The 2009 I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival,
San Luis Obispo

For the second year, the Earth Systems group of companies (Earth Systems) participated in the I Madonnari Street Painting Festival. Held at the plaza of the Old Mission in San Luis Obispo, California each September, the I Madonnari festival provides a canvas for the creativity of local artists and young people.  A tradition that began in Italy in the 1700s, I Madonnari street painting festivals are held worldwide.  The participants in the San Luis Obispo festival each have a square of sidewalk to color using chalk as a medium, and over the course of a weekend, their designs come to life. 

The three Earth Systems’ employees who participated in the event, both in 2008 and 2009, are Nancy O’Neal, Sarah Best, and Jen Barnes.  This year, Nancy’s kids pitched in.  The artists started early Saturday morning, and began their work with a grid to lay out the design on a large scale.  After each square was filled in with its corresponding outline, the process of coloring and smudging with chalk began.  With five people working, the project went fast and was finished by noon. The completed painting featured a wind turbine spinning over green rolling hills, a rainbow, and a uniquely-colored ruminant.  Why a purple cow?  Well, every cool cow knows that purple is the new brown.

The San Luis Obispo festival is co-presented by the Children’s Creative Project and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Central Coast Chapter, both non-profit organizations.  The Children’s Creative Project enhances the arts education programs in the San Luis Obispo County schools. The AIA provides funding for an architecture scholarship foundation for San Luis Obispo County students.

For more information regarding the I Madonnari Festival in San Luis Obispo, please visit the AIA Central Coast Chapter website at http://www.aiacentralcoast.org/I_Madonnari-info.html , or the Community Calendar of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce website at http://slochamber.org.

For more information regarding Jen Barnes’ art, please visit her website: http://www.wolfiejenart.com .

The 2008 design was based on Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and incorporated scenes of local landscape and wind turbines. Although they had little to no chalk painting experience, the three artistic people used their talents to produce a beautiful piece.  Jen, the painting’s designer, said of the experience, “We got covered in chalk and were continuously pelted with berries from the tree above our square, but we had a lot of fun.”