ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) - No uniforms, no class and lots of chalk - that could describe the experience of Bolton High School art students each year during Chalk Fest. But the sidewalk art day is much more than that.
“I’m glad you get to express your creativity and it gets everyone involved,” said senior Erin Bonfanti, a senior at the school in Alexandria. “Students love to come out and look at it.”
Bonfanti, 18, has participated in Chalk Fest all four years at Bolton High, spending the day in front of the school listening to music and creating art with chalk pastels. This year’s theme, “Chalk This Way,” held up a little better than last year’s “Chalkin’ on Sunshine,” as that day turned out to be very cold with little sun, she pointed out.
She and her group drew, colored and smeared chalk on the sidewalk in front of their high school on Thursday to recreate “Sunday’s Best” - a picture of a family of crawfish attending church.
As the art project can get messy, Bonfanti and her classmates decided to forgo their school uniforms and stick to Chalk Fest T-shirts and street clothes.
“You have to smooth it with your hands and it’s kinda uncomfortable to do with your hands,” she said. “And you get chalk everywhere, so you can also use little rags and stuff on the chalk to blend it together.”
Art teacher Tracie Campbell found the images online and allowed her art students to choose some favorites. Then the 11 group leaders picked from a hat.
Freshman Max Huffman, 15, and his group got a Mardi Gras-themed image, complete with a fleur de lis, skull, mask and roses.
“This is the one that a lot of people wanted,” Max said. “I think just because it has lots of detail and it’s the most colorful, in my opinion. I like the way all the colors to together.”
Max said art class serves as a break for him during the school day. It’s a creative outlet for him that doesn’t feel like work.
“It’s a nice relaxing part rather than a lot of the other harder parts of school,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to have an hour where you can create something instead of working.”
Chalk Fest turns that one-hour outlet into a full day of creativity, and it gives students the opportunity to work with materials they don’t usually see in class.
“Actually it’s the first time I’ve used chalk since I was little, pretty much,” Max said. “I’ve never actually used it for any artistic purposes.”
This marked the 10th year for Chalk Fest - something Campbell thought would be a one-time project back in 2005.
“It’s just become a tradition,” she said. “Besides missing class, they’re doing what they do (art). … It’s gotten to be very important to our community.”
Its attraction extends beyond Alexandria. Bolton alum Robert Etheridge, class of 1999, happened to be in town from Maryland visiting family this week. Also a former Bolton teacher, he brought his 8-year-old son, Jaylen, to check out his alma mater and found students creating chalk art Thursday.
“I think it’s cool,” Etheridge said. “It’s a good break for the kids (to) get out here and do something different.”
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Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, https://www.thetowntalk.com
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