BaCA Street Mural
Category Archives: News
City Art Projects!
FALL EVENT CALENDAR!
CHALK FEST 2014
October 10-12th was Marietta, Georgia’s 4th annual Chalk Fest, a beautiful street painting festival featuring many talented chalk artists from around the country.
Chalkfest 2014
BROWARD 100 Kick-off Party
On October 16th, 2014 downtown Fort Lauderdale hosted the kick-off party for the Broward 100 Project-a centenniel celebration honoring the history of our region through the performance & visual arts! I created chalk mural with ArtServe, Ft. Lauderdale from 5-8pm on Las Olas Blvd across from the Museum of Art near the FAU campus. http://www.southflorida.com/theater-and-arts/sf-lauderdale-broward-100-block-party-20141015,0,2105088.story
http://www.broward.org/broward100/Pages/default.aspx
Color the City Lighthouse Point
On October 19th, 2014 the Lighthouse Point Cultural Arts committee held our first “Color the City” fence weaving event, beautifying the city through public art workshops. I directed this one day collaboration with kids ages 7-14 in weaving vinyl strips of color into public park fences to beautify our local park! It was a unique, fun family event for the community to enjoy-just in time for the November 1st concert in the park event!
Offerdahl’s Gridiron Grill-off 2014
November 8th, 2014 is the Gridiron Grill-Off Event at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre. A food, wine & tailgate festival presented by the Taste of the NFL featuring music, celebrity chefs & entertainment throughout the day. What does this have to do with art? I was asked along with a few other local artists to paint a Jack Daniels statue to auction off for charity. Proceeds of the purchased statues benefit John Offerdahl’s Hand Off Foundation, Feeding the Needs of Kids in Crisis.
From the 2013 artist auction for charity
http://gridirongriller.com/home/
BaCA Limelight Event Novemeber 19th
Wednesday evening, Nov 19th Old Pompanos newly renovated art space BACA will hold its monthly art exhibit. I will be creating & directing a large chalk mural collaboration with several of my art students from 4:00 onward! Come out and see some live art while enjoying music, food & entertainment in Pompano’s new revitalized art spot 🙂
bacapompano.org
Chalk Mural Course
As many of you know I do street painting festivals throughout the year & to promote events in the local area. I also had the opportunity to teach the art of street painting at the Coral Springs Museum of art this month to a few youngsters ages 9-11. They didn’t know what to expect in a chalk mural class, but they quickly learned this isn’t merely “draw on the street” time for 3 hours. We learned how to mathematically measure & grid an image onto a larger surface by carefully studying proportions & measurements of an image. We began indoors recreating this beautiful lion from Apple wallpaper images in google.
Each student received a 1×1″ cut square from the photo and magnified their square 4 times the size. We used chalk pastel to copy what we saw onto a larger square, then adhered each piece to a larger grid I drew for them.
The end result was beautiful! They truly had to maintain focus on what they saw in their tiny abstract squares, and had to trust it would add up to form this beautiful puzzle in the end.
Day 3-4 we ventured outside to work on our large scale temporary mural as a group. I found an awesome black and white owl illustration by Ben Kwok of deviant art online. We each measured and applied a 1×1″ grid to our 6×8″ images. We then multiplied the owl 20x bigger onto the pavement using chalked string to snap down the straight lines of our grid. We applied box by box, adding bright color to each so they had contrast. Here is our result!
The public arts panel at the Coral Springs Museum of Art is planning to display this piece as apart of a series of decoupaged light boxes around the city of Coral Springs! The girls are excited to see their work on a more permanent display! More to come….
Summer Art in the City
The city of Lighthouse Point is getting some new public art this summer, thanks to our first City Summer Art Camp that ran June 9-13th, 2014. 26 kids kids ranging from ages 6-13 dove into bins of colorful tiles, designing personal mosaic creations and park benches for the city. We owe a HUGE thanks to local businesses Tiles of Pompano, D & B Tile, & Budget Tile for their generous contributions to our summer camp!
I first had the kids experiment with the “direct method” of mosaic making by gluing right onto 4×4″ tiles and grouting. (Wearing gloves of course, the fun part)
We proceeded to mosaic a larger piece to enter into Pompano Beach ArtHall’s student exhibit in August. By day 3 we were onto our bench designs, working in teams at our tables in groups of 5 or 6. I explained the “indirect method”” of mosaic making by laying out a cardboard template the exact dimensions of the bench backs, and having them plan and lay down the tiled design. Next, we carefully transfered the pieces onto 6″ sections of sticky contact paper by pressing them over each section of the design. I slathered on thinset cement carefully and had the kids press their contact sheets of tiles into the mortar until the bench was filled and they dried overnight.
Some groups created a mosaic of random colors & tiles, others an underwater scene, a lighthouse & a fish. The boys helped me stir up the grout outside after the tiles had dried in their bed of cement and we smoothed and sponged off the excess grout to fill in all the gaps. We even had a local reporter stop by to see our creations on the last day of camp! The kids had a blast & did some amazing artwork they will remember forever!
The following week I returned to sand the edges, seal the grout and prep all the benches for their public installation. I will post pics of the installed benches as they go up at Dan Witt park & other local spots in the city.
More city art projects to come! Great job artists!
mosaic trash bin at Dixon Ahl Hall, Lighthouse Point
ArtServe Exhibit “InSIDE/Out” May 15th, 2014
ArtServe Fort Lauderdale hosted an “Art as Healing Therapy” exhibit Thursday evening to showcase art as a medium of healing in the community. It was a successful event showcasing 2 & 3D media, including my entry below, “Lead Me Into Spring”, acrylic on canvas.
ArtServe
Lighthouse Point Summer Art Camp
Hello everyone! If you are looking to send your kids to art camp this summer, here is my teaching schedule:
June 9-13th 3:00-5:00pm
Lighthouse Point City Art Camp: Painting & Mosaic
Location: Dixon Ahl Rec Center, Lighthouse Point
(Ages 8-13, $100 per child for the week, supplies included)
contact me at [email protected] to reserve your spot
June 16-July 4th
Coral Springs Museum of Art: Sculpture am/pm sessions
http://coralspringsmuseum.org/carrie-bennett/
contact Coral Springs Museum of Art to register your child
Safety Harbor Chalk Festival
Here is my latest Street Painting adventure from March 22-23 in Safety Harbor, Florida titled “Setting Sail”. The concept is about setting your dreams into flight with hope and confidence, and filling your sails with wind. The quaint coastal town of Safety Harbor was a perfect backdrop for my serene little sailboats 🙂
On to the next adventure!
Art Prints
Buy art prints here on almost any surface
http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/Carrie+bennett/all
Gasparilla Art Festival in Downtown Tampa
I had the privilege of traveling to downtown Tampa to do some chalk drawing at the annual Gasparilla art Festival at Curtis Hixon Park. March 1st-2nd. It was a beautiful location and was run so well! Myself along with 3 other chalk artists created 8×8′ pieces on cement board by the entrance of the festival all day Saturday and Sunday until 2pm. I had a great time and met some talented and kind artists. Next up I am traveling to Safety Harbor, Florida March 22nd for the Bloom N Chalk Festival! I’m excited!
ArtServe 12×12 Exhibit “Best in Show”
ArtServe Ft. lauderdale put on a great Twelve by 12 exhibit Thursday, February 27th, 2014. It was an excellent turnout and I was honored to display 3 paintings next to so many unique and stunning pieces! I received the award of best in show for my Winter bear!
