News

Josh Maxwell '13, a Biomedical Art major, and Barbara Chira, an instructor in the Foundation Program, are two of the six professional artists featured in the Cleveland Museum of Art's 2010 Chalk Festival happening on Saturday, September 18, from 11am to 5pm and Sunday, September 19, from noon to 5pm. Using the walkways around the Fine Arts Garden as a colorful canvas, the featured artists, as well as a group of five other CIA students, will create their art as part of a 20-year tradition at the museum.

Begun in 1990, the festival is a modern expression of a Renaissance ritual from 16th-century Italy, in which beggars copied paintings of the Madonna by Raphael and his contemporaries, using chalk on the plazas outside cathedrals.

As featured artists, Josh and Barbara were commissioned by the museum to create an inspirational mural. Other CIA students, including Ilona Jurek '12, Anjellica Trace '12, Cassidy Strickler '13, Tom Tran '13, and Nora Corcoran '13, will create their own masterpiece just a few concrete blocks away.

If you're around University Circle over the weekend, stop by the free event, open to the public, to watch the artists in action and listen to live music.

Editor's note: Channel 3 News interviewed Josh Maxwell about his chalk art.