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Sandy students saturate sidewalks with surrealist art

Posted at 8:12 PM, May 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-25 22:12:24-04

SANDY, Utah -- Alta High School art students in Sandy got creative and covered in chalk on Friday.

It was the art department’s annual sidewalk chalk art event, and this year’s theme was surrealism.

“Art is something that defines and represents our culture, represents our past,” said the Art Department Chair Katie Campbell. “It tells us so much about who we are, and what we are, and where we are going, and what matters; and so, it is not so much about producing the art, it’s about appreciating it.”

Campbell said this is the school’s 33rd year with the chalk art event, which began in 1985. The students look forward to it each year.

“I think it’s my favorite so far,” said one 12th grader working on a beautiful re-created surrealist piece.

“Of the three years we have done it, I like this one the best and also cause like this is my favorite painting ever,” said 12th grader Lydia Hall. “The experience of doing it with everyone is super fun, and everyone crying over the chalk is fun.”

Hall and her student partner were working on a piece by Vladmir Kush. It was a ship with huge butterfly sails. The girls said working on the concrete was a challenge.

“The goal is that there is no concrete showing, which is kind of annoying because concrete has lots of ridges which means that you have to keep layering on the chalk over and over and over again otherwise you get outlines around the shapes, which is what we are trying to avoid.”

Some of the other student artwork included recreations from Rene Magritte, and Paul Fleet. Each student artist chalked up a beautiful piece of the school sidewalk and walked away covered in chalk coloring, which they didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s messy,” laughed Hall. “It’s a different medium because I never use chalk except for this time so I am a watercolor artist mostly.”

But she excelled without her water in their Kush recreation.