2018 Madonnari Arts Festival
In 2018, the Madonnari Arts Festival had a hurricane invade its 3-day weekend festival. Even with a hurricane and non-stop rain, the Madonnari Arts Festival was able to create a unique and special event in Little Italy for all the visitors that we able to bear the weather.
The Madonnari Arts Festival had a very difficult year in 2018 for all our artists from across the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Italy. On Friday of the first day of the festival, a hurricane came to Baltimore and lasted throughout the 3 day festival with non-stop downpours. Our artists persevered and can be seen with the photos that were taken over the 3 days below. The event could never have happened without the generous support of all the restaurants, residents, and Little Italy Neighborhood Association in Little Italy. The Madonnari Arts Festival was able to bring artists from around the world to Baltimore to create beautiful works of art on the pavement. Below is a collection of pictures of our fourth event in Little Italy.
The weeks prior to the Madonnari Arts Festival, Michael Kirby, maestro Madonnaro and Producer of the Madonnari Arts Festival, created portraits of the 5 Capital Gazette Victims in Annapolis on the street of Little Italy. The Baltimore Sun wrote a special report on these drawings.
Blessing of the Chalk
On the Friday of the first day of the Madonnari Arts Festival, we begin the event with the Blessing of the Chalk. Madonnari is rich in history and started with the Catholic Church with Madonnari creating religious icons in front of churches in the 1400s. We honor this history by allowing the local catholic church to select a work from our artists and bless the chalks that this artist will use to create their image. Thank you to Father Bernie from St. Leo’s
Father Bernie selected Francesca Arsi as the Madonnara to receive the blessed chalk.
Channel 13 Featured Piece
Local station Channel 13 in Baltimore created a feature piece on the Madonnari Arts Festival and local reporter Denise Koch was a juror for our Madonnari.
