Sidewalk Chalk: A Photo Essay
Written by Abby Chadwick. Photo Courtesy of Abby Chadwick.
The annual Sidewalk Arts Festival was held on Saturday, April 23. After a two-year break due to the pandemic, Forsyth Park was once again filled with chalk artists bringing their ideas to life. Coinciding with Alumni & Family Weekend at SCAD, spectators were eager to walk through the giant sidewalk squares mosaic that Forsyth transformed into.
Seeing all the completed squares certainly was a highlight of the day, but the best part perhaps was seeing the process from start to finish and, in turn, the fun the artists had while creating. And just as the concrete squares became covered with every color of the rainbow, so did the artists as well.
The Sidewalk Arts Festival is a SCAD-run event––and while SCAD students and alumni made up the majority of volunteers, it was amazing to see how many individuals, families and groups from the community came to participate as well. As remarkable as the SCAD students’ sidewalk drawings (that frankly looked like they could be hung up in the Louvre,) it was equally remarkable to see a 7-year-old’s stick-figure family masterpiece and the local Girl Scout troops’ chalk drawn messages about girl power and positivity.
And speaking of messages, many artists took advantage of the large crowds and used their sidewalk spaces as catalysts for spreading their word. Numerous squares used visuals to show support for Ukraine or movements such as Black Lives Matter. One square celebrated the memory of Marsha P. Johnson, a self-identified drag queen and monumental figure in activism for LGBTQ+ liberation. Another square that really made an impact was one with a bright and colorful faded-rainbow background, and on top were the words “RIP Ryan, check on your happy friends.” Squares like these force people to take a pause from admiring the surrounding beauty to remind themselves how lucky they are to live in a place where self-expression through art is legal.
Abby Chadwick is District’s Chief Social Media Strategist and an interior design major at SCAD. She has been involved with District since her freshman year, with this year being her third as an editor. Apart from her role at District, Abby can be seen around SCAD walking to and from Clark Hall and enjoying the Savannah coffee scene. (Her go to is an espresso tonic, if you were wondering!)
