- February 7, 2025
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Their artwork will be gone one day but that didn't seem to faze the artists who were participating in the ArtHaus Annual Street Painting Festival.
The event, which took place on Saturday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 1, was held during the Port Orange Family Days on the plaza around Port Orange City Hall. The sidewalk chalk art pieces were created on spaces sponsored by businesses andindividuals from around the community.
According to ArtHaus officials, there are around 35 volunteer artists who set up at City Center and create 23 new images for the public to view.
Artist Eileen McHargue traveled across the state from Brooksville to create her sidewalk art depicting billiard balls. The 3D art was inspired by her new home, which came with a pool table, as well as some billiard balls her husband found in another pool table.
"I always draw from life," McHargue said. "It's like performance art doing it on the ground like this because as soon as it rains it's all gone."
McHargue said she has been working with pastels since around the fourth grade.
Next to McHargue was Charleen Breedlove who has been participating in the art event for more than 10 years. Breedlove had chosen to draw a portrait of girl holding a rosebud and surrounded by butterflies while sticking to a primarily pink and purple color palette.
Charleen noted this year she had wanted to make her artwork lean toward the surreal and mystical. As for what she enjoys about the event, she said it's all about how the final work is created.
"I love how big it is and I love the chalk on the ground because of the buildable layers," Breedlove said. "You don't get that when you do it on paper, it's definitely different."
Breedlove's niece, Taylor Bayer, was also participating by creating a butterfly next to her. Bayer had occasionally come with Breedlove but was now joining as a solo entry.
A few yards away, Suzi Taylor and her mother, Amy Taylor, were working on a unicorn-centered drawing. Suzi, whose sister and aunt were also with them, was in her second year of participating. She said she had drawn a unicorn last year and thought she should keep that the theme of her sidewalk art.
"It's just really fun," she said. "It's fun working in a big space and I like kind of competing with other people."
The competition also included cake decorators Kaylee Stewart and Sarah Beagan who won Best in Show for their work. Stewart has been participating in the
event for around seven years while this was Beagan's first year. Their piece of art incorporated a woman and a peacock inspired by an image they had seen.
"We just found a really beautiful photo of a woman with a turban and we wanted to do something really fun, really colorful and eye catching," Stewart said. "So we thought of a peacock and peacock feathers and all of the jewel tones. We're just making it as fun and colorful as we can."
