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News Release
May 15, 2000
I Madonnari to Transform Mission in Santa Barbara
I Madonnari is the first festival of its kind in North America to present the performance art of street painting. In one of Santa Barbara’s most popular open-air events, it will once again transform the plaza at the Santa Barbara Mission into an Italian Street Painting Festival on May 27, 28, and 29.
This is the fourteenth 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.
I MADONNARI is produced by the Children's Creative Project. The organization is the first to bring this delightful public art form to North America. After traveling to the festival in Italy, Executive Director Kathy Koury created the concept for the fund-raiser and produced the first-year event in 1987. In this 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. From that time on, 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 PAINTERS TRAVELED TO ITALY for the first time to participate in the festival at Grazie di Curtatone. A total of 12 California artists, who have created street paintings over the years at I Madonnari and similar festivals in other California cities, traveled to Italy last summer. The trip organizers were Kathy Koury and Sue Carlomagno, who directs the street painting festival in San Rafael, California to be held this June 10 and 11.
The Italians welcomed participation by our artists, and both Genna Panzarella and Tracy Lee Stum received awards for their street paintings. After 13 years, it was wonderful to finally bring the Santa Barbara festival and artists to a full-circle and connect back to the Italian origin for our event.
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 March 31. You can sign up at the festival's information booth to receive a year 2001 brochure to be a street painting sponsor or to apply to be an artist. Or you can call: 805/569-3873.
FEATURED ARTIST Julie Kirk resides in Chino, California and is a veteran street painter of eight years in the Santa Barbara festival. She also has been a featured artist at a number of festivals throughout the U.S.
Julie earned her BFA at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and is currently working on her MFA at CSU Fullerton, where she also teaches drawing and painting. Julie's career touches on a number of art-related areas. She is an artist through the L.A. Music Center Education Division, where she conducts workshops and teacher inservices on street painting.
Currently, she is working on a series of oil paintings. She has completed several murals and commissioned street paintings, and her exhibitions include the Carnegie Museum. Collaborating with Julie Kirk as featured artists this year will be professional muralist Tracy Lee Stum, entertainment portrait artist Phil Roberts, and fine artists Genna Panzarella and Charlene Lanzel, who have participated as street painters in our festival for many years.
A featured artists exhibit of paintings and prints by Julie Kirk, Genna Panzarella, Phil Roberts and Tracy Stum will be held at Sullivan Goss from May 26 through June 1. The public is invited to the opening reception from 5 to 7 PM on May 26 at 7 East Anapamu.
MUSIC & AN ITALIAN MARKET in keeping with the Italian theme is featured on the Mission lawn. In the church, there will be one free concert each evening from 6-7 p.m. Saturday through Monday featuring respectively the SB Grand Opera, SB Chamber Orchestra, and Canticle A Cappella Choir.
According to Children's Creative Project President Marilyn Zellet, this year's market will include: delicious lemon-rosemary roasted chicken, pizza, Italian sausage sandwiches, desserts, coffees and other authentic Italian cuisine.
FESTIVAL PROCEEDS benefit the Children's Creative Project, a nonprofit arts education program of the County Education Office, William J. Cirone, superintendent. The Project sponsors fine arts programs in the schools for a total of 66,000 children.
"Through our Residence Artist program, 50 artists conduct visual and performing arts workshops for more than 24,000 children," said Kathy Koury, executive director.
The project also sponsors a series of performances for children based on an annual theme, this year being African Arts. A total of 6,000 children had the opportunity to view the Children of Uganda performances at the Santa Barbara Bowl this April co-sponsored by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation SAGE program, UCSB Arts & Lectures, Wells Fargo Bank and The Freedom Forum.
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 is very important to continue the work of the Children's Creative Project and to support 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 Resident Artist and Touring Artist programs in the schools.
FOR INFORMATION about the Children's Creative Project and I Madonnari, contact Kathy Koury, executive director, at 805/569-3873.
DIRECTIONS to the festival from the 101 freeway: Take the Mission Street exit and travel east to Laguna Street, turn left and continue to Los Olivos Street. The Mission is located at the corner of Los Olivos and Laguna streets. Free parking at the Mission.