Staff Reports | The Republic
Chalk artist David Zinn puts whimsy right at your feet — in nooks and crannies on sidewalks and elsewhere.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, resident, whose outdoor art is known worldwide, returns to Columbus today through Monday. The Bartholomew County Historical Society is hosting him. Rich and Tammy Freeland are funding the visit that will tie his creative creatures to historical buildings in downtown Columbus.
“David’s characters were such a big hit for families in Columbus when he visited several years age we thought this would be a creative opportunity to bring a wide demographic of ages together to not only spend time exploring our historic downtown but to also learn a little history of some of our buildings while finding the chalk art drawings” said Diane Robbins, the historical society’s executive director.
Zinn has been creating original artwork in and around Ann Arbor since 1987. For more than 20 years, he freelanced for a wide variety of commercial clients while simultaneously sneaking “pointless” art into the world at large.
Now, thanks to the temptations of a box of sidewalk chalk on an unusually sunny day, Zinn is known all over the world for the art he creates along a variety of walkways. Zinn’s temporary street drawings are composed entirely of chalk, charcoal and found objects, and are always improvised on location through a process of “pareidolic anamorphosis” or “anamorphic pareidolia,” making an image appear three-dimensional.
Most of his creatures appear on sidewalks in Michigan, but many have surfaced as far away as subway platforms in Manhattan, village squares in Sweden and street corners in Taiwan.
Site locations locally have been identified throughout the downtown historic district. A minimum of eight chalk art installations will be created over his four-day visit. Residents are welcome to watch David as he creates these one-of-a-kind characters.
Weather permitting, the work will be executed between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Installations are expected to be between four to 18 inches in size and will be created with chalk and charcoal on ambient surfaces (concrete, brick, flagstone, and landscaping stones).
“We can’t thank Rich and Tammy enough for allowing this special gift to our community to come to life as we celebrate BCHS’s 100th birthday” said Robbins. The historical society museum at 524 Third St. will be one of the locations.
The museum is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday.
