News go back to the news list

September 21-22, 2007
City Market in the Moore Square Art District

Visual Art Exchange wiill Cover Downtown Raleigh with Color at
groundSPARK:the 2007 Street Painting Festival

Visual Art Exchange, in conjunction with the City of Raleigh Art Commission, SparkCOn and the Moore Square Art District Alliance, is pleased to announce groundSPARK . the Raleigh Street Painting Festival. The festival will be held September 21-22 in City Market in the Moore Square Art District. All festival events are FREE and open to the public.

This is not a typical art festival. Moore Square and City Market will be filled with over 400 artists actually painting the street, using Martin Street in Moore Square as their canvas. The artists will have only 27 hours to complete their work and will work alongside graffiti artists, fashion designers, musicians and sculptors to transform Downtown Raleigh into a work of art. Featured artists Shawnda Rossi and Sonya Drum will create a large street painting during the festival.

Art-On-The-Move is a 30th Anniversary public art project of the City of Raleigh Arts Commission (CORAC), in partnership with Capital Area Transit. This exciting new project places original art on the sides of 12 Raleigh buses. Raleigh Mayor Meeker and CORAC will introduce the artists and unveil the busses during the Festival.

Fun for the Entire Family
The Festival’s FREE activity area for families, KidsChalk, is a great place for kids to experiment with chalk and create art with The Scrap Exchange. KidsChalk will take over Parham Street in City Market from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday. Durham’s Scrap Exchange will bring its traveling creative arts program: a truckload of colorful, fun recycled materials for hands-on creativity. Both children and adults can make their own art with hundreds of different kinds of materials, and whatever they make, they can take home.

Visual Art Exchange (VAE) has produced the Raleigh Street Painting Festival for Eight Years, as part of its mission to support emerging artists and to connect the community with the arts.

Moore Square and City Market Event Calendar

Friday, Sept. 21
3 p.m. Artists start their street paintings on Martin Street and in City Market.
4 to 6 p.m. youthSPARK, Progress Energy Stage, Moore Square
7 to 8 p.m. Blue Moon Belly Dancers, Progress Energy Stage, Moore Square
8 p.m. Fashion Spark: fashion and body art in Moore Square, North Stage

Saturday, Sept. 22
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Artists Chalking–Martin Street and City Market.
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Brassfield & Gorrie’s KidsChalk FREE fun activity area and The Scrap Exchange on Blake Street in City Market.
12 to 4 p.m. bazaarSPARK, food and craft vendors, Moore Square
12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Live music, Progress Energy Stage, Moore Square
6 to 7p.m. City of Raleigh Arts Commission rolls out ART-ON-THE-MOVE, a public art project featuring original art by Raleigh artists on the sides of city buses. Dedication ceremony with Mayor Charles Meeker, Progress Energy Stage, Moore Square
7 p.m. Street Painting Awards Ceremony, Progress Energy Stage, Moore Square.

Visual Art Exchange is funded in part by the City of Raleigh based on recommendations of the Raleigh Arts Commission. Visual Art Exchange is supported by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, with funds from the United Arts Campaign and the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts.