Spring Fiesta in the Park

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The Spring Fiesta in the Park on April 5th, featured 600 or so Artists and Crafters from all over the United States displaying and selling original works in outdoor tents around Lake Eola Park. There was plenty of outdoor fun and family activities at the largest arts and crafts festival in Orlando. There was also live entertainment and a kids’ area. After walking through much of the festival with Terry, she suggested I get a sketch done.

While shopping, Terry and I bumped into Andy Matchett, his friend Amanda Warren and their children. There is plenty to keep the kids occupied and active at this festival. Amanda let me know what Fringe show she was working on. I’m always looking for inside information about what creative work is happening in the arts scene in Orlando. Andy is now doing the musical direction for Legally Blonde at the Bay Street Theater, 109 N Bay St, Eustis, Fl. The show starts June 27th at 8pm.

This Richard Petty race car was located on the edge of the kids area. Occasionally people were encouraged to climb into the car for a photo opportunity. Getting into the car involved climbing through the oped driver’s door window. The Richard Petty driving experience is located at Disney World giving the average tourist a taste of what it is like to drive on a race track. That is something I’d like to sketch and experience someday. The experience is expensive however.

The Rookie Experience: $449 – $549
(8 laps of driving)

King’s Experience: $849 – $1,299
(18 laps of driving)

Experience of a Lifetime: $1,299 – $2,199
(30 laps of driving)

This was a very quick sketch and when it was done, Terry and I went out for tacos before heading home.

Shocking Magic Loss to the Pacers, or A Tale of Two Cupcakes.

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My wife loves to watch the NBA Finals.  If I sit down to watch, I like to joke, saying, “I hope the Magic wins this time.” Of course I know the Magic aren’t in the finals, but one team always seems to be wearing blue jerseys. Well, maybe next year.

I met Sunshine Woodyard Baker at the opening to my show at Snap. I knew of Sunshine from Facebook, because after a solid week of clouds and rain, I wrote “Hello Sunshine!” to express my joy at finally seeing the sun. She responded back by simply saying “Hello.” Somehow she and her husband scored tickets to a Magic game and she had an extra ticket so I could go and sketch. As she explained, “Lee St. John, the owner of Gigi’s Cupcakes and I would like
to invite you to Gigi’s Cupcake’s One Year Anniversary Partner
Appreciation night. Lee has the Presidential Suite at the Orlando Magic
vs. Pacers game on April 16 at 8:00 pm. We will enjoy food, drinks, and
the game with a small group of people who have been most helpful in
making Gigi’s first year magical. We sure hope you can come! Please let
me know if that day will work for you. It would be so cool to have you
there. We will get to the game around 6pm. My friend, Food Network Chef
Emily Ellyn will be there at the game. I think you’ll love sketching
her, and she’s great at cross-promoting to get your name out even more.”

Getting into the Amway Center involved the usual metal detectors and bag searches. I decided to streamline my art supplies so I could easily slip through security. I made a tiny palette using an old CD case. The circular CD holder is a perfect spot to arrange my daubs of paint into a color wheel. This Jerry rigged palette worked so well I’ve taken to using it all the time. I was one of the first people to arrive at the Presidential suite. Lee St. John was there to greet me. He explained that this wasn’t a very important game since the Pacers were already high enough in the standings where they could loose if they wanted and still move forward.

Lee had a small box of his award winning cupcakes. He had asked if he could bring the cupcakes up to the Presidential Suite, but there is a firm rule that no outside food or beverages can be bought into the Amway Center. This guarantees that Amway vendors corner the market. Lee tried to explain that the cupcakes weren’t for sale and wouldn’t be eaten. They were for a photo opportunity. No one listened to reason, so the cupcakes had to be smuggled in with stealth and subterfuge. To repay Lee for inviting me to the game, I decided to sketch one of the cupcakes ant put it on the jumbo tron in the center of the arena. When the sketch was done, I couldn’t help myself, I ate the mysterious black market cupcake. It was soooo good. No vendor in the Amway Center has anything half as good.

The suite filled up and I sketched through the whole game. There was a lackluster energy among the players. One Magic fan shouted out “We could win this if we wanted it bad enough.” The Magic didn’t want it enough. The game was a blowout with the Pacers winning 101 to 86. In the suite, people started posing with the cupcakes. Lee hadn’t lied about them being for a photo shoot. I had sinfully consumed a models sweet tasty prop. Luckily there were a few more cupcakes to go around.

Florida Film Festival Filmmaker’s Revel Awards Party

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On April 12th, The Florida Film Festival held its awards ceremony at Rick’s Speakeasy (1114 Solana Avenue, Winter Park FL). Starting at 8:30 there was a complimentary buffet dinner and cash bar.

This place was hidden away on an isolated back road full of warehouses.  This was an unexpected new discovery. This place smelled of gas and vintage cars were hoisted up for display. The bar and lounge area seemed pretty permanent but this “Speakeasy” must also function as a working garage.

The place was packed full of producers, directors and revelers. Carl Knickerbocker had one of his stop motion, puppetry animated films in the festival. The film is called “The Last Orange Grove in Middle Florida.” I kind of like the Tolkenesque title and from now on I will tell people that I sketch Middle Florida.

And the winners were…

SHORTS

Special Jury Award for Outstanding Storytelling was presented to THE BRAVEST, THE BOLDEST directed by Moon Molson

Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short was presented to AFTERMATH directed by Jeremy Robbins

Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short was presented to YEARBOOK directed by Bernardo Britto

Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short was presented to NOT ANYMORE: A STORY OF REVOLUTION directed by Matthew Vandyke

Audience Award for Best Short Film was presented to FOOL’S DAY directed by Cody Blue Snider

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

Special Jury Award for Demonstrating the Connection Between Art, Humanity, and Cinema was presented to LEVITATED MASS directed by Doug Pray

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature was presented to SLINGSHOT directed by Paul Lazarus

Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature was presented to SLINGSHOT directed by Paul Lazarus

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast was presented to CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY directed by Jerzy Rose

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was presented to DRUID PEAK directed by Marni Zelnick

Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature was presented to COPENHAGEN directed by Mark Raso

INTERNATIONAL

Audience Award for Best International Feature was presented to LE CHEF (France/Spain), directed by Daniel Cohen

Audience Award for Best International Short was presented to B-CLASS CULTURAL HERITAGE (Japan), directed by Yuji Hariu

After the sketch was done, Terry and I went to the neighboring Celluloid Circus. This is his private animatronic amusement park and club which was set up as a haunted house. Terry clutched my hand till it hurt. I was unfazed by most of the animatronic horrors, but one room cause me to completely short circuit. A narrow gang plank extended out inside a spinning tube. The spiraling motion made me think I was going to fall. I leaned hard to my left, let go of Terry’s hand and grabbed the handrail. Terry screamed when I let go. This must be what it would feel like to ride inside a spinning dryer. Somehow, we made it across the void. Later, one of the cast members told me I should have closed my eyes to stop the vertigo.

On the whole drive home on I4, the road seamed to be banking hard left and right. The spinning roadway kept swinging like a rickety rope bridge. I dug my fingers into the steering wheel leather and tried to stay in control. When we got home, I couldn’t find my car keys. The valet might not have handed them to me. My car is one of those push button starters so the keys don’t need to be in the ignition. In a panic I emptied every item out of my art bag. Terry remained calm and she found the keys in the cup holder in my center console.

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Hits the Orlando Fringe Hard

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By The Way Productions presented Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Based on a book by Alex Timbers and with music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman the show was a pop rock musical that showed the bloody history often overlooked by whitewashed history book in high school. The show was produced by Ashley Willsey and directed by Adam Graham. I went to the show because I bumped into Christie Miga on the lawn of fabulousness and discovered that she created the large flag that hangs on the set. This show got an award for the most aggressive and visual marketing campaign which was designed by Ashley. Live music was provided by Hey Angeline.

This was a huge show staged in the tiny Rep black box theater. I sat in the front row and several times had to pull back my crossed legged drawing stance to keep from tripping dancers. This was an edgy high energy production that portrayed Jackson (Ross Neil) as a rock star hungry for the adoration of the American public. The female cast worshiped Jackson’s populism like crazed Beatles fans. In contrast, the narrator was a nerdy woman in a wheelchair (Anitra Pritchard) with cat eyed glasses and a stuffed pug in her lap. She reminded me of the Dr. Scott from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

While Jackson ordered the slaughter of the Indians, his popularity grew. It is possible that this Indian purge resulted in more deaths than the Nazi concentration camps. Jackson’s wife (Jacqueline Torgas) didn’t want him to go into politics and yet he couldn’t resist the adoration of the American public. The campaign ripped his wife’s reputation to shreds and she died of a heart attack before he took office. She was married to another man when she met Jackson and that fact was used by his opponents in the presidential campaign. Ambition left him loveless yet popular. Two thumbs up for such an ambitious Fringe production.

Weekend Top 6 Picks

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Saturday June 21, 2014

9am to 3pm Free.  Sanford Farmers Market. At First and Magnolia in Sanford. A small farmer’s market in the heart of historic downtown Sanford.

2pm to 4pm Free Snap!Attacks! Artist Talk. Snap! Space 1013 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, Fl. In conjunction with the Snap! Attacks! opening, Snap! Space hosts an artist’s panel with headlining guests Mark Gmehling, Stacey Ransom of Ransom & Mitchell and Rebecca Rose, discussing “Art Business.” Moderated by Art Attacks online curator, The-ArtGeek Donia.

RSVP to the ‘Artist Talk’ (Saturday, June 21st from 2-4pm) ► http://www.eventbrite.com/e/snap-attacks-artist-talk-tickets-11980408725

Opening Reception for Snap! Attacks! (Friday, June 20th from 6-10pm) ► https://www.facebook.com/events/539576549484890/

7pm to 9pm Free. Suggested d. onation $15 at door. Modern Widow’s Club “Get to Know Us”. Credo Coffee House College Park 900 North Maitland Avenue, Maitland, Fl. Celebrate Empowering Widows for 2014 International Widows Day. Wine, dine, break bread and a few plates!! We ask if you cannot attend, please GIVE a donation on JUNE 21st. Together we’ll console, support and provide mentoring to empower widows. http://modernwidowsclub.com/donate

Sunday June 22, 2014

 1pm to 3pm Free but get a coffee. Irish Music. Olivia’s Coffee House, 108 North Bay Street, Eustis, FL. http://www.oliviascoffeehouse.com/

2pm to 1am Free. SUMMER JAM milk edition – House – Bass – Experimental. The Milk District East Robinson Street, Orlando, Fl. three areas of amazing unique sounds. Good company, drinks, and… no cover. Sandwich Bar will have disco/house/funk/tek/minimal/progressive. Space Bar will have experimental/trip-hop/glitch/experimental bass. Outside there will be Drum and bass/breaks. Oldschool to Youngblood just for the Music Heads! Come and soak in the sounds. Don’t complain you cant find culture, create it!

2pm to 6pm Free. Open House! KHphotographics 115 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, Fl. Come see our new products, get special deals on photo shoots and product orders and learn a thing or two! We will have a free “how to take better pictures” workshop and some fun surprises! Sugar Harlot will be selling her delicious petite scones too!

Snap! Attacks! to Open at Snap Space!

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On June 16th I went to Snap! Space,  to sketch German Muralist Mark Gmehling as he worked on a huge five story high mural. I had also visited on Friday the 13th, but he had just painted the whole area grey using a roller on that day. The mural depicts Mickey Mouse gloved hands clutching oozing gooey brain matter.

As I did this sketch, an angry line of fire ants marched in line into a crack in a blue grey wall. Patrick Kahn, Snaps founder offered me an umbrella to block the sun. I felt a little guilty being pampered because Mark was five stories up in the lift wearing a black TShirt in the 90s plus humid Florida heat. He didn’t need any shade. Since I have had skin cancer before, I accepted the offer and helped him tape the umbrella to the telephone pole I was leaning against.

Several people stopped to look and take pictures. Two time lapse cameras were set up to record every stage of the mural’s creation. When Mark came down for a break, we spoke for a while. He is a teacher and he does most of the painting using spray paint. He likes the greys that are in the Montana Gold spray paint being used for this mural. The forms combine hard edges and soft edges as he builds up the form. He works quick. The mural will be complete in less than a weeks time and he worked entirely alone. Local artist Chris Tobar did help paint some of the grey base coat paint lower to the ground floor. A tattoo shop is opening up right behind Snap! Space. I imagine one of the first requests will be to tattoo Marks melting brain image onto someones arm.

Mark Your Calendar! The mural will be completed before the “Snap! Attacks!” opening on Friday June 20th from 6pm to 10pm at Snap! Space, in the historic Cameo Theater, 1013 E. Colonial Dr., Orlando, Fl. The show will be a cutting edge contemporary and figurative art show from the combined curatorial forces of Snap! Orlando and Art Attacks featuring photography, painting, illustration, mixed media, sculpture and video installation with internationally renowned artists in attendance. Guest curators Art
Attacks is an online art resource for contemporary arts,
providing a curated digital gallery, in depth interviews, and art event
coverage. After four years of showcasing the best in contemporary art
and creative inspiration, Art Attacks Online is pleased to announce its
very first gallery show!

On Saturday June 21st from 2pm to 4pm there will be a free artist panel discussion at Snap! Space so you can meet the artists and learn more about their work.

Oyster Boy Blamed for Problems in Bed

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Haste Theatre from London invited the Orlando Fringe audiences to their darkly comic world where everything may not be as sweet as it seems. The show, Oyster Boy, is based on a story idea from Tim Burton while taking liberties. It followed the tale of Jim and Alice as their lives are turned upside down by the arrival of their first son, born with an oyster for a head. The production mixed puppetry, clowning, and a very naughty barbershop quartet.

Jim was Italian and Alice was an American Tourist.  They fell in love at first sight and Jim’s Italian and broken English instants wins Alice’s heart. The seaside romance was accompanied by the romance of breaking waves recreated simply with a blue sheet. Their son’s huge oyster shell head offended everyone but the adoring parents. The one thing oyster boy was good at was swimming. Two little girls befriended him and went for a swim, but when the girl’s parents found out, they were forbidden to ever see the boy again.

 This was a light hearted production that harkened back to silent film acting. It used a very simple puppet to bring oyster boy to life. The entire cast were women, even the pot bellied Italian husband. This was used to comic effect as they played male characters using pasted on handlebar mustaches that often fell off. The tale doesn’t end happily for Oyster Boy, but love prevails.

Waiting in the Fringe Line

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The John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center has an odd tower that is two stories high and the room is about eight foot square. A compass is incorporated into the floor tiles and a large banner is usually suspended from the ceiling.

Between shows during the Fringe festival there was an art installation consisting of hula hoops and cardboard tubes covered in strips of fabric. Everything was suspended on strings to create a mobile. I made my way inside so that I could sketch a Fringe line as it formed. The line was for, Bless Me Father For I Have Danced and it snaked from the theater entrance out the door with half the people having to wait outside. It is fun to see friends as they meet and hug. Half the fun of the Fringe is meeting people in line and comparing notes about what amazing shows HAVE to be seen. I decided what shows I should sketch based on tips from strangers I met in line. All the reviews in town couldn’t beat good word of mouth.

This is a rare case of a sketch I didn’t have time to finish. My wife Terry texted from another line suggesting I join her to see the show she was waiting for. Often we saw shows together but sometimes we went our own ways. I could only go to the Fringe every other day because of work commitments and on those days Terry was on her own and she would let me know what she had seen that I had to sketch. It was like having a field corespondent scouting out the talent. I don’t know who created this kinetic art, and once the Fringe was over, it was replaced by a table and chairs.

Taking Out the White Trash

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The Fringe show, Taking Out the White Trash  presented by Peemypants Productions featured Sherri D. Sutton, as she spilled the south’s dark secrets in the intimate brown venue. This was a hilarious show that had me laughing the whole time. When asked to describe a Waffle House, Sherri said, “Imagine a truck stop restroom, but with waffles.” Now, anytime I drive by a Waffle House, I laugh. She said being accepted as a lesbian comic has been hard since there is a stereotype that lesbians are always angry. She then performed a joke as an angry lesbian with expletives to hilarious effect. She said, “The thing about stereotypes is that they are often true.”

Much of the show then was built around the southern stereotype. From Walmart, the KKK, to convalescent care, no topic was sacred. Having been raised in the south, much of her material came from first hand experience. Growing up lesbian in a conservative southern town can’t be easy. She joked about southern names and that certain names guaranteed an infants trials or success in life. This show was a pleasant surprise and it was good to see lesbian couples cuddling in the audience. It made me hopeful that love can be cherished in all it’s forms someday.

Seasons The Musical

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Seasons the Musical was without a doubt the most dramatic and moving show at this years Fringe Festival. I sat right beside Elaine Pechacek the shows co-writer, Music Director,  and accompanist. She co wrote the show with Katie Hammond. It was staged in the Venue (511 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL). I went to the show with no preconceptions other than knowing that a friend, Deena Beena, was the Marketing and Production Manager. The show was moving and heartfelt on every level.

It followed two separate stories, one of Mrs, Jones (Beki Herrback) who has just been told that she has cancer and she has to share the news with Hope, her daughter (Katheryn Fabbroni). The other story follows Helen (Tiana Akers) who was dating Peter (Erin Robere) and they find out that she has accidentally become pregnant. Peter is madly in love with Helen and he asked her to marry him. She consents given the situation but she isn’t sure she is actually in love. As she folded her clothes, she sang a song questioning love and it’s pains and struggles. Peter enters just as she wonders aloud weather he is the one for her. Peter gave all he had to try and win her heart but still she remained reticent.

As the couple ironed out their troubles the mom sang a beautiful song to her daughter expressing her love and hope that her daughter would never take life for granted. This lullaby was the final song in the show and I could hear people in the audience openly weeping. They just weren’t wiping away a stray tear, they were overwhelmed. I did wipe aside some tears but had to finish the sketch so I kept myself in check. All the actors sang beautifully with emotion. I hope this show gets funding and is expanded to become a runaway hit. It explored love openly and it deserves all the  love it gets in return. A show this beautiful will find its way to getting produced just as a seed always struggles to find light before it reaches full bloom.