Parramatta Chalk Art Festival Shines

Thousands of keen spectators flocked to Church Street for the four day Parramatta Chalk Urban Art Festival, with over 30 artists revelling in the perfect weather conditions and overwhelming crowd support.

While the competition was fierce and the judges deliberated for 6 hours, Bondi's Leeanne Ricci was named 2009 Champion Pavement Artist on Sunday and the winner of $5,000 for her colourful artwork titled "Urgent Attention: Kevin Rudd".

Dom Intelisano (Oxenford, QLD) won $1,000 and was Highly Commended by the judges for his vibrant surfing polar bear, while the Best Novice went to Jonathan Verzosa (St Johns Park, NSW) for his artwork "Air-conditioning" which will be custom printed on t-shirts from Mabuzi Art.

The public's clear favourite was the colourful 3D depiction of dancing penguins titled "The Gurgler" by Brian Tisdall (Nambour, QLD) who won the People's Choice Award. The Encouragement Award went to street artist Glenn Purcell (Carlingford, NSW), and Julie Doye's (Botany, NSW) artwork "The Future is Now" earned her a Special Mention.

The Founder and Director of the Chalk Urban Art Festival, Andi Mether, said Parramatta was the ideal location and for the first time in the history of the festival there was four days of sunshine.

"The artworks were just brilliant, the different interpretations about climate change had everyone talking. It was a fantastic opportunity to take art to the people."

"The winning artwork by Leeanne Ricci has a clear message about climate change; it was relevant to Australia and spoke directly to the people," Ms Mether said.

The Body Painting Competition at Oneworld Sport astounded spectators, with Newcastle's Emily Ades named Champion Body Artist and Penrith's Amy Grigg taking second place. Both were judged on their creativity, representation of the climate change theme and technical expertise.

This year the Chalk Artists were joined by some of Australia's leading climate change experts including Ann Henderson-Sellers from Macquarie University and ABC TV Weather Specialist Graham Creed. Mars Hill Cafe hosted the climate change talks, with everyone going home with practical information to apply to their daily lives.

Parramatta Chalk Art Festival Shines