Muscarelle Museum and Williamsburg ReStore Community Art Event

The Muscarelle Museum will bring its Driveway Chalk Art Competition to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore parking lot in Williamsburg on Saturday, July 17, and invites community members to enter on the spot for a chance to win a $2,500 first prize.

Select one of 50 images from the museum’s permanent collection to participate in the first-ever Driveway Chalk Art Competition, and create your piece at home, at your place of business, or even in the Habitat ReStore parking lot at 1303 Jamestown Road in Williamsburg.

Steve Prince, Director of Engagement & Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Muscarelle Museum, will be there drawing two pieces, and he and museum volunteers will be available to offer assistance. A portion of the parking lot will be roped off from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., for festivities that will include a food truck and a DJ.

“We will set people up with their squares so they can build their images, and we’ll have chalk on hand, so they can come out with their family and their friends, join in on the fun and enter the competition on the spot,” Prince said. “If people don’t already know how to translate an image and blow it up, we’ll show them how to do it.”

Competition entry requires registration and snapping a photo of your finished masterpiece and uploading it to be eligible for prizes that range from $300 for honorable mention to $2,500 for first place. Entries must be received by midnight on July 31, 2021.

Prince said the Muscarelle Museum, a culturally rich community resource located on the campus of the College of William and Mary, and the Habitat ReStore, a nonprofit home improvement store and donation center that uses proceeds to benefit the Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg mission, are natural partners.

“Both the Muscarelle Museum and the Habitat ReStore are service organizations, so I see this as the perfect marriage,” Prince said. “We service the community by showcasing art and artistic activities. The Habitat ReStore is all about upcycling – something passed on can be healthy and positive to another person. The Habitat ReStore and the museum are similar in terms of enriching families and enriching homes and the culture of the community.”

The competition has received entries from California, Vermont, Louisiana and Tennessee in addition to numerous entries from throughout Hampton Roads. Prince continues to participate in various popup events to promote what will become an annual event. He created chalk art works multiple times in Merchants Square and at the recent Gloucester Arts Festival. On July 10, he chalked a piece in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Muscarelle Museum website offers tips and tricks to help artists complete their pieces and photograph them properly.

Each driveway art submission requires a $20 entry fee that will go toward supporting future art projects in the Williamsburg community. Celebrity juror CCH Pounder, a friend of Prince’s and an art collector, will select the winners.