Folk Festival

This presidents day weekend the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art hosted the 7th annual Orlando Folk Festival. Admission was free. There was a stage with live music and a collection of tents with folk art and local crafts artists. The tent just right of center in this sketch was set up for the Kerouac Project. When Terry and I walked up to say hello to Kim and Summer, who were manning the booth, a woman named Helen, was looking at a photo of a Jack Kerouac residence in Orlando on Yates Street. She thought she recognized the house and called her brother in law who she thought might live there. The brother in law confirmed the address over the phone. Jack Kerouacs mysterious influence seems to be working to this day bringing people together.
While doing this sketch an artist approached me because he was curious about the Niji water brush I was using. I explained where he could get one without ever stopping work on the sketch. When he was leaving and saying goodbye, we glanced at each other for the first time. It turns out he is Brian who was my first supervisor when I started working at Disney over a dozen years ago. Brian works for Disney Merchandising to this day. He had many story’s to tell me of how the Animation Building had been taken over by management after the executives closed the Florida studio. Apparently every square inch of space is now cut up into cubicles and the only hint that for over 10 years the building was at the forefront of a golden age of animation is an animators jacket which has been encased in glass and hung near the bathrooms.