Houston... We Have a Visual

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Yesterday we got our site surveyed by RBF Consulting with the help from Jim Brezack. 300 x 300 feet, that's 90,000 sq. ft. - gulp! I took my daughter and dog out on the site and placed cones, and got up into the Control Tower to take these pictures (red line are in Photoshop).

www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org/images/chalksite300x300.jpg

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*Yesterday I started to draw just before 7am in downtown Vallejo CA. I was the featured artist for their first chalk drawing festival. Pretty low key. Instead of doing a large drawing of an old masterpiece, I did a cool community chalk drawing project, even figured it out as I drove up there the night before.

I started to draw in the center of the street, a heart, then drew a long black & white line. As people came by I invited them to help me draw and traced some of them out on the street. Over the day I chalked them in with community help weaving a creative community web.

Two Good Things

*Technology and Art

Two Good Things:

1) Yesterday the Kids' Chalk Art Project just won $500 in the "SHARE YOUR DREAM" competition!

The competition asked people to upload videos responding to the question "What do you dream for in your community?" Four winners would receive $500 to make their dream happen. Videos were limited to 60 seconds so I uploaded an edited-down version of the Kids' Chalk Art
Project video focusing on Mark Wagner's "I have a dream" speech... and we won!

The competition was sponsored by Youth Noise, a social networking site or youth activists (www.youthnoise.com); the Case Foundation, a foundation created to support entrepreneurship in the non-profit sector (www.casefoundation.org); and Bebo, a social networking site (www.bebo.com).

If you haven't seen the video yet, check it out at: www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org Click on the blue link that says "NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO."

2) A new article came out yesterday about the project: www.alamedamagazine.com

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Before Dawn

I wake before dawn, I just do, and I begin to think about this project. No sense in just thinking about it, I get up, hot shower, coffee, food and hit the studio and begin work like this writing.

Much better to be in action and not do any mind spinning. Running such a big project requires a great amount of energy and focus. It's important for me to know what not to do, being careful with social time, more important for me to be with my kids and get out into nature. Thank god for my dog in all of this, he goes with me everywhere and is some of the best medicine I have even been blessed to be around.

Me and My Dog

Below are new cards and poster. Have a powerful and clear creative day!
~Mark

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4 Weeks to Go till We Hit the Ground Drawing

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Things are coming together, I am actually feeling relaxed (at times), it's like studying for a test and not waiting till the last moment.... see mom I did learn something in school! Today I am dropping off a letter to the Mayor, City Manager, and City Council Members updating them with our project.

We have a big meeting tonight (now weekly) and I have invited a representative of the Alameda Education Foundation (AEF - our non-profit affiliate) and the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) to come and acknowledge our team, especially the East Bay Nation of Men (Ebnom) who have really stepped up to help produce this event. 3/4 of the team is from Ebnom who live off the island, it will be good for them to be acknowledged by the local community. Web site: www.ebnom.org - supporting men, teams, families, and communities. I have part of this group for 6 years, great guys!

On Sunday I was chalk drawing for "Circus for the Arts." Lead by Jeff Raz who recently toured with Cirque du Soleil, Circus for the Arts is in their 4th year of creating an event to raise funds for the Arts for three local elementary school. Students from Jeff's circus school will be present at our event on June 7. Sweet!

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Heaven Above

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I just heard this story. There is a kid who loves graffiti. His mom and her boyfriend (who I will call John) were out last week riding a motorcycle and they crashed, he died and she was seriously injured. The kid who had heard about the chalk project asked if John would be able to see the chalk drawing from heaven.

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Once Upon a Time

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www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org

Now, I forget how this story ends.

The kids also forgot how to get home so they walked in the woods for three days and nights (3 is a magic number in storytelling). On the third day they came across an old house where two old people lived.