Upon his arrival in Sarasota, United States, to take part in the International Chalk Festival, the master pavement artist Ezequiel de León did not anticipate that his endeavour would turn into a genuine adventure.
Although the experience was immensely positive, he faced various unexpected challenges that not only tested him but also reinforced his artistry, demonstrating that no surface is too formidable for his hands and imagination.
On the third day following his arrival, he endured a poignant moment upon receiving news of his mother’s passing, as she had been in a frail condition. Nevertheless, even though he was prepared for such an eventuality, he felt he had to “grin and bear it and press on with the work, for it was the commitment he had made” to the festival director, Denise Kowal.
This year, she was keen to meet him and took the opportunity during the Corpus Christi festivities to visit the island with her husband to witness the creations of the artist responsible for the central tapestry of the Great Tapestry in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de La Orotava, which is crafted annually for the Corpus Christi celebration.
During their meeting, he reiterated an invitation made in 2022, which he was unable to fulfil due to Hurricane Ian’s disruption of that year’s event.
De León is familiar with beginnings from scratch, but this time he not only had to adapt his timeline to fit within the festival days but also tackle an array of logistical challenges that arose. The first hurdle was discovering that the ground was unsuitable as it lacked the dust needed to create intricate details. The second and most troubling issue was the inability to locate dyes to colour the sand and achieve the suitable hues that resembled the natural earth tones of Teide National Park, which are used for the Great Tapestry.
“We traversed Sarasota from one end to the other, more than 150 kilometres by car, searching in specialised shops but found nothing,” he recounts.
Quest for Dyes
By sheer chance, he encountered some young women who participated in the festival yearly, and they offered him some dyes “that never dried.” He had to perform numerous tests “to ascertain the correct proportions and to ensure the sand didn’t stick,” he elaborates. It was laborious, yet he persevered.
Just when he thought he had surmounted all the obstacles, another emerged regarding the creation of the drawing. He was tasked with rendering it on wooden sheets in the city’s architecture museum, an enclosed space “but with ample light,” before transporting it to Pineapple Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Sarasota. There, over 150 internationally acclaimed artists display their works to the public for a weekend each year.
With the museum closed for a week, time was insufficient for him to prepare his drawing. To compound the issue, he found that there were no wooden pieces of the dimension he required, measuring 4.30 metres wide by 6 metres long, with a central tapestry featuring a woman’s face of 3 metres by 2.20 metres.
The initial concept involved creating a “mini carpet” with a central tapestry of circa 2.50 metres, and additional borders “to frame the painting,” but this was ultimately scaled down to nearly half its original size and the face was resized to 1.80 by 2.44 metres.
However, the most unexpected news arrived when he relocated the panels to the designated workspace, where the festival organisers informed him that “they had completely warped.”
“In that moment, I was on the brink of giving up,” reveals the master carpet maker, who states “the only option left for me was to draw the face on one of the panels, but measuring 1.22 by 1.80,” a significantly reduced size from what he initially envisioned.
Ezequiel de León never imagined he would face such numerous logistical challenges. It was his first participation in this event, where each artist receives a box containing 48 colours to create their own artwork on the pavement; this 18th edition marked the inaugural appearance of multiple delegations of artists from Infiorata – the Italian term for flower carpets featuring sacred motifs, an art form that originated in the Vatican – and Rangoli, an age-old expression of Indian folk art that utilises coloured powders.
“There were genuine marvels on display, and I believe its reputation as the most significant street festival in the world is well-deserved,” he asserts. However, his work stood in stark contrast to that reality. “I reckon they thought it would be akin to the others, despite my initial warning that I was operating under surgical conditions, whereby if something faltered, the ‘patient’ would be lost,” he jokes. They reassured him not to fret, stating everything was organised, yet upon his arrival, many essentials were lacking.
His 35 years of experience have not been for naught, and thus, despite all the adversities, Ezequiel succeeded once more in enchanting the audience with his artistry, this time centred upon the visage of an elderly woman characterised by “numerous wrinkles and a warm, maternal gaze.”
The festival’s theme was the beauty of flowers, but he opted to highlight the beauty found in age. “With ailments, conflicts, and tragedies such as those that have struck Valencia, today reaching a ripe age is a true gift, as many youths falter along the way. Blessed is he or she who grows old,” conveys the artist.
The woman had profound blue eyes, her head veiled, and on her chest rested a red rose, symbolising love and also recognised as the national flower of the United States, a designation made by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
‘The Tutor’
“The artists and audience had never witnessed the sand technique before and they were astonished, as they struggled to comprehend that such a work could be executed with it, drawing closer to observe my progress as I crafted the face,” he states with pride. So much so that they dubbed him “the tutor,” and that became the name he was called throughout the festival. A title he earned through his artistry, further establishing him as a genuine master of transient art.
