Department of Fine Arts
ARTS FESTIVALS

Students from all fine arts diciplines regularly participate in arts fastivals and gallery shows throughout the region. While FMU theatre and music students entertain through performance, the visual arts and art education students not only expose the public to the visual arts, but often encourage active participation in the creative process.
 

Every April the Francis Marion Department of Fine Arts and the Arts International Festival Committee cosponsor a sidewalk chalking contest. In glorious sunny weather as many as 200 people participate, and not just area high school and college art students.  This event is for everybody in the Pee Dee to join in. In fact, the largest category of entrants is children with their parents - even grandparents in some cases - all of whom creatively use the dazzling colors of chalk to leave behind their mark.

Powerful figurative images from tigers to coral reefs join imaginative abstract designs (and playful doodlings!) to fill the "official" squares, with latecomers finding leftover chalk to fill in the walkways (ahem!) and virtually any other remaining space. It is a magnificent display of the hidden collective talent of the community, each group helping to inspire the neighboring ones by the sheer excitement of the colors and the beauty of the moment.

Though the chalking itself and the good company are pleasurable in themselves, there are prizes given in three different categories (high school, college, and families) to winners, some of whom come from as far as Asheville NC.

Above, the sun sets on the end of the festival day.  Soon footsteps will begin to dull the images, the details will start to fade...

then along comes the first rain and rerenders the combined work of families and friends into a monumental watercolor abstract which only Nature could design.   >>>>

Make plans to join us next year for an encore of this event.