CHALK MASTER DAVE

Street artist brings smiles, selfies with 3D art.

Chalk Master Dave has been leaving his mark around downtown Sydney.

The street artist, whose legal name is Dave Johnston, was doing 3D chalk paintings on Saturday and Sunday, leading to many happy smiles and social media posts from locals and tourists.

“There was one group of people who didn’t speak English, from the cruise ship, but they were all laughing and standing on my painting, posing for pictures. Art is the universal language,” said Johnston, who is originally from Toronto but now lives in the Annapolis Valley.

“It makes life pretty good when you have a job that just makes people happy.

Johnston, who is in Sydney until today, did four paintings in total: at the base of the Big Fiddle at the Joan Harris Cruise Pavilion, outside of Governor’s Pub and Eatery, outside of the Old Triangle restaurant and outside of the Triple Crown restaurant inside the Holiday Inn.

Hired by adHOME Inc., a creative agency, the goal was to pretty up the streets with Johnston’s art for people attending a conference in Sydney this week. The conference can brand itself in thank-you tags on the art instead big company logos which Johnston said “can look like a big advertisement.”

Over the 27 years he’s been painting the streets and sidewalks in towns and cities across Canada, Johnston said he’s starting to see more businesses use the same approach.

“It’s a very good marriage between art and corporation these days,” he said.

Johnston came to Nova Scotia four years ago with hopes of showcasing his art in more small towns. He is doing just that and working on a book

about the province’s lighthouses as well.

Called “Once Upon a Tide”, Johnston said the book is “pictures next level” of the buildings. The photos he takes, he then paints and these are what will be printed in

the book. So far, Johnston has taken photos of 43 of Nova Scotia’s 121 lighthouses.

After close to three decades doing street art, Johnston said he still feels like he just started.

“This type of thing, you have to stay relevant. So, it’s always

changing,” he told the Post, while painting a dragonfly for a woman who works at Governor’s on Sunday.

“Maybe that’s why it always feels so new.”

NIKKI SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POST Chalk Master Dave (Dave Johnston) adds a dragonfly to a 3D chalk painting outside of Governor’s Pub and Eatery on Esplanade St. Sunday morning. The dragonfly was for a woman working at the restaurant who gave Johnston a coffee after he knocked his over. The street artists is here from Friday until today, painting four 3D street murals to pretty up the streets for people traveling to Sydney for a conference this week.

NIKKI SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POST A group of people take pictures of the 3D chalk painting Dave Johnston did at the base of the Big Fiddle at the Joan Harris Cruise Pavilion.

NIKKI SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POST Isaac Babin, 8, sits on the ledge in the 3D chalk painting done by Dave Johnston, while his sister, Magali Babin, 6, stands on the ledge.