FESTA!’s Gesso Italiano (Italian Chalk)

You are cordially invited to be an artist at the Little Italy Festa’s Gesso Italiano: Chalk Painting Event. Gesso Italiano is a part of a larger festival called the Little Italy Festa; and for those of you who have not participated in our street painting event, it is held in San Diego’s Little Italy. The dates this year are October 12 & 13.

Over the past 19 years, it has grown so that we now draw over 120,000 attendees from all over the United States on Sunday alone. Gesso Italiano is an “event within an event” that takes place on BOTH Saturday and Sunday. Artists and teams will create works of art in 8’ x 8’ squares, beginning on Saturday (10am – 6pm) until your painting is complete on Sunday afternoon. (Sunday hours are also 10am – 6pm.)

Several years ago the Little Italy Association brought Gesso Italiano in-house and decided to move in a new direction; a celebration of the traditional art that celebrates the roots of the art form from Italy. With a push to take the chalk event back to its original roots of the Madonnari in Italy, we are requesting that all artists create an Italian themed rendition.

The Theme:
The only thing that we request this year, is that you depict something…anything…that depicts some facet of Italy or Italian-American culture. This broad spectrum of subject matter leaves everything open to interpretation, from Italian art masterpieces, to landscapes, to food, fashion, to movies and music. Let your imagination guide you in this process—it is always wonderful to see the variety depicted by the participating artists.

The Gesso Italiano paintings will be on Date Street between India and State Streets, located in the true center of Little Italy Festa. This high profile location will give your art maximum exposure.

There will be cash prizes again this year and based on your feedback, we have modified the categories. The three categories are Best in Show as voted by art experts ($500.00), Best in Show as voted by public ($350.00) and Best Educational Team ($350.00). Educational Teams must be schools, and can receive guidance from their instructor, but no work is allowed by the instructor. This is to keep it fair for all schools.

Breakfast and lunch, and two t-shirts will be provided to each team. Please complete the attached application if you are interested in participating as an artist in this year’s event.

Application deadline to be a Gesso Italiano Artist is Tuesday, September 6th, 2012.

If you have any questions you may contact me at sandi@littleitalyfestasd.com or call 619-615-1092. We look forward to hearing from you. We also welcome your comments and any input you may have.

We know that the chalk community is very close knit; so if you know of someone that has not been to the Little Italy Festa’s Gesso Italiano, please forward them the application.

Application

Click here to download the Gesso Italiano application.