Imagination Celebration's What If Festival

I got to participate in Imagination Celebration's "What IF?" Festival in downtown Colorado Springs on September 11, 2010. IC is well known for its Butterfly Project, where artists decorate large steel butterflies that are displayed throughout the city, then auctioned off to raise money for area school art programs. I was out of town for my step-daughter's funeral when the call to artists landed in my in-box, and was unable to participate this year, but they contacted me with an invitation to the What IF festival: "You didn't get to do a butterfly, but you can do a chalk art butterfly...." I signed right up!

The acronym for their theme is STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. When designing my art for the festival, I wanted to use all 5 topics. I knew I wanted to do a butterfly to tie in with their Butterfly Project, but wasn't sure how to get all the "STEAM" items in. I started with "Science": what do I think of when I think of Science, and how can that be a part of a butterfly? I thought of a microscope and decided it would work well for the butterfly's body.

Second was Technology. I thought of a computer chip, and wanted to incorporate that into part of the butterfly's wing. I have to admit, I was clueless for Engineering, so I had to Google that one and found some cogs/gears that would do beautifully for a flower. For Art, I would do the real part of the butterfly, but what to do for Mathematics? Hmm ... what body parts of the butterfly weren't spoken for yet? Antennae! I was reminded of our elementary school days when we used compasses (also called protractors) to draw circles and other designs, then color them in, so I knew a mathematical compass would be perfect for the antennae!

Working from several reference photos, I came up with this rough sketch:

Then I colored it in and added the "What IF?" theme, and spelled out the STEAM acronym so that viewers would know what my butterfly was all about.

Here I have my sketch laid above the 4'x6' space of asphalt on Cascade Avenue in front of the Pikes Peak Center where all the chalk artists were working their magic.

It's very faint, but I've sketched in my drawing here.

Getting started on the cog flower.

I even wore the antennae that I used for the Day of the Dead Artwalk at Cottonwood last year when I dressed up as a ladybug.

My cog flower finished. It was after this that the high school student next to me, Alyssa, shared that you blend the chalk into the asphalt with your fingers to give it a smooth finish.

Adding the microscope body and compass antennae.

My "Art" wing of the butterfly.

Chalk art is hard work!

Computer chip wing.

I ran into Eric of www.eclecticasylum.com fame and told him I saw his barbeque sauce artwork at the Squash Blossom opening. He told me to use the sponge that came with the chalk pastels to blend the chalk into the asphalt. What a skin-saver that was! It was much smoother, too!

Here's my placard. People were allowed to vote for their favorites. I still haven't found out who the winners were.

My finished work!

Note the "IC" for Imagination Celebration on the glass slide on the microscope. I thought of everything! LOL

My cog flower, complete with crack.

"What IF?"

Compass antennae.

The date hidden in the computer chip wing.

Math symbols on the wing.

Close up of art wing.

Signature, of course.

Posing with my Masterpiece!

After removing the duct tape.

Thanks for looking! Hope you can come next year!