Chalk and Block

In Indian cities,where pavements barely exist and street art seems limited to wall graffiti,Stum is lucky in that she will have a separate space for her art. She arrives at the Jaipur Literary Festival later this month,and follows this up with stopovers at the Kolkata Book Fair and the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai. She will also visit Puri,where she will collaborate with sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik,and stop by the Riviera Festival at VIT,Vellore. Working in these venues,she will be spared the push and shove of crowds that is a regular feature on Indian roads.

“I’ll make a Harry Potter-esque book image at the Jaipur Lit Fest,work on a book theme with a national Indian figure at the Kolkata Book Fair,have a big comic book image at the Riviera Fest,and an eco-themed image in Puri. In Mumbai,I will take up a Bollywood theme,” says the artist.

Serendipity led Stum to her tryst with street painting. She was 36 when she attended the I-Madonnari Festival,a street painting festival,in Santa Barbara,California,in 1998 and found her tribe — a group of people making artwork with chalk pastels on the pavement. By next year,she was drawing on pavements of the US with chalk.

“I use homemade chalk as well as those from suppliers. Some brands of chalk are terrific for detailing,” she says. She occasionally adds water-soluble paints to her “chalk work”. Stum says that she spends days sprawled on the hard pavement,and then has to walk away from her masterpieces. “I love that I can freely create what I see in my heart and mind,” she adds. Clearly,drawing on the road is right up her street.

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