The Arts Council of Princeton held a free pop-up event called Chalk Murals on the streets of Princeton on October 3. It is one in a series of live interactive arts events taking place on weekend dates ending October 24.
At the murals event the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts was the central hub.
Artist Andres Duque was there creating a combination of contemporary and classical artwork. He worked from photos of masters from the Renaissance period such as Michelangelo, Botticelli and Da Vinci, Duque and mixed these classical images with some famous Princeton faces such as Einstein and Paul Robeson himself.
Robeson, who died in 1976, was a Princeton native and Black man, famous as Broadway singer and actor. He was also a college football player at Rutgers inducted into the hall of fame, and later became a civil rights activist. Duque says Robeson is inspiring to him for his leadership and fight for civil rights, being a philanthropist and having the community at the center of everything he did.
Up the street from Duque’s mural Susan DeConcini, who has been a scenic artist for the McCarter Theater in Princeton since 2006 worked on her own mural. She used a piece of charcoal tied to the end of a bamboo stick to form an outline which she then filled in with a leaf mural in bright chalk colors.
DeConcini said events like the Chalk Mural benefit “People who have been starved of live visual art” due to the ongoing pandemic.
She added that “it is a good way to teach kids to appreciate the arts and the little freedoms available we can partake in together as a community!”
Around the corner, in front of Princeton Garden Theater, Rashad Davis was sprawled out on all fours working on a mural creation of a character from Nickelodeon’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Davis is a published author and illustrator of children’s picture books. He says he strives to “Give children of color a safe place between the pages of his books.” He was inspired to do this after the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black boy who was shot by a white police officer in Cleveland, Ohio in 2014.
He feels these events are important since “We can connect through art.”
Another artist at the event, Marlon Davila aka “7ove Child” was working on a mural. Davila is a MCCC Alumn in Fine Arts is a muralist and painter.
Although he was initially interested in Graphic Design a professor nudged him toward painting and he fell in love with it and has been painting ever since. Davila says events like Chalk Murals “Are extremely important because art is not only self-healing, but it has the power to bring people together from all walks of life.”
Maria Evans, Artistic Director at Arts Council for the last ten years said the new pop-up events “Are a way to reinvent things with the arts and community.”
The remaining events include Plein Air Paint Out, Pop-Up Poetry, and Princeton Makes Art. To learn more visit: artscouncilofprinceton.org/calendar/.
