Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Herndon.
Hi Zachary, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a chalk artist. I started chalking with my wife Jessi Queen, around 12 years ago while living in Midtown. Jessi had previously chalked at the Sidewalk Arts Festival in Savannah while attending SCAD’s Atlanta campus. A local business hired her to help do chalk promotions for events, and I went with her to watch and quickly jumped in to help with chalking copy. We ended up doing a drawing every 2 to 5 weeks for at least six months, getting paid in gift cards and a little money, and spending it all down the street at Cypress Street Pint and Plate. At some point, we discovered a few chalk art festivals outside Savannah and traveled to FL and KY to chalk. We also chalked at a few local events such as the event in Marietta as well as a Mini-Maker Faire in Decatur.
In October 2015 Jessi reached out to Atlanta Streets Alive to ask about chalking during the event. Jessi wanted to chalk for herself on the street, but their response was an email telling us where our vendor space was for the event. I had an idea that maybe we could host our own chalk event within Atlanta Streets Alive so we convinced some friends they should chalk with us too and we hosted our first Pop-Up Chalk Fest. We continued to host these short and small chalk events at ASA and meanwhile started to really get connected with other events across the country. While our story continues in other ways, for Atlanta Streets Alive, we ended up hosting 13 Pop-Up Chalk Fests before COVID stopped Atlanta Streets Alive. We gained a lot of experience putting together small events and also got a chance to introduce a lot of people to chalk art.
In 2014 Jessi and I along with Katie Bush created the GA Chalk Artists Guild as a partial response to the lack of local artists at the Marietta-based chalk art festival. There were lots of folks from FL and elsewhere, but very few people from GA. The FL artists had the Florida Chalk Artists Association (now Chalk Art Nation), and we took inspiration from that and sought to create a community of artists that could act as a lightning rod for introducing artists to the work, help artists advocate for themselves doing freelance and attending festivals, and educating potential festivals and clients about what chalk art is and how it can work for them.
The GA Chalk Artists Guild started with some notes written out at Dancing Goats at PCM and turned into a festival we helped curate artists for in Suwannee. After that, we weren’t doing much but then the Pop Up Chalk Fest at Atlanta Streets Alive accelerated our ability to understand what we wanted and were capable of doing. Eventually, we helped other towns across the southeast with basic setup for their events as well, which includes events in places like Albany, Americus, Blue Ridge, Chamblee, Douglasville, Duluth, Fort Oglethorpe, LaGrange, Macon, Pigeon Forge, Orange Beach, and Thomasville. The GA Chalk Artists Guild also introduced us to a lot of great artists through our local events as well as travel.
We also applied to participate in Art on the Beltline twice. Early on, we were able to put a 3D drawing on the Beltline under the bridge near the Rhinoceros sculpture. It was a fun experience. Fortunately, the Beltline wasn’t as busy back then, so taking up half the width of it wasn’t as big an issue as it would be today. Later, we applied to do some activations alongside the Beltline and were accepted to participate in the season but redirected to be part of a larger event at The Bakery. We took the same spirit of “What if…?” from Streets Alive and created the Atlanta Chalk Art Festival. It was four days of chalking in the summer heat, and we battled rain, but it was a great exhibition of artists, and we learned a lot from pulling in additional sponsors to help make room for everyone that wanted to draw.
Local events have been a part of what we’ve been doing from the start. We created some chalk activations in Little 5 Points’ Findley Plaza as well as at the Margaret Mitchel House in midtown. Last year we were able to host three chalk events at Madison Yards, which is right down the street from us which was a nice change of pace when hosting.
We also have the honor of working with the Decatur Arts Alliance to create chalk art events in Decatur. We’ve hosted fully activated chalk art events as well as smaller exhibitions. We’ve hosted chalk activations at the Decatur Arts Festival as well as the Decatur Wine Festival. We usually get a chance once a year to work with businesses on West Ponce for the West Ponce Music Stroll, creating chalking opportunities.
While helping create events at home, Jessi and I also traveled quite a bit. We’ve now chalked in at least 19 states as well as in Austria, Germany, and Italy. We travel quite a bit, actually attending chalk art festivals. I think it’s one of the best parts of the art is traveling and meeting new people, both artists, and organizers, as well as having conversations with visitors to the events about the art and what they think about it.
We’ve also had amazing opportunities to create chalk activations on commission for the Atlanta Braves at the Dogwood Festival and Braves Fest. Additionally, we are delighted to work with Atlanta United creating 3D installations to help celebrate their causes. It’s been a really wonderful experience creating larger format art at these events because it’s such a large stage to represent the art form and help people experience the magic of being inside the art when they pose with our anamorphic drawings.
I think the duality of being a traveling artist on top of being at home and nearby helping to create chalk art opportunities for artists to participate in and for visitors to see is really rewarding. We have a basement full of chalk and event-related stuff, and pulling it out to make art happen doesn’t get old.
Recently, we helped to host events in Duluth and Chamblee. It’s wonderful making connections in the metro area and seeing the success of local artists from their respective towns as they try this out for the first time.
My journey to now took me from not doing any arting at all to designing future chalk projects on my iPad. The desire to make better events has pushed me to pick up new skills as well. I recently started screen printing on shirts and bags so I could offer a customized experience for artists chalking at my events. I’ve also been making custom trophies for the last year and a half for my chalk events. I love finding new ways to create and make. I’m always excited to try new things.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t always been smooth. There’s always a challenge when you encounter an unknown. When we’ve been confronted by opportunities larger than we’re used to, it’s always a bit of a struggle at first to recognize the best way to organize and follow through to be successful. I think in those moments, we trust our past success and know we’ll make it work no matter what, even if that means working overnight to accomplish it.
We’ve had the fortune of good friends and a reliable community of artists to help us when we need it. I think when we first started the GA Chalk Artists Guild, we weren’t quite sure what we were creating. Was it a business? Was it a club? I think when we figured out it could just be a community that serves artists and elevates chalk art from just being something that happens in driveways, we found a combination that made sense and empowered us to expect more from ourselves when participating in events or hosting them.
One challenge I remember was working with the city of East Point to create an event to help bring more awareness to the census, which was ending soon, but it was during the pandemic. We worked to create a whole new set of processes that would allow us to reasonably bring people together while limiting their actual exposure to one another. We bagged a lot of chalk to make sure people used only their set and created a system of chalk returns to ensure people weren’t sharing their supplies as well as a time slot system to space out participation. It was really exciting to see the event succeed and we utilized a lot of what we learned later in Decatur and at Madison Yards for three chalk festivals.
Another challenge is balancing home life with chalk life. We always want to blend the two as much as we can, but it’s not always possible. We’ve sought out a lot of help over the years to help keep our children accounted for so they don’t miss school and have a safe place to be while we work.
We also have a problem with saying yes to all the things. We want to create, we want to participate, we don’t want to miss anything. It makes every weekend an active weekend, and it sometimes feels as though we don’t have time off. More recently, Jessi and I have had a lot of split weekends where she’s on one project, and I’m on another. It can be hard since that reset you’re looking for isn’t always right around the corner. In some ways, the slowdown in festivals in 2020 was a bit of a blessing since we were able to regroup a bit. Now that 2023 has been in full swing, we’re going to have to figure out ways in 2024 to say no a little more.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As an artist, I really enjoy drawing my family. When I first started chalking, I jumped into a festival to help fill a spot an artist wasn’t present to complete. I chose a still life by Roy Lichtenstein to reproduce and had a wonderful time. I chalked several more of his work and fell in love with the Pop Art movement. I like taking that style and applying it to my family. I’ve had the amazing pleasure of drawing nearly all of my loved ones. I like drawing at festivals both for the camaraderie of the community of artists you’re surrounded by but also the quiet that comes with being focused on the task of creating something large from something small. The sound of your hands roughly pushing chalk across the ground drowns out the surrounding hubbub of people walking by and taking a look at what you’re doing. It’s very cathartic.
I really want people to know that chalk art is performative art and not just visual art. The act of being out on the street and creating for a crowd to watch is electrifying, and when you’re able to finish your work and step back at the end of an event, it’s really satisfying. It’s good to get the pictures for sharing later, but the day itself is won mostly by being in the moment and sharing that moment with people while it is happening.
I chalk and host chalk events with Jessi Queen Art. We create temporary art installations primarily with chalk for people to admire in person or to pose with for sharing with others. Our 3D chalk art installations allow people to become a part of the artwork and bend reality to create amazing scenes for people to share. Jessi and I enjoy creating both 2D and 3D chalk art.
I’m proud of the work we create as well as the events that we host. I really enjoy making opportunities for people to draw and express themselves in an environment that makes them comfortable. Something I like about our chalk art events is that there’s generally something for everyone. People can visit and see the art. Parents can stop and give their kids a chance to draw something small in a larger community mural. Artists not familiar with chalk can join in an exhibition of chalk art alongside professional chalk artists and learn as they go. It’s an amazing thing to see people return to an event a year later and pull out skills they acquired the year before.
We also do our best to act as ambassadors for chalk art via the GA Chalk Artists Guild. Helping to educate people about chalk art and advocating for an artist’s first approach to creating events has been rewarding and challenging. There’s always something to figure out and hopefully remember for the next event.
I think Jessi and I are known as artists that show up and get the work done while also leaving room to interact with visitors and embrace the performative aspect of street painting. I believe we’re also known as organizers of chalk events that can create a solid exhibition of chalk art that brings people together.
I’m also hosting a chalk event on November 12th at Atlanta Streets Alive. https://www.gachalkartists.org/events/atlanta/signup
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Jessi Queen. She’s my inspiration. I had left art behind in high school and hadn’t done anything really at all until I met her. She reignited a passion for creation through her own love of chalk art. I really owe her everything I do as an artist and as an organizer. I’m happy I met her because she made me a better artist, a better person, a better partner, and continues to make me a better parent. I love you Jessi.
“That Shirt”. I have this crazy shirt addiction to popcorn shirts. You used to be able to buy these one-size-fits-most crinkle shirts from the pharmacy. One year at an event, it was too cold to start but we were too far from home to get more clothes. I spotted this horrible shirt and Jessi said, “no one would ever wear that” so I bought it and ended up starting a tradition where I get artists at the event to wear my shirt long enough for a photo. It’s a wonderful way to connect with people after an event and look stylish.
Artists from the GA Chalk Artists Guild. The artists that came out and participated. That suggested great ideas and helped make sure things made sense. A huge thank you to Adam Dunlap, Britney Williams, Cathryn Bozone, Chelsey Scott, Fawne DeRosia, Heather Cap, James Wheeler, Katie Bush, Lata Fields, Luq Coffen (MonkPanda), Meg Mitchell, Victoria Slagle. Their support is what has made the Georgia Chalk Artists Guild successful.
Joel Yau is an artist from San Rafael, CA that we met in Marietta. He is the kindest people I know and as a mentor, he showed us how to create engaging art while engaging people. He has the best outlook and really is one of my favorite people.
Angie Macon from the Decatur Arts Alliance has been a champion of ours since the beginning. She is always thinking of something amazing we can do and works to include us in events in Decatur. She adopted us early in our journey and really helped to shape us into capable artists and organizers.
Scott Dye was a really amazing part of what I was doing as a host the past year. His work ethic really allowed me to take a few steps back at events and gave me a lot of confidence to keep improving the day-of handling of an event. He passed away in September, and I’m really going to miss him.
Our moms, Melissa Enzmann and Margaret Herndon have really been helpful to us from the beginning as well. They’ve watched our pets and now our kids. They’ve traveled with us so we could bring our whole family to events.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gachalkartists.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zaulus/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gachalkartists/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/gachalkartists
Image Credits
Jessi Queen, Zach Herndon, Sharyn Chan
