Katie Runde to Bring Her Chalk Magic to Lebanon

Lebanon Opera House is all about the upcoming summer as it plans for a weekend-long Nexus Music and Arts Festival on Friday, August 13 through Sunday, August 15. The uber-talented chalk artist Katie Runde will join the festivities.

If you’re a regular reader of Artful, you may remember a recent piece about this Vermont (and former Upper Valley) portrait artist. She was chosen to paint the official portrait of Alexander Twilight, a Vermont educator, legislator, and 1823 graduate of Middlebury College, where he was the first person of African descent to receive a baccalaureate from an American college or university. The life-sized portrait will hang in the Vermont State House. 

But in addition to her superb work as a portraitist, Katie Runde is also an accomplished chalk artist. This is not the pastel scribbling that you’ve done with your kids on the driveway (though we love those too.) These are fully realized and sophisticated works of color-drenched art. Check out her archives (click here) to sample her whimsical and other chalk inventions, from a flying pig to a trotting baby elephant. In my earlier interview with her, she contrasted her portrait painting with the freer, created-in-public chalk works. “Chalk art is a lot of fun—it can be like being a kid in the sandbox.  Usually my work is labored over for days to months in the studio, where chalk art lasts at most the week of the chalk festival hosting it, and often just the original day of creation.”

The “day of creation” at the upcoming Nexus festival in Lebanon will be Friday, August 13 with a rain date of Saturday, August 14. You will be able to watch Katie and the process from beginning to finished work. Note the 3-D effect as Runde (photo, top) bends to address the seemingly multi-dimensional swan she created in one of her chalk art creations.

Lebanon Opera House sees the festival as “inspired by the idea of literal and metaphorical crossroads,” that will take place in and around the revamped Colburn Park in downtown Lebanon, including the pedestrian mall and the new rail trail tunnel.

“Outdoor performances from regional touring artists, LOH’s community arts partners, and student-artists will be featured alongside displays of public art and al fresco dining—flashes of creativity and community at every turn.”

The festival is free. Mark your calendar and check in over the early summer to learn more about the festival’s offerings. Click here for Katie Runde’s website.) 

(Photo courtesy of the artist and Lebanon Opera House.)

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.