Chalk was on the ground, in the air, and caked into the hands of many Ventura High School art students this Wednesday.

The annual chalk festival is looked forward to by Ventura High’s students every year. Some see it as a day to miss class; but the dedicated artists of all levels of ability look forward to an opportunity for a full day to create art pieces without a time constraint of a 50 minute period.

Each unique work of art is made with chalk pastels and is ordered by members of the community for prices ranging from 25-45 dollars depending on the size of the piece.

Nicole Messner, the president of the National Art Honor Society club at Ventura, said that the proceeds from the chalk festival fund raiser go directly to the art department to pay for AP studio art fees. This year AP tests cost $87, so students need all the help they can get financially especially if they have to pay for more than one exam.

“This year is definitely bittersweet,” said Ventura senior Noel Duarte. He has participated in the chalk festival for the past three years and was disappointed when the administration shortened it from two days to just one as were a lot of other students.

The more advanced artists work on pieces that are extremely intricate and take more than one school day to finish. Even though he was let down about the time constraint Duarte said, “It’s always nice to work on art for a good cause.”

Wednesday was such a gorgeous day for the festival to take place; it was warm and sunny at the entrance of the school. Walking in the courtyard near the statue one could see pieces modeled after famous works of art such as Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe and various book and album cover illustrations.

“We were really lucky to have great weather I was impressed with the talent we had this year,” said Ventura senior Ale Valladares.

Familiar faces from Foothill were there on their lunch break as well to check out the art.

“This is really impressive, Foothill should have one,” said senior Henry Geerlings.

Credit: Alex Phelps/The Foothill Dragon Press