Darissa Townes, contributor
On April 25, Meg Mitchell and Amanda Emmo of the Georgia Chalk Artists’ Guild, came to Colony Square Plaza in Midtown (located behind the large “MIDTOWN” sculpture close to ACA House) to create a picture in honor of Earth Day. The Guild’s purpose is to demonstrate how chalk can be used as an artistic medium. Mitchell and Emmo created a gorgeous picture of planet Earth on the circular platform in the plaza. Despite being surrounded by some of the tallest buildings in Atlanta, the plaza became a haven for showing adoration for Mother Nature.
The two artists began their project at 7 a.m. Four hours later the public was allowed to grab a piece of chalk and either help the artists in color in sections of the globe, or draw their own artwork in the outlying areas. While I was out there, two groups of young children from the Primrose School came out to draw in chalk in the empty spaces around the globe.
The first group of students thoroughly enjoyed doodling, letting their uniforms get messy. When the teachers started to round them up to go back inside, some of them refused to leave until they finished their drawing. One girl in particular, Iris, was quite adamant about finishing her drawing of a rainbow. The second group of students volunteered to help Mitchell and Emmo color in sections of the ocean in the globe drawing. Some of the kids who weren’t helping the artists made planets of their own, orbiting around the large drawing.
The event brought out more than just schoolchildren though. Adults of all ages who work around Colony Square took a few minutes out of their lunch breaks to watch everyone drawing. They took pictures and complimented everyone on their work.
I was invited to draw as well. Instead of helping Mitchell and Emmo with their globe, I drew a few animals in an open section next to them. It was such a therapeutic activity drawing with people outside of school. There weren’t any critiques to worry about and I could choose to abandon all of those design principles drilled into my head. I made a sleeping cat, an alert rabbit and a playful seal balancing a peach on its nose. Each drawing was outlined in white for clarity, but colored a unique hue. It didn’t matter whether they looked realistic or not because I was pleased with what I had made.
The springtime showers that we’ve been receiving recently will inevitably wash away my animals, the planets of the Primrose kids and the massive globe of Mitchell and Emmo, but that ephemeral nature might be what makes chalk the perfect medium for Earth Day. For the business people and young children that came out to Colony Square, there was a sense of exclusivity to the event. Photographs may capture the memories, but they may not be able to capture the feeling of chalk soot blowing in the wind or the messy hands of kids coated in a dusty layer of colors. Similar to how we can only enjoy the blooming flowers in the early spring, we can only truly witness chalk drawings until Mother Nature erases them.
It’s only a matter of time until the rain washes the drawings away, so be sure to swing by Colony Square next time.
