This June 13th & 14th will mark the 16th Anniversary of Youth in Arts Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael, CA. Founded in 1994, this festival is renowned as one of the finest street painting festivals in the world, not to mention one of our favorite festivals at Blog Now on streetpainting.tv.
Just north of San Francisco at the historic Mission San Rafael Arcangel, hundreds of madonnari (street painters) transform the streets of San Rafael into an outdoor art gallery for 60,000 visitors each year. Using chalk to draw on the asphalt, artists create over 200 images in various styles and sizes. There is a large children's area where hundreds of small children can each create their own masterpieces. The festival also features live musical entertainment as well as Italian food and drink.
This year's featured artists include Amber Long (CA), Seth Sanders (WI), Robert Singler, Jr. (CA), Caroline Hoog as the Featured Student Artist (CA), and The San Rafael High School Madonnari (CA).
Blog Now on streetpainting.tv spoke with Miko Lee, Executive Director of Youth in Arts, about the festival. Let’s talk about the Youth in Arts Italian Street Painting Festival...what are the highlights that everyone should be aware of this year? This year our theme "Faces of the Renaissance" resonates with the change that is emerging in our country. We are clearly living in a tumultuous time. All the more reason for the community to pull together and celebrate the beauty of art and imagination. What do we look forward to that will be new to artists and street painting fans? This year we are ramping up our family day with more interactive activites. We are creating a seek and find game for people to learn about the magical quality of street painting. Does the festival work with arts education or related subjects?
'Juliet' by Cuong Nguyen at YIA Italaian Street Painting Festival (2008)
While we highlight and focus on the mastro madonarri the very thrust of what we do is arts education. We believe in the power of the imagination to transform and make change and that is what Youth in Arts is all about. At our festival you will find a master artist right next to a student. This way they can continue to learn from each other. You can walk around and see a master like Genna Panzerella painting her large square. Then walk to the featured artist area and see Genna's 18 year old private student Caroline Hoog's amazing work. Caroline is the feature student this year and you can see Genna's distinct influence on her work. Down the block will reside Genna's Lynwood Elementary School students - a collage with contributions from over 30 children in our Afterschool program. Each of these squares embody what our work and the festival is all about. Mastery, protegy, and beginner. All together celebrating, working, learning, growing and sharing with the Marin community.