Watch where you step at this year\u2019s Festa!, you may end up with some fine art on your shoe.<\/p>\n
Now a regular feature at the Italian-themed festival in Little Italy which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, chalk art paying tribute to the mother country will take over four city blocks during Festa!, which takes place from morning to night on Sunday Oct. 12.<\/p>\n The Little Italy Association (LIA), the event\u2019s organizers, dubbed the Italian chalk art form \u201cGesso Italiano\u201d \u2014 with a soft \u201cg\u201d \u2014 a contrived phrase nonexistent in Italy. If you find yourself abroad in Europe looking for chalk art, ask for \u201cMadonnari\u201d instead, which has Italian roots tracing back to the 14th Century.<\/p>\n At least in this urban village powered by Italian eateries, Gesso Italiano does appear to have an organic following behind it. Before being absorbed by Festa! fifteen years ago, Gesso Italiano was its own yearly happening, \u201cChalk La Strada,\u201d which is another name of American invention. Since then, the medium blending visual and performance arts has become one of the main components separating Festa! from other neighborhood street fairs. This year, about 175 artists will work on 68 different works of Gesso Italiano, each with recognizable Italian subject matter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing that separates us from other Italian chalk festivals in the United States is that we request or actually require that all of our artists do something Italian inspired, seeing as it\u2019s an Italian-themed event,\u201d said LIA District Director Chris Gomez.<\/p>\n The flagship of this year\u2019s Gesso Italiano fleet will be a monolithic 20-by-30-foot painting of the Virgin Mary as seen on a stained glass window in the Duomo di Milano. Gaslamp-based artist Cecilia Linayao will lead the multi-artist effort, which will result in the largest chalked-up art piece Festa! has ever seen.<\/p>\n Although she\u2019s not Italian, Linayao is passionate about this fleeting art form. Part of it, she said, is the beauty of getting lost in the moment and enjoying the process of creation, rather than relishing in the product. This is partially due to the fact that, at any given moment, the painstaking work can be washed away by rain in a matter of minutes. Even if the skies stay clear, the finished piece is gone in a week.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a whole slew of pictures of every time I\u2019ve gotten rained out or when the forces of nature are against you,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I knew going into it that it was going to be temporary, that part never bothered me, because it puts you in the Zen of it, that when you\u2019re doing it, you can\u2019t think of everything you\u2019ve got to do tomorrow, you can\u2019t think of everything you left yesterday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to be at that moment right in that creative zone, because if you\u2019re not, your art is going to reflect that.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Linayao\u2019s skill and dedication to the chalk will be truly tested this year. Although she coordinated a giant recreation of Michelangelo\u2019s Sistine Chapel ceiling in 2011, this year\u2019s creation will be her greatest undertaking yet. She\u2019ll be racing the clock from the minute the streets are closed off on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the challenge as the artist in this medium,\u201d Linayao said. \u201cYou\u2019re either burning the midnight oil, or sometimes, if the streets have to be closed, you can get a jump on them. In this instance, I think I\u2019m going to get a jump on it because they\u2019ll close them at 5 p.m., so as soon as the barriers go up and all the cops leave \u2014 the crazy person with all the chalk, that will be me.\u201d<\/p>\n But not all artists share her love for the medium. In fact, Linayao said that out of the 49 other artists in her building of art studios, only a few have seriously given street chalking a go. But the sentiments of her contemporaries don\u2019t surprise her.<\/p>\n \u201cOne, it\u2019s temporary; two, it\u2019s so physically demanding and three, it\u2019s temporary, and some people just can\u2019t get over that,\u201d Linayao said.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s ready to watch the art form fade away completely. This year, her team collaborating on the Virgin Mary piece is primarily comprised of students. She hopes to inspire a new generation to pick up the chalk-covered torch after her.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful art form, I don\u2019t want it to die, and so I\u2019m taking an active part to make sure I teach it and hand down anything and everything I\u2019ve learned in order to keep it going,\u201d Linayao said.<\/p>\n Fortunately, her efforts to keep the art alive don\u2019t seem to be desperately needed yet. This year\u2019s turnout of Gesso artists is Festa!\u2019s largest to date. Check out Date Street between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 12 to see it for yourself. For more information visit littleitalysd.com\/events\/little-italy-festa<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Chalk](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/FESTA-4web.jpg\")
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(Courtesy Little Italy Association)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/a>