Chalka Khan
Chalk It Up just got even better. This morning at Artpace, visionary cabinetmaker Reagan Johns unveiled his amazing elliptical drawing machine: the Chalka Khan.
Commissioned by Artpace and designed by Johns, the Chalka Khan (hahaha) was inspired by the Spirograph. At a demonstration on the Artpace rooftop, Johns and glass artist Jake Zollie Harper showed us the magic: The upper portion of the 5×5-foot machine can be spun around (much like a playground merry-go-round) by its top handles, turning the interior gears (and bicycle wheel, included to create friction). Loaded with several thick pieces of chalk, the gears are engineered to rotate in their respective cycles to draw beautiful, overlapping, elliptical patterns in multiple colors on a large sheet of butcher paper secured on the base of the machine.
The Chalka Khan will debut this Saturday as a Creation Station in our Chalk It Up Kidzone on downtown Houston Street. Powered by small, dusty children, it should produce some serious art and ridiculous amounts of fun.
Image credits: Reagan Johns and Jake Zollie Harper rock Chalka Khan. Photos by Wendi Kimura
Wendi Kimura
Wendi Kimura is the Publications Coordinator at Artpace, editing and managing our written and printed matter, as well as our social media. She enjoys a proper pronoun-antecedent agreement and is an absolute serial comma devotee. Wendi hearts Hi-Chew candy, Texas Monthly magazine, The Rub on Brooklyn Radio, and internet cats (like these).
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[...] Kidzone will have five super fun, engaging Creation Stations for kids—including the incomparable Chalka Khan. Plus live music, food vendors, free pedicab rides (from noon to 4pm) to and from Artpace, and big [...]
[...] Mural. Kids didn’t seem to mind the rain at all as they crafted in the drizzly Kidzone. Even Chalka Khan was able to withstand the elements, producing awesome elliptical chalk [...]