May 14, 1999

 

I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival to transform Mission in Santa Barbara

 

I Madonnari, part Renaissance fair, part performance art, and one of Santa Barbara's most popular open-air festivals, will once again transform the plaza at the Santa Barbara Mission into an Italian Street Painting Festival on May 29, 30, and 31. This is the thirteenth I Madonnari presented by the Children's Creative Project, a nonprofit, arts education program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, William J. Cirone, superintendent.

The festival will open at noon on Saturday with a ceremony and will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. all three days. Admission is free.

STREET PAINTERS from this festival and others who have created street paintings in the past, WILL TRAVEL TO ITALY THIS SUMMER for the first time to participate in the festival at Grazie di Curtatone. Kathy Koury, who directs the Santa Barbara festival, and Sue Carlomagno, who directs the street painting festival in San Rafael, traveled to Italy last October to meet with the town mayor and festival organizers. The Italians welcomed participation by California street painters, and they have translated their event guidelines which involve a competition and a limited time-frame to complete the drawings.

"After 13 years, it is wonderful to finally bring the Santa Barbara festival and artists to a full-circle and connect back to the Italian origin for our event," said Koury. "There are plans to document the festival in northern Italy and the participation by our street painting artists."

I MADONNARI is produced by the Children's Creative Project. The organization is the first to bring this public art form to North America. After traveling to the festival in Italy, Koury created the concept for the fund-raiser and produced the first-year event in 1987. That year, the Santa Barbara Mission was celebrating its bicentennial. Father Virgil Cordano and the bicentennial committee members agreed to accept the street painting festival as a part of their celebration. Since then, the festival has continued to grow and now is being replicated in other cities throughout the U.S.

Since 1992, the Children's Creative Project has produced a second festival during April in San Luis Obispo to raise funds for arts education programs in that county.

STREET PAINTING, using chalk as the medium, is an Italian tradition dating to the 16th century. Called "Madonnari" because of their practice of reproducing the image of the madonna (Our Lady), the early Italian street painters were vagabonds who would arrive in small towns and villages for Catholic religious festivals and transform the streets and public squares into temporary galleries for their ephemeral works of art. With the first rains of the season, their paintings would be gone. Today, the tradition lives on in the village of Grazie di Curtatone, where the International Street Painting Festival is held in August each year in front of the Catholic church.

STREET PAINTING SQUARES are drawn in a grid on the pavement in front of the Old Mission, dividing the plaza into 150 squares. The squares range in size from 4' by 6' to 12' by 12' and in price from $100 to $500, each one bearing the name of its sponsor, which can be a business, organization or individual.

As the public watches, local artists then fill these pavement canvases with imagery, often elaborate compositions in unexpectedly vibrant colors. In another part of the plaza, small squares will be sold for children to create their own street paintings alongside other activities for children.

The response to this year's festival has been greater than ever with the available squares sold out by April 8, according to Koury. The project will be accepting street painting sponsorships and applications to be an artist in 2000 at the festival's information booth.

Benefattori sponsors of this year's festival include Kinko's, Santa Barbara Airport, and The Freedom Forum. Amici sponsors include Loreto Plaza Shopping Center, Costruzione CdG,Inc., El Prado Inn, Koss Chalk Pastels, Magic 97.5 KMGQoCountry 106.3 KKSB, Mission Santa Barbara, NS Ceramic, Peet's Coffee and Tea, Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, Santa Barbara County Education Office, Santa Barbara News-Press, Snapple Natural Beverages, UNICO NationaloSB Chapter, Wells Fargo Bank, Undercover Party Rentals, KRUZ 103.3 FM, Cox Communications, KTYD 99.9 FMo101.7 K-Lite, and Fox 11 Kid's Club.

FEATURED ARTIST JAY MERCADO is a veteran street painter from prior-year festivals. He is an artist based in San Francisco who focuses primarily on larger scale still life paintings.

He will be joined by Pietro Palladini, an acclaimed muralist based in New Mexico who paints murals for the hotel, film, television, and music industries. His artwork distills place and time and reveals his passion for painting and the land.

Teresa Marchese, a business and marketing professional from San Francisco whose artwork and writing celebrate life, also will collaborate. Together they will create a street painting using anamorphic perspective to create the illusion of still life objects and figures rising up from the pavement. The scene will colorfully combine elements of harvest and labor.

MUSIC & AN ITALIAN MARKET in keeping with the Italian theme will be featured on the Mission lawn. In the church, there will be free evening concerts from 6&endash;7 p.m. Saturday through Monday featuring the Santa Barbara Grand Opera, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and Canticle a cappella choir. According to Children's Creative Project President Bruce Lyon, this year's market will include lemon-rosemary roasted chicken, pizza, Italian sausage sandwiches, desserts, coffees and other authentic Italian cuisine.

FESTIVAL PROCEEDS benefit the Children's Creative Project, a non-profit arts education program of the County Education Office, William J. Cirone, superintendent.

"Through our artist-in-residence program, 50 artists conduct visual and performing arts workshops for more than 22,000 children," said Koury. The project also sponsors a series of performances for children based on an annual theme, this year being percussion. More than 4,000 children had the opportunity to view the Mariachi Youth Concert at the Santa Barbara County Bowl this May funded by the Mariachi Festival Organization, AT&T Wireless, the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation SAGE program, and festival proceeds.

Overall, 66,000 children at 150 school sites viewed more than 700 performances presented by 50 touring companies sponsored in the Children's Creative Project's Arts Catalog.

Fund-raising from the I Madonnari festival continues the work of the Children's Creative Project and supports the performances offered in the Arts Catalog. For example, festival proceeds provide every county public school with a $200 arts credit to partially subsidize touring company fees. Project Liaison Kathy Friend is responsible for the coordination of the Children's Creative Project artist-in-residence programs and performances in the schools.

FURTHER INFORMATION about the Children's Creative Project and I Madonnari is available by contacting Koury, executive director, at 569&endash;3873.