Mother-Daughter Duo Create Breathtaking Pavement Chalk Art To Bring Joy To Their Neighborhood

Jun 01, 2020 by apost team

The COVID-19 crisis has changed many things about American life. One of the biggest and most obvious ways this happened was through lockdown restrictions. People were advised to stay home if they weren't essential workers.

These restrictions have brought out community spirit and creativity in the population, with one mom and daughter inspired to create beautiful chalk art on the sidewalk for their neighbor's to enjoy.

Businesses closed their offices and furloughed employees or made them work from home. Schools provided tools for home-based learning, but their buildings were closed, too. Playgrounds were roped off. Parks and beaches also became no-go zones. In this environment, it was easy to see that people could start to become depressed.

The thing is, people are problem-solvers. If there's one thing humans are good at, it's finding work-arounds when they're presented with an obstacle. When it comes to COVID-19 restrictions, people found many creative ways to do this. On social media, many communities started to urge people to "chalk the walk." Even though people had to be physically isolated, there was no reason they couldn't share some brightly-colored sidewalk chalk art.

Across the country, small children wrote their names and drew simple scenes. Some people wrote song lyrics from classic rock tunes. A favorite was Space Oddity, by young David Bowie. Others used their sidewalks to tell dad jokes to passersby. One message asked what kind of jokes the CDC recommends. The answer? Why, inside ones, of course. People got very creative, and their artwork did help to lift everyone's spirits.

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In Fort Worth, Texas, one mom and daughter made some truly incredible artwork. Janice got the ball rolling with a detailed, carefully-executed drawing of koi fish. Daughter Olivia worked on a very nice Mr. Potato Head on a neighbor's sidewalk. That particular drawing was a gift of sorts for a little boy who couldn't have a party. The duo also created chalk art of Baby Yoda, a 3-D honeybee, and many other figures.

What's the secret to Janice and Olivia's success with sidewalk art? Lots of practice and planning. Before the lockdown started, these ladies were frequent entries in chalk art competitions. Ironically, it took a quarantine situation for them to be able to share their work more widely.

Speaking to Apost, Janice discussed their inspiration:

"It was for a few reasons. One was that chalk art festivals were starting to get canceled. I thought it would be nice to have a “drive-by” type event and was trying to find a larger space where I could do a large piece. When I couldn’t find one in the neighborhood, I decided to just chalk a little on my sidewalk. My daughter really wanted in on it, and so we started chalking together that same night. After that, we just really liked working on stuff together and the neighborhood really enjoyed coming by to see anything new we did. So we just kept going and have had different themes we work on. This week, because it was the last week of school for my daughter, we started on a summer theme."

What an inspiring way to share their skills with the entire community!

What ways have you found to share your skills during the quarantine? Let's talk about it in the comments! Then be sure to pass this on to your family and friends.