I hope you enjoyed the first round of pictures from this weekend’s chalk walk. As I did yesterday, I’ll just say a few words and I’ll let the great art work tell the story. I will, however, start with a couple of intertwining stories.
In a story which illustrates perhaps the power of art or technology or both, the “Om” pictured above represented a last-minute design change by Maya and Kalina Scarbrough. When they finished the drawing their mother sent a copy of the picture to their grandmother in Gujarat, India, making her very proud of her American grandchildren and no doubt prompting her to share the photograph of art from Market Square with family and friends on the other side of the globe. Pretty amazing – but there is more to the story.
Maya and Kalina were there, as they have been each year for the last three years, with their friends Tristan and Ainsley. What makes this a bit remarkable is that when they started the tradition they were neighbors in a Knoxville neighborhood, but the Maryanski family eventually moved to Birmingham, Alabama. They are able to continue the Chalk Walk tradition because of a promise delivered by their parents to bring them back to Knoxville every year for this special event with their friends.
So, we have art on Market Square. But we also have families making memories, friends reconnecting and continents being crossed by the love of grandchildren reaching out to a grandmother thousands of miles away. It casts simple chalk drawings in a different light. That’s the power of art in our lives. Enjoy these great works and tomorrow we’ll turn our attention to the other arts celebrated in the city this week.
