There's Just Something Magical about the Second Saturday of October

Every year in San Antonio, on the Second Saturday of October, ArtPace holds an event called Chalk It Up. It usually closes off downtown Houston Street to have artists and families drawn on the ground, laying claim to the city they navigate, pulling us together in creation. The weather is usually pleasant. People are always in a good mood. It has over the years become one of my favorite things of the year. Even when I miss attending the event, I end up in some other adventure or some other business that turns out to be worth it all. Chalk It Up is just one of the ways that day just seems magical here. Perhaps the art walk that night is particularly crisp. Maybe someone has a really good lunch somewhere in the sunshine where a breeze blows in and a moment of calm defines how that whole day went. I've been Baptist for far too long for me to ever feel a connection to Halloween, try as I might now and then. But I've taken a fall holiday on of my own, for I celebrate the Second Saturday of October. They're always full of fun and adventure.

This year, ArtPace's Chalk It Up as invited me to make a mural as a featured artist in an augmented, socially-distanced version of the event. They're putting me at the Carver Library, the library I would use from time to time in my childhood on the Eastside, so I'm both honored to be able to do this again (this is my second go at this one and I have a probably more solid idea than I had last time at this) and I'm feeling an entirely different vibe of sentimentality going into this coming Saturday than usual. It's going to be a long, cool, maybe kind of weird day outside in the middle of a pandemic. The days kind of fill themselves as they usually do and I'm thankful to be able to still have crazy adventures like these.

This Saturday, October 10th, you should come by the Carver Library (3350 E. Commerce St.) from 8am-2pm, check out the work I'm making (spoiler alert-- yeah, it's text based, of course), and maybe I'll give you one of the masks I've been tie-dying this whole time. There's not a boring one in the batch.