Testimonial

Occasionally, you come across those venerable individuals who have the impressive combination of talent and how they choose to use it.  Mark Wagner is one of those characters.  His artistic ability is uncommon and impressive; just look at his art!  But, he also works to spark the artistic streak in others.  In fact, he set our entire school artistically ablaze when every student and staff member helped create our school mascot in larger-than-life-size and beauty.  How cool is that?  


Absorbed and engaged, my fifth graders enthusiastically participated, stepped back, and took in their part in the school-wide project.  Thank you, Mark!  It is rare when one person affects an entire school in such a positive, lasting way.  I only wish others can have this same opportunity, and get to savor the experience!

Tao Bernardi
Fifth Grade Teacher
Hearst Elementary
Pleasanton, California

www.drawingonearth.org

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Drawing on Earth

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www.drawingonearth.org

Hanging Out

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Hanging out yesterday with street painters

Charlene Lanzel, Mark Wagner, and Tracy Lee Stum.

Tracy and Charlene were working on two large commercial chalk drawings in front of the Moscone Center, San Francisco.

Drawing on Earth is moving slow at the moment, 501(c)3 work, business proposals, children's museum connections, school chalk drawing dates.

www.drawingonearth.org

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The Nature of Technology

Youth in Arts, Italian Street Painting Festival

BELLA TERRA - Beautiful Earth

"The Nature of Technology"

Mark Wagner & Clayton Thiel
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www.drawingonearth.org
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Chabot College - Color Class

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Chabot College, Hayward, CA - Color Class

Drawing on Earth .org

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Drawing on Earth

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If you noticed we just renamed our nonprofit, we are filing for a new 501(c)3, building our board, rewriting our business proposal, begin to redesign our web site, and seek for new sponsors as we step into this new 5 year Global Storybook project. Pretty exciting! And seems like lots of work from here. Stay tuned.

~MW

www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org
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Drawing on Earth

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Hi Everyone,

Moving slow these days. The focus is creating our own nonprofit - Drawing on Earth. We have been a full affiliate of Bridges With Youth and after consulting with a few mentors we have decided to be our own. So it's paper work and understanding the process. Along with this comes business plans, proposals, and beginning to look for grants funding.

Add being a dad of two teenage girls, teaching art at two colleges, other exciting free lance graphic design gigs, and my first art show since 1994.

I recently had the wonderful honor of hanging out with Daniel Dancer who also works with kids creating large art projects that are photographed from above in a crane or air balloon. His work is called Art for the Sky. We are beginning to vision some collaborate projects using my chalk drawings and his kids as art, it's pretty exciting, definitely thinking out of the box!

Daniel Dancer - Sky Bear

www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org
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Storybook Planet

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Photo from world record 2008, Alameda CA, USA

Finally came up with a name for the present project.
Storybook Planet
A Tale Drawn Around the World

Got the url: www.storybookplanet.org
Now we get to build a new site.

I also wrote a draft about the project, an ad for Craigslist for Board of Director and team players, and a Children's Museum proposal. If you are interested or know anyone, have them get in touch with us. We can work virtual.
~Mark

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Feb. 2010

Overview

• 2003 artist Mark Wagner had a vision about creating the world’s largest chalk drawing.

• Why? to raise awareness of the non existence of art teachers in the local elementary school district, to help raise funds for art teachers and supplies, and to give the kids a creative experience they would always remember.

• Five years later, after 2 years of hard work, it happened. 6,000 people (over 3,800 elementary school kids), 90,000 sq. ft. (almost 2 football fields), two weeks, and a photograph from a satellite 425 miles up.

• Guinness World Record award, 2010 book.

• The nonprofit, Re-Enchanting the World through Art was created out of this project. Mission: to support and inspire the creative spirit in youth and community.

• An 80 page book, Small Town ~ Big Vision and a 30 minute documentary film were produced and currently seeking publication and distribution.

• Next project begins: Storybook Planet. Five year project creating large community chalk drawing on all seven continents telling one big story.

• Goal is to create a global collaboration creative art experience that gives kids and communities a sense of belonging and contributing to something greater.

• Create a book to give to the United Nation and world leaders sharing the creative love!

• First page of the book - Dec. 2009: Caracas, Venezuela. 1,500 children and community chalk drawing over 2 days. Event combined with an one day 3D chalk drawing Master Class for professional artists. Extremely successful event.

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Storybook Planet: Nonprofit for Board of Director and Team

Craigslist Draft


Storybook Planet: nonprofit global kids/community art project seeking board members and team.

Storybook Planet: A Tale Drawn Around the World. Interested in art, kids, local and global communities, and a big adventure? A five year global community art project is beginning and our nonprofit is expanding. We are looking for a few passionate, professional, fund raisers, design and media specialists, business and visionary leaders. Partime, possible paid positions as we get funded.

Artist Mark Wagner created a large community art project in 2008 that set a Guinness World Record for the largest chalk drawing. 90,000 sq. ft. (almost two football fields), 6,000 people (over 3,800 elementary school kids), two weeks, and a photograph by a satellite. The goal was to give the children a creative collaborative experience that they would remember, raise awareness and funds for the Arts in a school district with NO art teachers in the elementary schools. A book and documentary film have recently been completed about this project.

Dec. 2009 Wagner began Storybook Planet by creating the first page of the book in Caracas, Venezuela. It was a huge success! The next step of the project is to expand the Board of Directors, develop a team, create proposals, fund raise, design a new web site, and continue to take the show on the road. We like to create 2-5 large chalk drawings a year and cover all the major continents of the world.

Interested? Want a piece of this big creative adventure? Please get in touch by emailing:

For more information: www.creativeworlds.org

Wagner’s chalk drawing blog: reenchantingtheworldthroughart.blogspot
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Chalk ~ Kids ~ Venezuela

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Mark Wagner and the younger artists of Venezuela

Photos are by Ana Moreno

I am still posting photos from my Dec. trip to Venezuela. My last post was showing the production team and the adult artists who were involved in the project - Creative Growth, the first chapter of our new Global Illustrated Storybook.

My next post will be more text and writing about the experience.

~Mark

www.creativeworlds.org
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Caracas, Venezuela - Still Breathless

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Day Two: it's a little beyond words...the entire trip so far. Meeting the right people all along the journey, being so taken care of from the moment I got off the plane. The mountains, the poor, the city, the art and artists! Only poetry and images can suggest a world unto itself that I have the great honor in experiencing... there are tears in my eyes.
~Mark

Thousand of images flashing past the moments, a whirlwind of time-less-ness, a stranger becoming not so strange in a strange world, the heart of the people opening to me as I open to them, honest, across borders of language to land of color, form, community, children, big dreams, of a mountain range that this the ceiling of South America, where hermits write erotic poem and spend their years balancing rocks and sharing both. Where security guards are with me even when I pee at the park, taking care to care for me in this different world. And ad-mist the turmoil, the poverty, the bizarre streets, are beautiful mysterious graffiti paintings, beautiful women to ugly men and everyone in between. Young artists and older artist come up to me saying they have heard about me, they have seen some of my work. I show them more and they show me more and together we become a tribe of creative being, animals creating, striving to be free in all moments of doubt, in the confrontation of the unknown in time as warriors unto the gods, a delicate balance, and the grace of understanding the lay of the land, of seeing the park and knowing it can be done... easily, the belly relaxes. The vultures roost not to just eat the dead but to marvel at the humans weaving stories out of the dust from mountains, the chalk/silica, the most abundant element on the earth's surface, and the telling of the birth of a story that will be told around the world from a continent that still has the a spirit intact, living, alive, creating the universe over and over. Still Breathless!

the chalk has arrived - 8,000 pieces, hope I sent enough!

My amazing support team!

My amazing art student production team

And the Gift at the end of the day, at the tip of the growing plant drawing, a real plant that fell exactly here. The creative growth has already begun!

www.reenchantingtheworldthrough art.org
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They were somewhere scattered on the dark freeway!

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The chalk has arrived in Venezuela, that's a big load off my shoulders.

Here's silly one that just happened. Tues. night I finished teaching my last class of the semester at Menlo College (painting and collage). I arrived early to school and was going to work on my sketches for the 2 drawing that I will be doing next week. I placed the drawing pad on top of my truck.

I ended up getting into a painting that I was doing in class for the students and totally forgot about the drawings until I arrived at home at 9pm (45 minutes from school) WITHOUT the drawings. They were somewhere scattered on the dark freeway.

Luckily it's not a big deal, the ideas and visuals are in my head and heart and I am already working them in a way I would of if I had the drawings - tracing paper with more versions. I just want to get them done by Sat. night.

I'm still on schedule and don't need to stress. I plan well and can stay cool even though part of me (my inner little boy) is freaking about going to another country by myself and pulling off 2 big chalk drawings!!!!!

www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org
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The World's Largest Illustrated Story

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Dear Everyone,

Our month-long fund raising goal was $2,000. I am proud to say that we raised $3,346 with 57 donations!

Thank you!! Popovich, Corich, Marks, Thiel, Moore, McAleer, Alfresco, Ebnom, Childs, Wagner, Wagner, Martin, Afjei/Gudebski, Graves, Brautovich, Safier, Jacobs, Ortiz, Jarrett, Carlomagno, Jenssen, Watson, Rossiter, Layefsky, Carey, Hyde, Todd, Buelteman, Gilbert, Wang, Davis, Greenwald, Valente, Wengell, Stollman, Linayao, Morrison, Artz, Rentmeesters, Phoenix, Arts, Johnson, Garrett, Burnbaum, Burns, Wasmann, Tryon, Jensen, Lovejoy, Von Herrmann, Louchheim, Teall, McClain, Orr.

Over the month our project has begun to gain some attention. We are now working on connections in Argentina, Morocco, India, and the Netherlands. This is the beginning of a 1-3 year project to create the world's largest illustrated story.

We are going to be chalk drawing on different continents, weaving one story together, giving diverse children and communities a way of being create together. GeoEye Satellite Imagery will be donating satellite photography when able. We are seeking several larger sponsors so if you know anyone, please help us connect.

Thanks again for your support and inspiration. If you wanted to donate to the project, you still can, and please do.

Please make checks out to: REWA
Mail to:
c/o Mark Wagner
27 Powers Court
Alameda, CA 94501

or us PayPal @
http://www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org/donatekidsart.html


Creatively Yours,
~Mark Wagner

www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org
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