to have a favorable experience, without having to deal with a bunch of rude, angry Americans.

Another slightly disturbing encounter with the public also occurred in Florida: A friend of Wayne and Cheryl’s had gotten a commission from the festival to

replicate a painting. It basically showed the history of Florida with nice composition: Ponce De Leon in one corner, a space shuttle on the thirds. As it turns out, though, if you go back and read the history books, Ponce De Leon was not a particularly friendly person. One the patrons had apparently read them. Unhappy with the painting’s portrayal of a monster, he proceeded to throw fake blood all around the painting, decidedly defacing a commissioned work of art.

This is an extreme example of a more widespread phenomenon. Many people are offended by art, which prompts them to take actions which might rob the culture of an enriching work. There is certainly something to be said for both keeping art free and unregulated as well as more strictly defining what “counts” as art using some sort of standard evaluation of public decency. Even so, I find it hard to advocate

A poster for the Disneyland Chalk Art Festival.

say, however, that we should give out the subsidies regardless of the project, and let the market decide what it likes and doesn’t like.

The other phenomenon that is fairly common among professional chalk artists is creating paid advertisements for companies and brands. Although some people view this as selling out, it remains to be seen whether this is actually bad for the medium as a whole.

At the very least, it builds awareness about chalk painting. As Juliana Engberg, artistic director of the Biennale of Sydney, said, art is about investigating “that transference that occurs between the artist and the audience” (9).

Writer Nikki Freeman

for any sort of censorship. People who are worried about some perceived scourge of immorality overtaking the art world are forgetting an important point: that the art marketplace acts no differently than our economy at large.

Works that people don’t want to see won’t get seen. The marketplace already tends to purge art that doesn’t meet our standards without any sort of intervention from any form of higher authority. Many people are worried that we’re giving federal subsidies to the artists who, as Ben Shapiro put in an article titled “The Arts should be Censored”, “pollute the artistic marketplace with unmitigated crap”. (1) I would

“I

put it a different way: the purpose of art is to “make the audience feel something incredible” (4). Does it make a difference if this feeling is the incredible urge to buy something? My first thought is that it really doesn’t. After all, commercial art has been a part of our culture for years, and many of the most iconic designs, from “I love N.Y.” to the Nike check mark were produced for commercial purposes.

Furthermore, photography has probably done the most out of any art form to increase the prevalence of commercial art in our culture, and, as we’ll see in the next chapter, it’s still regarded as a highly “serious” medium.

don’t want our friend Marion to have to deal with all of the people upset by that flag, who don’t know the history of what’s happening.”

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A page from the artist’s sketchbook, where all great ideas originate.

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A layout showing the progression of an idea from a digitally altered photo, to a photo with the proper perspective, to a plotter line drawing.

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hen photography was first invented, people almost immediately began using it for artistic purposes. However, according to writer Nikki Freeman, “Some people found the technology fascinating and as an opportunity to seize their chunk of a new innovation, since this new process of creating still life, long lasting images of things required no skill in drawing or painting. But, others with already existing artistic skills found the Daguerreotype threatening, and lacking of a true creative nature.” (1) Now, of course, photography is widely accepted as a serious art form, even though there were many who resented its rise. For instance, the famous graphic designer Milton Glaser remarked: in the 50’s, “The camera was king; artists were out of work.” (qtd. by Lehrer.)

Though it might seem to

ring true in the ruthlessly profit-focused business world, it is, in reality, a naive assumption to make that any form or medium of art will ever completely eclipse any other. Just as radio did not make newspapers obsolete, and television did not make radio obsolete, there is no way that photography will ever make painting and drawing obsolete.

As Freeman put it, “It is safe

sion, even if you’re staring at it in the street. And many chalk paintings can stare back, thanks to technology.

If we make the reasonable assumption that the arts can only be enriched by new invention, then chalk art stands as one of the more enriched mediums. Even though, at heart, chalk painting relies on techniques first developed in 17th century Italy, today many of the complicated three dimensional designs require a level of precise anamorphic projection best left to Photoshop. Even though Wayne Renshaw repeatedly used the word “magic” to describe what one sees at chalk art festivals, creating it requires a skill set that is a far cry from Mary Poppins. For many artists, chalk art requires a lot more than what you see on the pavement, you can’t just draw a few lines and expect Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke to come

“It is safe to say that art is not a win lose game, where one medium has the ability to ‘beat’ another” to say that art is not a win lose game, where one medium has the ability to ‘beat’ another” (1). That’s really the wonderful thing about art: You can argue forever about where the distinction lies between “high” art and “low” art, but, in reality, art is about expression, and nobody can really argue that one expression is somehow purer than another. Expression is expres-

An example of a print-out composed of multiple separate photos combined in Photoshop by the artists, which they can then work off of in their paintings.

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waltzing out of the countryside.

The best artists have been known to pose actors in costume, photograph the scene thousands of times, digitally combine the most believable shots with the proper photographic scenery, warp the final image so that the perspective ends up looking plausible to an observer looking down on the finished painting, and, finally, produce life-sized tracings on enormous sheets of butcher paper using a plotter that would more likely be found at an architectural firm than in an artist’s studio. As soon as they get to the site of the painting, the next task is, in the words of Cheryl Renshaw, to “poke holes in the paper, lay those out on the street, and dust

powdered chalk through the holes to transfer our image” (7).

(This strategy is called “pouncing”, and was developed by Michelangelo and the fresco painters of the Renaissance. Because they were painting into wet plaster, which affords them only a short amount of time to paint before it dries, they needed a way to quickly get a rough sketch of the painting onto their work surface.)

(7) As you can see, in chalk art, most of the work is actually done before any pigment even reaches the pavement. This extensive use and overall adoption of technology is what allows chalk artists to

portray the world around them with such striking realism.

Furthermore, technology is necessary for the increased cultural awareness that chalk art has enjoyed in the past few years. Since the medium itself is so transient, many artists rely on the internet to share pictures of their creations. Though time and time again, people have disparaged social networking and the internet in general, referring to them as a waste of time, the truth is that, at some point, it becomes hard to argue that something you see on DeviantArt isn’t just as enriching as something in a gallery at SFMOMA, especially if you understand the former better.

One of the questions that chalk artists get asked most often is “What happens when it rains?” This is the answer.

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Conclusion Chances are, most of us do not consider ourselves artists. The truth is, though, that an artist is anyone who creates art, not just a professional. In theory, anyone who can hold a pencil, paintbrush, or stick of chalk can be an artist, all that separates Michelangelo from your average Joe is practice. True to this idea of “open art”, many hobbyists all over the world are only now enjoying the accessibility and affordability of street art. There are virtually no barriers to entering this field; all one needs are a cheap box of chalk and an idea.

Whether you choose to become a chalk artist or not, one thing is certainly true: technology is causing a rapid shift in how we create and consume art. (Then again, technology is causing a rapid shift in just about everything these days.) Chalk art’s incredible 3d scenes are a testament to what this technology is enabling: art with more stunning visuals than ever before. And, when art is basically a set of emotions contained in a visual package, this, at least in theory, translates into a whole new level of expression, all of which wouldn’t be possible without modern computing. Also, even though social networking is so new, and, as a con-

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sequence, we have yet to determine all of its effects on the many diverse areas of society that it influences, it is clear that this new form of communication is revolutionizing how we consume these new forms of art. Specifically, chalk art is so transient that it only survives somewhat permanently in memories, whether biological or electronic. Since the only way that most people know about chalk art is by viewing digital replicas, it becomes imperative to the survival of the medium that people have an easy way to share these data with each other.

Social media, naturally, provides this medium.

My goal in writing is not necessarily that you choose to take up chalk art, but simply that you are aware of its existence, and its rightful status as a serious artistic discipline. I think that many people are often too narrow-minded when it comes to art. They get so ensconced in looking for a canvas that they don’t notice what’s on the ground right in front of them. After all, I think that sometimes what’s on the ground is far more interesting than anything hanging in a museum. There’s probably some metaphorical life-lesson there, but I’ll leave its interpretation to you.

Works Cited “A Brief Evolution of Art and the Inf luence of Technology on Photography.” Yahoo Contributor Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://voices.yahoo.com/a-brief-evolution-art-inf luence-technology-48223.html>.

Bayles, Martha. “America’s Pop Culture Exports Are Damaging the Nation’s Image.”America’s Global Inf luence. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from “Now Showing: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Americans: Exporting the Wrong Picture.”Washington Post 28 Aug. 2005: B01. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Lehrer, Jonah. “Imagine”. New York: Houghton Miff lin Harcourt. 2012. Print.

Loera, Katrina. Personal Interview. 25 March, 2014.

“Optical Illusions.” Mighty Optical Illusions RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http:// www.moillusions.com/3d-rope-bridge/>.

Renshaw, Wayne. Personal Interview. 14 February, 2014.

Renshaw, Cheryl. Personal Interview. 14 February, 2014.

Shapiro, Ben. “The Arts Should Be Censored.” Censorship. Ed. Byron L. Stay. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from “No Bodily Fluids in the Public Square.” Human Events.com. 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

“The desires that connect us to art.” Age [Melbourne, Australia] 31 Jan. 2014: 28.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

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Leaving Our Mark

Daniel Petti lives in Mountain View, California, and attends Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. His interests include, but are not limited to, film, music, and robotics. He is currently the author of no majorly acclaimed works, or other published works at all, to be perfectly honest. (But that is subject to change.) His most recent book is this one.

Leaving Our Mark

Daniel Petti

Written and Designed by: Daniel Petti