Local Expert
Amelia Lang
Amelia has traveled around the world backpacking, photographing, drawing, and attempting to learn various languages. After a long hiatus in Portland, Oregon, New Zealand, Spain, and Africa, she…
Amelia has traveled around the world backpacking, photographing, drawing, and attempting to learn various languages. After a long hiatus in Portland, Oregon, New Zealand, Spain, and Africa, she recently returned to her roots in San Francisco. She couldn’t find a city she liked more. Barcelona came close, Berlin and Tokyo were up there too, but as corny as it may sound, she left her heart in San Francisco. Amelia balances her love for both the rural coastline just north of the Golden Gate Bridge and the stimulation of city life. She graduated from University where she studied history and fine art. She comes from a family of artists and can’t help but indulge her own creative impulses. She looks forward to graduate school in design and art history, hopefully somewhere abroad. Although she knows she will always succumb to her gypsy spirit, for now she is happy nesting in San Francisco.
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A Whole lot of Sidewalk Chalk
Since the 16th Century, people have been not only decorating canvases, walls, and buildings, but they have been painting the streets as well. This tradition has come alive again! San Rafael, California, just 25 minutes North of San Francisco in Marin County, is home to one of the most amazing Italian Street Painting Festivals in the U.S. For Fifteen years, Madonnari (street painters) have covered the streets of San Rafael with colorful chalk drawings. Every year, during the second weekend of June, the streets close and the asphalt is divided into grids. Each artist, team, student, or kid is given a section of the road to cover with color. The result of the weekend’s work is over 200 images collaged together. Join the other 60,000 visitors who come to look down at the asphalt in a whole new way. Viewing of the work can take place only on Saturday or Sunday. On Monday, the street cleaners come and wash all of the masterpieces away. The Italian Street Painting Festival is organized by Youth in Arts, an organization based in San Rafael that has worked since the 1970s to support the local community’s commitment to the arts.