Zach Herndon Chalk Artist

Community & Events

Zach has spent more than a decade bringing chalk art into streets, plazas and parks where anyone can join in. Much of that work happens through the Georgia Chalk Artists Guild, which he co-founded in 2014 with Jessi Queen and Katie Bush.

Children and adults kneel side by side on Peachtree Street, coloring chalk squares at a Pop-Up Chalk Fest.
Pop-Up Chalk Fest at Atlanta Streets Alive, October 2016.

Community Chalk Events

In October 2015, Zach had the idea to host a chalk event inside Atlanta Streets Alive, the open-streets festival organized by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. That first Pop-Up Chalk Fest became a regular guild activity: invited artists drew full pieces while visitors colored community squares, a part of the event Zach led.

  • Pop-Up Chalk Fest at Atlanta Streets AliveCreated by Zach and hosted by the guild 13 times before the pandemic paused Atlanta Streets Alive. For the September 2017 event, Zach worked with Central Atlanta Progress to secure a spot facing Woodruff Park.
  • Count the Point Census Chalk Art Festival, September 2020A partnership with the City of East Point and its Public Arts Department to raise awareness of the 2020 Census. Held during the pandemic, it used individual chalk kits, a chalk return system and timed sign-ups to keep participants safely apart.
  • Neighborhood chalk eventsWith Jessi Queen, Zach has hosted chalk activations in Little Five Points’ Findley Plaza and at the Margaret Mitchell House, three chalk events at Madison Yards, and events with the Decatur Arts Alliance at the Decatur Arts Festival and Decatur Wine Festival.

Festival Planning & Support

The Georgia Chalk Artists Guild started as a way to connect Georgia artists with chalk festivals and to help organizers understand how chalk art can work for them. The guild’s events are a shared effort by its organizers and volunteer artists.

Through the guild, Zach and Jessi have helped towns across the Southeast set up their own chalk events, in places such as Albany, Americus, Blue Ridge, Chamblee, Douglasville, Duluth, Fort Oglethorpe, LaGrange, Macon, Pigeon Forge, Orange Beach and Thomasville. They also created the Atlanta Chalk Art Festival, four days of chalking as part of a larger event at The Bakery in Atlanta.

Zach makes the extras too: he screen prints shirts and bags and builds custom trophies for the artists at his events.

Rows of chalk squares on a closed street, each colored by a different visitor as part of one larger community design.
Families kneel to color a large holiday chalk piece on the floor at Ponce City Market.

Workshops & Demonstrations

Watching a piece come together is half the fun of chalk art. Zach and Jessi Queen share their process through hands-on sessions and live demonstrations, where beginners can pick up chalk and try the techniques themselves.

  • Chalk the ZMA masterclassPresented with Jessi Queen for Kennesaw State University’s Zuckerman Museum of Art.
  • Midtown Blooms at MODA, May 2023A live chalk demonstration with Jessi Queen for the Museum of Design Atlanta’s Midtown Blooms event.
  • Children’s chalk workshop, 2016Guild artists, including Zach, hosted a children’s chalking workshop at Ponce City Market for an Atlanta Braves opening day event.

Bring chalk to your community

Planning a festival, a neighborhood event, a demonstration or a workshop? Zach would love to hear about it.

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