I Madonnari

Street painting, using chalk as the medium, is an Italian tradition dating to the 16th century. Called “Madonnari” because of the practice of reproducing the image of the Madonna (Our Lady). The Madonna was the most reproduced artwork. In Italy, the tradition lives on in the village of Grazie di Curtatone, where the International Street Painting Festival is held in August each year in front of the Catholic church. The early Italian street painters were vagabonds who would arrive in small towns and villages for Catholic religious festivals and transform the streets and public squares into temporary galleries for their ephemeral works of art. With the first rains of the season, their paintings would be gone. On the plaza of the old Santa Barbara Mission “I Madonnari” Italian Street Painting Festival takes place every year in May for three days.

After traveling to the festival in Italy, Kathy Koury produced the first-year event in 1987. In this year, the Santa Barbara Mission was celebrating its bicentennial. Father Virgil Cordano and the bicentennial committee members agreed to accept the street painting festival as a part of their celebration. From that time on, the festival has continued to grow and now is being replicated in other cities throughout the U.S.

Squares are drawn in a grid on the pavement in front of the Old Mission, dividing the plaza into 150 squares. The squares range in size from 4′ by 6′ to 12′ by 12′ and in price from $100 to $500, each one bearing the name of its sponsor, which can be a business, organization or individual. As the public watches, local artists then fill these pavement canvases with imagery, often elaborate compositions in unexpectedly vibrant colors.

In another part of the plaza, small squares will be sold for children to create their own street paintings alongside other activities for children. The response is ever growing with available squares usually sold out in March.