POSTPONED TO NOVEMBER 2024 

The Chalk Festival, a jubilation of art and culture, is recognized for hosting the world’s largest gathering of Internationally renowned pavement artists. Founded in 2007, the festival invites artists to travel to Sarasota County to create masterpieces in chalk. The artist hail from 30+ countries, the furthest being Australia and Japan, and the United States.

For its 16th iteration, the Festival will bring for the first time to the United States multiple delegations of “Infiorata” and “Rangoli” artists together. These artists create carpets using flowers, sand, and other natural materials in an act of devotion. Dubbed “Floralia Infiorata,” this exhibition will represent an important moment of cultural exchange introducing North American art lovers to these centuries-old artistic traditions.

Both the pavement artists and floral carpet artists create ephemeral works of art using the road surface as their canvas in a real open-air museum. Spectators become an integral part of the artist's creative process as the observer of these fleeting artistic expressions.

“Our Founding Director, Denise Kowal, has studied ephemeral carpets and their purpose in different cultures for many years. She’s traveled to infiorata festivals in Italy and Brussels, and seen rangoli artists in India. We are thrilled to be the first festival in the U.S. to introduce patrons to this particular art,” Bill Baranowski, Chalk Festival Managing Director, said. 

Avenida de Colores, the parent organization of the Chalk Festival, has partnered with delegations that boast a long and prestigious tradition in the history of artistic infiorate from Genzano di Roma (Italy), Gerno (Italy), La Orotava, Tenerife (Spain), Pune, Maharashtra (India), Guilianova (Italy), and Huamantla (Mexico) for this international meeting.

Eduardo Carbone from Argentina, is an international researcher and broadcaster specializing in ephemeral carpets. He was hired by Kowal to serve as the coordinating director of the 2022 Floralia Infiorata.

“ Floralia Infiorata promises to be a great artistic manifestation with devotional origins in the Baroque period. It will be a meeting point for different cultures that, in a very unique way, use flowers, sawdust, sand and other natural materials to create what is recognized as flower carpets, "Infiorata" in Italian and “Rangoli” in India, and its derivative ‘ephemeral carpets,” states Carbone.

The Festival will also present the Pavement Music Festival featuring local musicians. There will be a sculpture field with hand-made zombies, 3D immersion rooms, pumpkin carving and other interactive activities for the whole family. This year’s theme is “A Spirited Museum in Motion.” Food trucks, beverages of all kinds, and arts and craft vendors will be onsite. Parking and Children under five (5) years old are free. Get tickets online at https://www.chalkfestival.org .

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