{"id":3645,"date":"2017-09-18T14:34:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T14:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debbihester.com\/?p=3645"},"modified":"2017-09-18T14:34:24","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T14:34:24","slug":"annual-chalk-block-feature-installation-yoko-ono-array-artists-performers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/annual-chalk-block-feature-installation-yoko-ono-array-artists-performers\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Chalk the Block to feature installation by Yoko Ono; array of artists, performers"},"content":{"rendered":"

From fire-breathing dragons to a cat that shoots lasers out of its eyes to\u00a0a 6-foot-tall crooning clown, Chalk the Block has combined local and internationally renowned artists, art installations and music in\u00a0the streets of Downtown El Paso since 2008.<\/p>\n

Organizers\u00a0announced the five installations, created by artists from around the nation, that will be in place at\u00a0this year’s free event Oct. 6-8 during\u00a0a news conference Wednesday at the Rudolph Volkwagen car dealership, the event’s sponsor.<\/p>\n

“This is the 10th year for Chalk the Block,” said Ben Fyffe, assistant director of the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0<\/strong>El Paso Airport hanging art piece, Radiance, receives international award<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

“We’re really excited to be at this point,” he said. “The event has grown by leaps and bounds, like the community has, over the last 10\u00a0years. When we first started, it was a one-day fest that involved 12 artists and drew about 5,000 people. Over the last few years, we’ve involved over 200 artists, over three days, drawing about 40,000 people to the heart of the Downtown Arts District.”<\/p>\n

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As local artists make Downtown their canvas and display chalk masterpieces on the sidewalks and walls of Arts Festival Plaza and surrounding areas, the five installations will give the festival its national and international flavor, Fyffe said.<\/p>\n

The most well-known of the installations is renowned artist and musician Yoko Ono’s “Wish Tree,” an ongoing interactive art project where visitors are invited to tie wishes on trees,\u00a0according to festival organizers.<\/p>\n

“I’ve wanted to bring ‘Wish Tree’\u00a0to the festival for five years,” Fyffe said. “It finally worked out this year. We are incredibly honored and excited. She is one of the premier icons of contemporary art and contemporary music, whether you love or hate her. The piece is really beautiful and poetic.”<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0<\/strong>Art takes center stage at Chalk the Block<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

After Chalk the Block, wishes will be collected and sent to the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland. The tower is composed of a tall tower of light that is displayed each year starting on Oct. 9, the birthday of\u00a0former-Beatles member John Lennon, and through\u00a0the anniversary of his death Dec. 8.<\/p>\n

Ono was Lennon’s wife of 11 years at the time he was shot and killed in New York in 1980.<\/p>\n

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