Swathing the street in a multicolored
glow, the artists portrayed scenes that ranged from jungle landscapes
to video game villains. All ages were invited to participate in our
19th annual contest, and a wide breadth of artists from the region
accepted the challenge to pursue creativity and expression.

Judging was split into a variety of age
and subject brackets: an adult group, a teen group and a group of
children 12 and younger. Two special awards were handed out for
People’s Choice, which was selected by votes from those passers-by who
were checking out the ArtsWeek festivities in the surrounding streets,
and the “Copy of a Master” category, in which participants duplicated
famous paintings from art history. Judges included New Times graphic designer Meaghan Arbital and our own political cartoonist, Joe Glisson.

Some artists spent as many as seven
hours on their work, arriving early to get the lay of the land in the
way that downhill skiers size up a course before a race. Those who
sought the relaxing weather, the casual competition and the comradery
of fellow street artists came from as far away as Connecticut to try
their luck.

Lee Shelton from Cato, who took the
first-place prize in the adult category, came with her daughter, Phoebe
Shelton, 16, and Phoebe’s boyfriend, Jared Shurtleff, 15. Lee also
brought chunky pieces of colored chalk and kneepads, key tools of the
trade for an artist who hoped to make sure her chalked-up image stayed
on the pavement and not on the knees of her jeans.

“We got here early to pick a good
square, basically, and to get started as early as we could,” Shelton
explained. “This is a good square because it’s in the shade a little
bit, but mostly it’s really smooth and doesn’t have a lot of gum or
cracks. This is the 19th year, and I’ve only missed three. My goal is
to finish. Today I’m doing a flying peacock and I’m going to make the
background a Henri Rousseau-type jungle.”

In the contest’s second of three adult
categories, “Copy of a Master” honors went to Kathryn DeFeo, 21, who
rendered a circular graphic design by artist Alphonse Mucha. Regarding
her work, DeFeo, a Rochester Institute of Technology art student from
Fairfield, Conn., explained, “Mucha is an illustrator from the early
1900s. He did a lot of pinup work and advertising stuff. This is a very
detailed piece, so I got up at 6:30 {a.m.}. I pretty much wing it every
time.”

DeFeo said she’ll travel to Parsons
Paris School of Art and Design in the fall, where she will continue to
work toward her bachelor of fine arts in illustration.

The third adult category, the People’s
Choice award, went to Sean Morgan, of Syracuse, who portrayed a
detailed image of his girlfriend’s face wrapped inside the petals of a
rose. Regarding his inspiration, Morgan explained, “I was looking at
tattoos and stuff: like old-school stuff, with girls and roses. I just
thought I’d do it all realistic-style and try to mix it up.”

Finally, a contest for images drawn by
teens, ages 13 to 17, and children ages 12 and younger, attracted a
bunch of youngsters, all of whom looked their cutest with their hands,
feet and faces covered in splashes of colors from their work.

Taking home first-place dibs for the
teen category was returning artist and East Syracusan Michael
Kwiatkowski, 15, who broke ground with his industrial-looking portrayal
of a “metrocop,” one of the stormtrooper-like villains from the 2004
video game, Half-Life 2.

“It has some greens and blues in it, but
it’s mostly black and white and that’s how I’m sketching it,”
Kwiatkowski said. “I got here early—shortly after 8—because the judging
is early, and I want to have it done by then. I wasn’t really satisfied
with what I drew last year, but this year I’m going to try to make it a
little better.”

Rounding out the list of winners was Tim
Germakovski in the 12-and-younger category. He used an orange,
silhouetted scene from a photograph of an African plain on the cover of
his science textbook. “He was frustrated with chalk, because it was so
bulky,” said his mother Oksana. “He said, ‘It’s too big. I need
something smaller!’” Her son’s artistic efforts include drafting and
other kinds of pencilled illustrations at home.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the
event came from Wayne Cook, who competed along with his daughter,
Taylor Cook. They were inspired by the recent passing of Syracuse blues
guitarist Roosevelt Dean, to whom Cook paid homage in his entry. Cook
explained that the image was actually a transposition of a photograph
taken by New Times shooter, Michael Davis.

Tributes continued with Marcellus
resident Colin Hewitt, who invoked the spirit of Michael Jackson with
his portrait of the late King of Pop. Hewitt used a detailed and
stylized sketch of Jackson as a reference, ultimately creating an image
that had more than a few onlookers taking note.