In 2013, our team of artists began drawing on the sidewalks and streets of St. Louis, MO as an accessible way to artistically express ourselves and organize with communities on important issues. Inspired by riot grrls and the literal definition of “riot” (an impressively large or varied display of something), Chalk Riot was named. What started as an ad-hoc experiment to spread joy and color became a passion for exploring cities “from the ground up”.
After participating in many chalk art festivals, busking across the USA, Europe and Mexico, and working with dozens of campaigns for a better world, a realization was unveiling itself:
we can improve our neighborhoods when we explore them from a ground-level perspective.
Life took Chelsea, Ground Shift’s founder, to Napa, California in 2015 and Chalk Riot moved with her. She loved exploring different parts of California with chalk art, and cultivated a profound connection with nature while living in a river valley. The business began utilizing natural mediums and contemplating the pavement’s role as living history.
When roads have been such a blatant tool of division and destruction, how can we use art to help heal and move forward with more clarity, justice, and beauty?
In 2019, a series of wildfires, an unshakeable desire to relocate east, and a residency at the Kennedy Center’s Moonshot Studio motivated Chelsea to move Chalk Riot with her, again, this time to Washington, DC.
Upon moving to DC, Chalk Riot was serendipitously swept up in energy and new programming around traffic calming artwork. Living in a city brimming with creative energy and safe streets advocacy made the team all the more passionate about leveraging arts in the right-of-way to improve daily life for all. Chalk Riot’s business and practice continued to expand into the transportation and urbanist worlds, but this new focus required a fresh rebrand and clarified vision.