Painting the town this month in the Italian tradition

Bigfork hosts its first annual street painting and music festival Sept. 20-21 with a tradition that dates back to 16th-century Italy.  

Street painting by the Madonnari is an art form that grew out of the talents developed in the great cathedrals of Europe. Using skills learned studying with the great masters like Michelangelo in cathedrals and chapels like the Sistine, artists skilled in producing images of The Madonna spilled out into the streets to ply their trade on the pavement.

As the focal point of an event, street painting began in the early 20th century when London had its first festival and competition in 1906. And the first international street painting competition didn’t happen until 1972, back in Italy.  Today, street painting is an international art form, with events in Italy, Germany, England, and the United States.

This month for the weekend starting Sept. 20 budding talent from the Flathead Valley and experienced street painters from around the country will converge here for the Bigfork Chalk ’n Rock Festival.  

Festival organizers hope to fill as many as 40 eight-foot squares they’ve created along Electric Avenue in Bigfork with colorful renditions of The Madonna, native animals, superheroes and wildly imaginative art that will radiate during the festival and at least until the next rainstorm.

Lori Escalera is one of the notable street painting talents who will be at the festival. The festival will begin the morning of Sept. 20 as volunteers blacken the street with tempera. It will look kind of like a fresh application of seal coat, and it will provide a smooth, consistent, black canvas on which the artists can draw. The dark background on the street gives the drawings a sharp contrast. “The texture of the pavement is great for layering colors and blending the flesh tones,” Escalera said. “I love to work with the flesh tones of portraiture.”

For the Bigfork festival, Escalera has chosen to reproduce an original painting by Andy Thomas titled “Russell Paints a Masterpiece.” The work is a portrait of C.M. Russell working on a western image as described by Joe DeYong in a letter to a friend about a visit to Russell’s studio. 

The Chalk ’n Rock Festival is more than street art, it’s music on the streets as well. Six professional groups will perform on a stage at the end of the chalk squares.The Chalk ’n Rock Festival is free to the artists and to the visitors. 

The Festival is Sept. 20-21. It will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday.  A free shuttle will circulate between downtown and the Bigfork High School parking lot.  

More information is at ChalkNRock.org.