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Artists take it to the streets Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Artist Gabriel Lippert, of Ashland, works on the figure of a boy on a swing during the second chalk art festival Saturday at Alba Park. Lipper, this year's featured artist, says of his subject matter, "I think he's contemplating his future." By BILL VARBLE When they called Gabriel Lippert about being the featured artist in downtown Medford's second annual chalk event, he wasn't so sure he'd bite. "I was ambivalent until they said it was going to be here," says Lippert, 26, of Ashland. He's wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and skater's knee pads as he stands in blocked-off Ivy Street next to Alba Park. Men, women, kids and dogs have gathered to gawk as artists of sundry ages and persuasions hunker over squares of blacktop they're coloring with pastel chalk. A strolling barbershop quartet called The Fourgone Conclusions adds sweet, old-fashioned harmonies. Chalk street art originated in Renaissance Italy. The most popular theme was the Madonna, which gave practitioners the name Madonnari. The art has enjoyed a renaissance of its own in recent years, with a big festival in Santa Barbara, Calif., pointing the way for others. Medford's first chalk art event was held last year in the city's downtown parking structure, sponsored by the North Medford Rotary Club. Some artists complained that the parking structure's surface was slippery and didn't take pastels well. The surface of Ivy Street is more to artists' liking, Lippert and others say. Plus it's more visible. Plus there's shade. Plus the stately old trees of green Alba Park. Lippert, a painter and muralist, is enlarging one of his paintings, a child on a tire swing. "I don't want to sound cheesy, but I think he's contemplating his future," he says. He's done street art before, including an event at the now-defunct natural history museum in Ashland, so he knows the drill. "More and more people will come," he says. "It's cool when little kids show up." Anybody who wants to can rent a piece of the street for $5 and have at it with colored chalk. The event continues all day today. While it's long been traditional for street artists to do Renaissance subjects, many artists, professional and amateur alike, branch into non-traditional themes. Ryan Embry, of Medford, has created a life-like head of the Christ child based on a study by Raphael. But as his sketches show, the face will soon have the body of a sleeping bat and be surrounded by monkey faces. Embry, 18, says each onlooker brings his own meaning. "That's the fun thing about art," he says. "It's just a bunch of icons in my head. I don't always know what they mean." Michelle Clark, of Medford, a student and massage therapist, is creating a large lion. Last year she did elephants. "It's good to do art and see people doing art," she says. "It's a real supportive environment." One of the Fourgone Conclusions, Jim Thorpe of Grants Pass, looks over artists chalking away. "All that screeching chalk sounds like our chorus," he says. Organizer Mike Arant says the club is thinking about expanding the event next year, maybe inviting artists to display traditional artworks in the park alongside the street art. But he doesn't want the event to morph into just another arts fair with people selling their works. He says it's tough contacting all the artists who might be interested. "It's difficult contacting that community," he says. "There's no central group." But with artists like Lippert on the scene, word gets around. "It's a lot of fun," Lippert says, looking at the increasingly colorful blacktop stretching north to Main Street. "By tomorrow, this'll be beautiful." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.