Officials talk county's future at 'Community Conversations' Street Scene Artists near and far turn out for Missouri City Chalk Fest

By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM

The parking lot of the Missouri City Recreation & Tennis Center was transformed into a massive art studio of sorts last weekend as a few dozen street artists of all ages took part in the Missouri Chalk Fest.

In this second year, the event was expanded to a two-day affair, which was advantageous given the weekend weather. While Saturday was somewhat damp and blustery, Sunday proved to be a spectacularly sunny day perfect for the artists from all over Houston, along with some from other states and countries - to finish their creations.

The event is Missouri City's foray into the growing street art scene, which has been flourishing across the globe for the past two decades or so. Houston has held its own renowned Via Colori festival for about that long. Several of the artists at Missouri City's were professionals who were invited to participate by the city, including Shawn Artis of Houston, who was painted a portrait of Daffy Duck of "Loony Tunes" fame. Like many of the artists, he got his start in chalk art at Via Colori. Nearby, Samantha Hem - pel also of Houston, painted a portrait of Indiana Jones in the famous opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark . She said she chose him as her subject to be in keeping with this year's event theme, "Let's Explore."

"He's my favorite explorer," she said. Hung Pham, also of Houston, painted a portrait of his own dog, named Tek Ken, a play on the word "taken," stemming from a conversation he had with his sister when they were adopting him. An architect by profession, Pham said the chalk art scene, which he's been involved in for about 15 years, is a way he keeps his creative juices flowing.

Marcos Hernandez painted a scene of the character Son Goku from the Japanese anime series Dragon Ball, along with his young

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