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i Madonnari - A Unique Santa Barbara Art Happening

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Santa Barbara i MadonnariEvery year at the end of May in Santa Barbara, we look forward to i Madonnari.  i Madonnari is a unique art festival featuring the Madonnari, or street artists, and their 200 masterpieces realized in vibrant pastels on the parking lot in front of the Santa Barbara Mission.  This event is sponsored by the Children's Creative Project, a non-profit arts education program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office.  This charity serves 50,000 children in more than 100 schools, providing visual and performing arts workshops and performances.  

Each artist, or group of artists, is assigned a square on the parking lot.  The squares vary in size from 4' x 6' to 12' x 12' and are purchased by sponsors, or the artists themselves.  This black asphalt square is the canvas for the spectacular, sometimes 3-D drawings that take shape over the course of the weekend.Santa Barbara i Madonnari

Santa Barbara was the first to bring this unique festival to the western hemisphere from her sister city, Grazie di Curtatone, Italy.  A custom that dates from the 16th century, street painting was common in Italy and throughout Europe.  The Madonnari were wandering Italian street artists who were so named because they commonly used the Madonna as the subject of their paintings.  These wandering artists' travelled from town to town to participate in festivals and holy days and were paid in food and coins given by admiring townspeople and festival goers.  

The weekend revolves around the chalk paintings, with the beginning stages of the paintings coming to life on Friday and their completion on Monday.  All during the weekend, visitors to the festival can watch the paintings take shape under the artist's hands.  Live music, authentic Italian food, wine and beer, beautiful weather (usually) and crowds of Santa Barbarians getting their art on - what's not to love?  If you're in Santa Barbara on this weekend, it's definitely a must-see!

 

 


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