February 3rd, 2007
Madonnari
The chalk painting photos sparked my interest to do some googling and I came across some more really great photos and learned something new: Madonnari is the Italian word for street painters, who have been around since at least the 1600′s. They are so named because originally their subject matter centered around the Madonna. I don’t think you were ALLOWED to paint much else at that time, judging from past trips to Italy!

You can now find festivals in many cities around the world, where the classical subject matter still exists but many artists are turning to more contemporary subjects. Here is some great work by artist Traci Lee Stum.