On Tuesday, artist Kyle Banister and a crew of Southwest Airlines employees and students from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design spent four hours creating a masterpiece. And just a few minutes later, it was gone.

That very short life span is one of the challenges, as well as one of the charms, of chalk art.

Says Tone M:

I've been a chalk artist for years, I get it, but what I tell everyone is that the attraction is the story involved. Jeanne-Claude said once that she believed in once upon a time. The story transcends the art: I've heard people describe past pieces to me that they've seen and they make them sound much better then I remember them. It's that experience that you share that makes ephemeral art so appealing.

Banister's piece was done as a preview for the tenth annual Denver Chalk Art Festival, which will land in Larimer Square June 2-3. Find more information here.

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