JENNIFER MAHAL -- In the Wings

When I was a little kid, one of my favorite things to do was to take a

piece of colored chalk and draw on the sidewalk. Now, admittedly, my

chalk masterpieces were mostly hopscotch squares with smiley faces next

to the numbers -- giving myself a place to aim the rock -- but they

brightened up the cement.

The art that will be offered by Via Colori in Corona del Mar next year

will certainly outclass anything I ever drew. What’s that? You have no

idea what I’m talking about? Well, let me be the first to tell you that

the Corona del Mar Business Improvement District is planning its very own

chalk art festival to debut, say organizers, sometime next spring.

The event will raise money for an as-yet-undetermined group or groups

focusing on arts education, said Peggy Fort, marketing director for the

district. The hope is that it will also encourage people to walk around

the district, watching the artists create and enjoying the local shops.

Though chalk art festivals have been around Southern California for a

while -- witness the Fun With Chalk festival in Mission Viejo or the Il

Madonnari Italian Street Festival in Santa Barbara -- Fort said the

district will do the festival under the “Via Colori” name. Via Colori is

a chalk-art fund-raiser designed by Rick Compton of Naples, Fla.

Compton has put together festivals nationwide in order to help raise

funds for various organizations. Money is raised through corporate

sponsorship, individual businesses buying squares for artists to work on

and other sponsorships.

The event is noncompetitive and volunteer driven. In fact, Fort said

the district is now looking for volunteers to work on different

committees, from sponsorship to the artistic.

“The success of this event is going to come in finding the artists,

the sponsorship chair and the committee members,” Fort said.

Compton began the Via Colori concept after going to a friend’s party

and seeing a beautiful piece of classical art.

“I saw that there was a speck on its nose, and when I looked closer, I

saw that the speck was an artist, drawing,” Compton said.

After learning more about Italian street art, he decided that it would

make a nice fund-raiser. And Via Colori was born. The name, Compton

admits, is a made-up word meant to represent “streets of color.”

In the 16th century, said Compton, Italian soldiers came back from war

and found themselves unemployed. Many of them could draw, and so they

would sit in the courtyards of the great cathedrals and create icons on

the pavement.

“They’d open up their paint boxes beside them, and people would drop

money in,” Compton said. “The neat thing about it was the creativity.”

Fort said the district is hoping to raise between $12,000 and $25,000

for arts education with the Corona del Mar event.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the committee or suggesting a

possible arts education program that could use assistance can call Fort

at (949) 675-0501.

* * *

Do you know a local artist, writer, painter, singer, filmmaker, etc.,

who deserves to get noticed? Send your nominee to In The Wings, Daily

Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627, by fax to (949) 646-4170 or

by e-mail to o7 jennifer.mahal@latimes.com.f7

* JENNIFER MAHAL is features editor of the Daily Pilot.