The Six and Twenty Club met Friday, April 22 at 2:15 pm at Charlie’s Place, located inside the historic Murphy Theatre. Members enjoyed the wonderful Murphy Theatre venue. Mrs. Susan Ertel was both the hostess and program leader for the afternoon.
Mrs. Ertel’s 2022 club book is “Round Trip” by author and illustrator Ann Jonas. Mrs. Ertel stated how much she enjoyed the extraordinary clever children’s book. The black and white abstract illustrations combined with the book text lead readers on an imaginative journey from a day trip to the city and back home again to the country.
Readers travel through the book and then flip the book around as the abstract pictures magically change to tell the story. Lighted windows become stars and ponds become clouds to show the journey.
”Round Trip’s” visual image changes led Mrs. Ertel to her program topic for the afternoon titled “Chalk It Up…Pavement Street Art”.
Pavement street art and sidewalk chalk art can stop you in your tracks. 3D pavement street art has a way of playing with optical illusions. Pavement artists can transform ordinary sidewalks into breathtaking portals to another dimension. Mrs. Ertel discussed the history of pavement street art and 2 of the creating artists, Kurt Wenner and David Zinn, and their unique styles.
Today’s pavement art is a modern twist on a centuries old tradition that was started in the 16th century.
By the mid 1900s street painting traditions were starting to fizzle away. To help revive the dying art form a festival was launched in an Italian town for chalk artists to create a finished work of pavement art based on religious or renaissance themes, while being accomplished in only a 24-hour period.
The Italian festival is still going on today and attracts thousands of visitors. American pavement artist Kurt Wenner was a three-time winner of the festival. Wenner introduced 3D pavement chalk art to the United States.
Mrs. Ertel also discussed David Zinn, another sidewalk artist, that brings the sidewalk to life. Zinn uses street “furniture” like poles or electrical terminals to create colorful pieces that interact with their surroundings. Zinn’s artwork features small reoccurring sweet characters that interact with their surrounding environment.
Following the business of the club, the meeting was adjourned. Assorted iced cake pops were displayed in colorful pastel Easter grass on each table as take home treats for the members.
