The pandemic cancelled Little Italy’s Madonnari Arts Festival again. The next one is scheduled for September 2022. Still, art is happening in the old neighborhood.
During the hiatus, the organizers of the festival invited Mexican street artist Carlos Alberto Garcia-Hernandez to create a permanent 3D mural on the wall of the Hospital Support Services building at Lloyd Street and Stiles. Garcia-Hernandez is in residence in Little Italy and painting the mural this week. It’s pretty damn amazing. I watched the artist work on a boom lift with a brush in one hand and his cellphone in the other. He appeared to be working from an image on the phone.
The enormous mural is inspired by Rome’s Trevi Fountain. All praise to Cyd Wolf and Jonathan Willen, executive producers of the festival, for coming up with this and mustering sponsors.
A ribbon cutting and celebration is planned on Sunday, September 26 from 2-5pm. The celebration will include live music performances by the Stone Hill All-Stars and a pop up jazz jam with The Worthy Brothers on the Stratford University parking lot. This event will follow protocols related to Covid-19 and the Delta variant. All current CDC as well as Baltimore City guidelines will be enforced during this event. The organizers strongly recommend that guests social distance and wear masks during the event.
The Little Italy Madonnari Arts Festival is an annual 3-day cultural event that showcases elaborate chalk paintings created by artists directly on the streets of Little Italy. The free outdoor chalk festival includes live music, street performers, participatory art, an art market and al fresco dining in a celebration of the contemporary renaissance of Baltimore’s historic Italian neighborhood.
Dan Rodricks 
Wow indeed!
LikeLiked by 1 person