As a child, one of my favorite cartoons was Chalkzone. The show depicted different chalk art creations that came to life. David Zinn, an Ann Arbor, Michigan native who is a world-renowned street artist specializing in chalk art, reminds me of my favorite cartoon.
For more than twenty years, Zinn worked as a freelance artist drawing logos for commercial clients. One sunny day, he decided to go outside with some chalk and started to doodle on the sidewalk. His chalk drawings became a local, and then national, and then international viral hits - now, Zinn is a popular chalk artist who've been commissioned to create temporary and permanent street art, sold books as well as performed workshops and demonstrations on chalk and 3D anamorphic drawing techniques.
Zinn's work has taken him to many places in the world - his chalk characters have appeared on sidewalks in Michigan, on the subways in New York, village squares in Sweden and street corners of Taiwan.
Chalk art has provided him with the opportunity to give an entertaining TEDx Talk (see below), and have enabled him to be the topic and focus of a short film made by Jonnie Lewis Film. The film, entitled Around the Block, is a passion project that focuses on Zinn's street art. It looks into how Zinn finds inspiration in every crack, streak, and speck on the pavement and is definitely worth your viewing time.
Image credit: Zinn's TEDx Talk and @davidzinn on Instagram
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Around the Block, a short film about David Zinn's chalk art.
David Zinn's TEDx Talk, where he talked about the genius of an Earless Mickey street art, his journey to become a world renowned chalk artist, and how an obstacle of a street lamp actually became the focal point of a permanent art installation on a wall in Ann Arbor.