Our Founder Denise Kowal will be heading to Grazie di Curtatone, Italy, to join as a judge for the 50th Anniversary of the National Meeting of the I Madonnari 24-hour competition, August 15-16.
History of the Feast of the Assumption and Madonnari in Grazie:
In 1425, Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, designated the area in front of the church of the Grazie as a venue for a free market, marking the inception of the Fiera delle Grazie. This annual fair, held every Ferragosto (mid-August), features stalls, merry-go-rounds, fireworks displays, and the traditional Mantuan cotechino (pork sausage) event.
The National Meeting of Madonnari, a significant component of Mantuan culture, has been held annually in August since 1973. On the evening of 14 August, Italian artists with artists traveling from around the globe, convene in the expansive square of the Sanctuary, to create chalk drawings depicting sacred images honoring the Virgin Mary on the asphalt.
During this event, the Rector blesses the chalks that the artists will use before they commence their artistic endeavors. Drawing inspiration from existing or imagined paintings, the artists craft their images on the asphalt. These artworks are fleeting, slowly fading as the summer showers wash it away. The competition is a key feature of the Fiera delle Grazie and the Festa dell'Assunta.
Today, the Feast of the Assumption is commemorated concurrently with Ferragosto, a more secular observance stemming from the Latin feriae Augusti (Augustus' rest). Instituted by Emperor Augustus in 18 B.C., this holiday was integrated into the pre-existing, ancient August celebrations, which honored the harvest and the conclusion of major agricultural tasks. The festival aimed to promote rest and communal solidarity, essential after the arduous weeks of agricultural labor.
American artist Master Artist Kurt Wenner first American to win the top prize lived in Grazie for a number of years and was instrumental, not only in helping Grazie, but bringing this incredible art form to the USA. Melanie Stimmell van Latum, USA, was the first female to win the top prize. And the list of great American artists who have succeeded in the grueling 24 hour competition is long such as Julie Kirk Purcell, Jay Schwartz, Tracy Lee Stum, Genna Panzarella, Ann Hefferman, Jane Portaluppi, Anthony Cappetto, Delphine Louie Anaya, Dawn Morrison Wagner, Jessi Queen and probably many more over the years that are not listed.
'2024 National Meeting of the I Madonnari Competition 50th Edition Anniversary - The Divine Comedy
The 50th Edition of the National Meeting of Madonnaries is dedicated to #DivineComedy. There will be 135 artists (including about 40 from abroad - 5 of which are US Chalk Festival Artists) at the opera from the morning of the 14th to the sunset of the 15th of August on the sacred Sanctuary, exceptionally divided into three sectors corresponding to the songs of Dante’s opera: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise.
An interactive Totem will be set up with the map of the suggested route and a QR code that will allow you to see the list of works with the relative verse of inspiration. For the first time, the contest will be split into three sections, and the jury will decide the three winners of each of the three categories (Simple Madonnais, Qualified Madonnais and Master Madonnais). The project of the 50th is born from the idea of ideally linking the pilgrims' route that arrive every year to Grazie to the one Dante undertook in the journey to the three kingdoms of the afterlife.
The artists have been assigned each a song in The Divine Comedy. Each character to be represented has been studied in the iconography that exists in abundance and the artist will be able to interpret it as they believe. With a list of representations already made by the contest committee, the artist will be assigned by draw a commission and will be assigned to the corresponding pitch which must represent the subject indicated. So it is not a question of choice but of assignment of the task for this special occasion.
This is quite different from the past and it only is different for this anniversary because it is the intention to return to the normal format next year. The method is dictated by the fact that if the committee wants to represent the entire Divine Comedy song by song (there are 100 of them) they must necessarily assign the work so that it is complete and so that it becomes the only representation in the world of this genre that combines art and literature, poetry and comedy. It is not a simple but ambitious project.
Denise has organized USA Chalk Festival artists, Melanie Stimmell van Latum, Julie Kirk Purcell, Erik Schlake, Holland King and Tonya Lee Neilsen and a few others from other countries who cannot wait to immerse in the stunning art and culture of this beautiful village.
PLEASE NOTE: The International Sarasota Chalk Festival this year will be held November 8-10, 2024 in downtown Sarasota, Florida USA. The festival features Pavement Artists that include those that work in chalk, 3D illusions and flower tapestries. The winners of the Grazie di Curtatone Competition will be sponsored to attend the festival in November.
Painting by Federico Pillan from Italy who traveled and participated in the 2017 Sarasota Chalk Festival at the Venice Airport Fairgrounds.