Announcements

Invitation to Artists: “Chalk the Walk” at 8th Annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival hosted by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge

Do you enjoy drawing upon your artistic skills as you sketch a face or scene before an audience?

Then you might like drawing pictures in chalk on a sidewalk.

You are invited to sign up as an artist for the seventh annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival. This popular event will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, and from 12 noon until 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, on the sidewalks of the Oak Ridge Campus of Roane State Community College. The art will be judged from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday when artist awards will be announced.

The festival is organized and hosted by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. Its purpose is to raise funds for scholarships for students at Roane State Community College, whose economic impacts on East Tennessee are substantial. The Rotary scholarships will go to students who are too old to be eligible for Tennessee's HOPE lottery scholarships. In the past six years, the festival has raised close to $120,000 for scholarships. These funds contribute to educating East Tennessee's future work force, helping to attract new businesses and improve the local economy.

Art awards will be announced at 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21. Winning artists will be invited to a Rotary meeting where they will receive their cash prizes and certificates.

Each artist will draw a picture in chalk on a sidewalk square paid for by a sponsor--an individual, nonprofit service organization, or company. The public is invited to view the “chalk paintings” and the artists at work.

During the October weekend as the paintings are completed, musicians will perform, refreshments and hot-air balloon rides will be available, and T-shirts will be sold.

To learn more about the festival, call Devrin Kuipers at 599-9145 or Russ Schubert at 481-2001. Kuipers can also be reached by e-mail at devrin@devrin.com.

To view last year’s winning paintings, click here. To get the latest details about the festival, click here.

Sign up now and urge your friends to sign up or attend the festival for free. You can pick up artist registration forms for your artist friends at the American Museum of Science and Energy. We hope you will “talk the talk, then chalk the walk.”