Each year the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair invites an artist to create and/or re-create a magnificent piece of Chalk Art for our visitors. It is an exciting experience to witness a large-scale piece of art come alive right before your eyes and have the opportunity to engage directly with the artist.
Did you know Chalk Art is dated back to the 16th Century in Italy?
Check out this brief history of Street Painting.
We are excited to welcome back Tess as she recreates Self-Portrait with Bonito by Frida Kahlo. Currently an active member of the Association of Medial Illustrators and Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Tess graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design where she earned her degree in Medical Illustration. In part of Kendall's collaboration with Michigan State University, Tess spent much of her time studying the human anatomy in MSU's Gross Anatomy and Prossection Lab. As a Medical Illustrator, she collaborates with healthcare professionals to develop visual language supporting patient education, surgical research, acute pathology, and life sciences. Tess has created work for numerous renowned healthcare organizations in her career.
Painted shortly after her father's death, Kahlo's self-portrait represents her sadness and grief; dressed in all black and dipicted without her usual jewelry or floral adournment. Additionally, the parrot on her shoulder, Bonito, also recently passed. Juxtaposed on a background full of life, this piece follows a common "life and death" theme prevalent in many of her paintings.
Frida Kahlo has her own history with Southeast Michigan. While married to muralist Diego Rivera, though their relationship was tumultuous, the pair spent time in Detroit as Rivera was commissioned by the Detroit Institute of Art to paint the Detroit Industry Murals. While here, Kahlo miscarried, leading her to paint "Henry Ford Hospital".
Tess returns this year and will recreate The Danaides by John William Waterhouse throughout the four days of the Art Fair. In the classical tradition, the Danaides come to represent the futility of a repetitive task that can never be completed. In Greek mythology, the Danaides were the fifty daughters of King Danaus of Argos, who were all married on a single occasion to the fifty sons of Danaus's twin brother Aegyptus. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them killed their husbands on their wedding night, and are condemned to spend eternity having to draw water from a well and pour it into a vessel from which it continually escaped.
In 2017 Tess recreated Gustavo Kilmt's masterpiece Hygeia throughout the four days of the Art Fair.
Tess will be returning for the 2016 Art Fair. She will be recreating Salvador Dali's The Melting Watch throughout the four days of the Art Fair. Make sure to stop by and see her work during the fair.
This year, Tess will be recreating a realistic street painting of Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps! She will be live, on-site for the duration of the Art Fair. Stop by to watch the painting come to life!
Tess Tobolic, a recent graduate from Kendall College of Art & Design, began her career as a self-employeed Chalk Artist after receiving 3rd Place and the People’s Choice Award at The West Michigan Chalk Art Festival. A very skilled artist, Tobolic, also works as a Medical Illustrator for Stoneybrook Publishing.
Tess designed and created a chalk piece supporting one of the Ann Art Arbor Art Fair’s sponsors for 2014, Kalahari Resorts & Conventions.
HOUR Detroit’s 2007 Best of Detroit issue listed Taurus Burns as one of the "Best Local Artists to Collect". In 2010 Taurus was the "Best Local Artist" (RealDetroit Weekly), and he was a featured in “100 Artists of the Midwest” (Schiffer Books, 2012). Taurus has illustrated two children’s books and painted numerous public art projects and murals. He has also curated and juried several local art exhibits. Taurus is perhaps best known for a series of 275 "cityscapes" inspired by the Metro Detroit landscape. Taurus is currently working as a clay sculptor at General Motors, painting regularly and practicing Aikido.
Taurus’s rendition of "The Birth of Venus" - a 1486 painting by Sandro Botticelli.
Visit Taurus’s website to keep up-to-date with all of his new adventures in Art.
www.paintdetroit.com
Taurus’s rendition of "Watson and the Shark" - by John Singleton Copley.
