This year’s 3D Artists
Los Angeles based artist, Amanda-Lee Harris Gibbs has been a self-proclaimed artist since her elementary school days. Amanda works with many mediums but has recently discovered a newfound love for 3D anamorphic murals and street art. She loves creating pieces people can literally climb into and watch come alive. She hopes her work inspires and brings a smile to your face.
A Colorado native who went to art school in Denver and found opportunity in the area. After starting out painting signs, and apprenticing for muralist Chris Krieg for five years, I worked in the sign business with many local sign shops as an installer for 18 years until my kids got older. Then I started my own art studio in 2014 specializing in painting murals, signs, and creating interactive 3D chalk art pieces. Happy to say that over two decades later my love for art hasn’t diminished, and I like traveling to different festivals and events creating chalk and street art for the public.
Richland Center Wisconsin Art Teacher Duo, Jamie and Craig Rogers have been collaborating since they met in high school. Both graduated from UW Oshkosh for art education. Their collaborative efforts started focusing on street painting when they decided to celebrate their wedding by joining their first chalk festival in 2010. Since then they have been featured artists at various events and chalk festivals, taught chalk art workshops, delved into mural painting, and taught thousands of students in the public school system. Their current source of inspiration is human interaction with nature and their two children.
Zachary Herndon is an Atlanta based chalk artist whose passion for making new friends and creating art knows no boundaries. He and Jessi Queen co-founded the GA Chalk Artists Guild in 2014 to promote street painting in GA. He is known across the world for his pop art style in 2D chalk and crafts fantastical 3D chalk illusions. His energy is contagious and he brings a smile wherever he goes. Zach has been featured in chalk art festivals from coast to coast and across Europe. He lives in Atlanta with Jessi, their two wild children, and a spunky dachshund.
This year’s Featured 2D Artists
Hi, I’m Heather Drost I live in Panama City,Fl. First and foremost I’m a wife and mother. Art found me during the 2020 pandemic. I could have never dreamed of where art has taken me and continues to lead me. In February of 2022 I left my para job with Bay District Schools to inject myself full time into my amazing and talented local art community in Panama City. I’m still learning and growing as an artist but I have a passion in Mural, Chalk and window art. This will be my first chalk festival as a featured artist and I can’t contain my excitement. I would love for you to follow my art journey on Instagram/Facebook @ Purely Captured Artistry
Rebecca LaFlure is a mother, professional investigator, and chalk artist in Chicago. During the midst of the pandemic, LaFlure unexpectedly discovered a passion for chalk art and began creating colorful drawings at parks, bus stops, libraries, and other places in the city. She garnered an Instagram following under the handle @chalkofthetown312, where she documents her chalking adventures. LaFlure and her work have been featured by numerous media outlets, including on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times.
April Tolliver
April Tolliver works in Chicago as a Creative Producer at a local broadcast TV station. April grew up in the mountains of Tennessee and moved all around the southeast before moving to the Windy City two years ago.
While she is formally trained and highly competent in many artistic mediums, April would hesitate to call herself an artist.
Despite her skills, she has long suffered from a common affliction known as “procrastination”. But she does have several unfinished projects awaiting her attention. When she is not at work or putting off creative endeavors, she can be found exploring what the city has to offer. As an active outdoor enthusiast, she will never be found indoors on a beautiful day. And maybe some of those days she can be found drawing cityscapes along the lakefront.
[April is thrilled with the opportunity to showcase her skills along with gifted local artists in her dream city. As a special treat, her mother will be joining alongside her. April’s mother is an artist and provided a strong foundation for her talents. They painted many murals together over the years, since April was a young child.]
Adia Belle
Hello, my name is Asia and I am a visual artist. I was born and Humboldt Park and my family eventually moved to Bolingbrook, Illinois where I attended school at John R Tibbott Elementary. I began drawing at the age of 6 and shortly after realized that I had a talent that was previously unbeknown to me. After practicing and honing in on my talent, I began making artwork for close friends and family members. In 2013, after my sister had her first child, I then realized that I wanted to make going to school for art my major, and eventually ended up graduating college with degrees in Art and Fine Art in June 2020. I wanted to have a plan and something that he could eventually have for himself when he got older; I have helped raise seven children all together since then, (two nephews, a niece a four cousins.) My plan before graduation was to pursue a career in art full-time, but that was slow down after losing a close cousin to gun violence in May 2020, and two more cousins and April and August 2021 to arson and an asthma attack. I was also in the car accident last year that left me with lasting effects of a concussion, whiplash and paresthesia, a form of paralysis that affects the nerves. All of these sudden changes affected my ability to create artwork for quite some time, but after months of physical and that’s what therapy, I eventually began pursuing art again in the form of chalk and painting even more. Most recently, I created multiple portraits made out of close friends departed far too soon and they were displayed during Warrenville’s second Multicultural Festival this year. My current goal is to make our a full-time career all while paving the way for the new generation of kids to pursue what they would like to do in life.
Thank you for reading my story; I hope it inspires you.
