Working on a chalkboard menu for Harry’s Main Street Grille Jonathan Helwig draws in the green of a football field for the restaurant’s Super Bowl bill of fare.
Written By Lisa Breslin
Restaurants and bars from Westminster to Sykesville have been engaging artists to adorn the chalkboards that herald their daily specials.
The chalkboard creations are part menu, part whimsy, and often political or social commentary. They are colorful, detailed, and ephemeral; and half the thrill for the artists is wiping their works away and knowing that they will get to do it all again.
“There remains this childlike quality about chalkboard work, no matter how elaborate,” said Jonathan Helwig, who is the latest artist to use the 4-foot-by-8-foot board in the lobby of Harry’s Main Street Grille as his palatte.
“No one’s work is really complete until it goes public, and this medium really forces me to go public. I love knowing that each month something new will be created.”
Helwig, a server at Harry’s and a former student at the Maryland Institute of Art, says that the greatest reward is watching people’s reactions. He often creates illustrations hoping that patrons will laugh – or even wince.
Helwig’s February chalkboard featured the restaurant’s owner, Harry Sirinakis, as a Speedo-clad cupid.
“I asked Jon to make sure that I didn’t look like a terrorist and to feel free to make me look endowed,” said Sirinakis. “Judging from the belly he gave me, I’d say we had different takes on the word Ôendowed.’”
Back in the years when McDaniel College was Western Maryland College, the late artist Tom Holder created one of Sirinakis’ favorite chalkboard murals.
“Tom painstakingly drew the McDaniel College football team in a lineup with arrows from each player to individual portraits,” said Sirinakis. “That board – all of Tom’s murals – were works of art. I’ve really enjoyed the art, and patrons’ reactions to it, over the years.”
Last year, art students and teachers from Francis Scott Key, Liberty, Westminster, and Winters Mill High schools rallied their schools’ spirits by creating murals on Harry’s chalkboard.
And, like many of the other chalkboards around the county, the “pay off” for the business included an increase in patronage.
“The high school chalkboards were great fun,” said Sirinakis. “And they yielded great foot traffic. Parents, fans, boyfriends, girlfriends – so many people dropped in to see what the artists had done.”
Christy Beran, a bartender at Rafael’s in Westminster who also decorates the restaurant’s chalkboard, hopes that next year foot traffic from members of the Raven’s football team will bring her work more notice.
“My favorite drawing is of a Raven,” she said. “And players do come in. It would be great to have one of them autograph the board.”
Though Beran attended Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts in York, Pa., for fashion design and her parents are artists, she does not consider herself an artist.
“I just love drawing on the board to brighten up news about specials and upcoming events and holidays,” said Beran. “I enjoy the compliments; but mainly, I enjoy bringing life to a space in the restaurant.”
“It’s messy and I was often sneezing chalk for days,” said Westminster artist Chris Saghy, who created murals at Harry’s Main Street Grille for one year.
“I had to rethink my approach because I was used to working with black on white rather than white and other colors on black,” said Saghy. “You learn tricks,” he said, “like the fact that sidewalk chalk blends better.”
Saghy’s favorite creations included a board he titled, “What Snowmen Do On Sundays,” which featured snowmen playing football, and his “Back to School” mural, which featured his neighbor driving a school bus and his children, Shannon and Michael, riding as passengers.
His murals took between three and five hours to create and, like many other chalkboard artists around town, Saghy was paid with a gift certificate for $50 worth of meals.
“Creative chalkboards are a win-win,” said Sirinakis. “Artists have a large venue for their work and lots of traffic. And their work helps businesses create a good first impression. It’s even more fun when the chalkboard includes representations of local politicians or issues.”
