Dialogues with Collectors Series

Posted on by Thor

I went to the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, (Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave Winter Park FL) on Tuesday March 19 at 7pm for the free Cornell Fine Art Museum’s, Dialogues with Collectors Series. This series of dialogue will expand on the collecting theme of the museum’s 35th anniversary exhibitions by opening a conversation about why, what and how people collect, and the role of the collecting instinct as a vital part of preserving our history. Roberta Green Ahmanson, a philanthropist and the current chair of the board of the Museum of Biblical Art, (MOBIA), New York City, spoke about her private collection of biblical art and the Ahmanson family collecting legacy.

Roberta pointed out that her husband came from a family of collectors, but as a young boy, he lived in a bedroom upstairs from a Rembrandt. His father kept the house the perfect temperature and humidity to preserve the painting. Unfortunately that made the place intolerable for his son’s bedroom.  Roberta and her husband met because of their shared faith. She began collecting artwork that affirmed that faith. She doesn’t tolerate Sunday School biblical illustration. She looks for subtle messages in contemporary artists work as well as old historical pieces.

It was encouraging to know that there are people out there today who are passionate about collecting art. Perhaps the daily struggle to keep creating will one day reap some small reward. Admission the the museum is free all this year to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the institution. I suppose that is a reward in itself to Central Florida. Also Roberta’s talk is available on UTube, should you be interested.

Banished from Sketching Polasek’s Eden

Posted on by Thor

In the Orlando Weekly, I read about a free oil painting demonstration at the Albin Polasek Museum as part of the Winter Park Paint Out. I talked to a docent inside and checked to be sure it would be alright for me to sketch the demonstration. He said it was fine. I had met him once before at an art critique at Barefoot Spa. He does paintings in the style of Frank Frazetta. It was good to catch up with him. Last year I had been asked to do a series of sketches during the Paint Out for Winter Park Magazine, being given full access, but Terry scheduled a vacation to Panama that week and I had to back out. It was a good trip.

I still hadn’t done a single sketch of any Paint Out festivities, so I was excited to finally get an opportunity to sketch and promote the event. I was just beginning to ink in this sketch when the docent came out and said that someone higher up had decided I couldn’t sketch. I politely packed up my sketchbook and left, fuming. The artist demonstrating hadn’t even started to put paint on the canvas yet.

Back at the studio, I quickly finished the sketch I had started. Since the sketch lacked detail, I decided to play with it in Photoshop. I suppose this sketch now makes me a Digital Artist in a Digital World. If the “No Sketch Policy” was put in place to protect the identities of people attending the workshop, then this  image solved that issue. I always finish a sketch once it is started. Had I posted the sketch and article the next day like I wanted to, more people would be aware of all the wonderful artists gathered in Winter Park. I suppose I should have arranged a press pass beforehand, but I didn’t think it was needed since the workshop was free. I only found out about the Paint Out the day before.

Terry said that the Polasek staff might have had Boston Marathon bomb jitters. I suppose my sketch supply bag can look quite ominous but it never left my side. I was profiled as a deviant artist even though no one could have seen what I was doing. I had my back to a hedge to be sure there were no curious bystanders. It is odd to feel like a criminal for taking notes with interest and putting lines on a page. I can’t imagine sitting through a workshop without keeping my fidgety fingers active. I learn better that way.

The next day, I contacted the event co-chair Hal Stringer, and he he wrote, ” We have a very strong policy that the gardens are reserved exclusively
for paint out artists during this week. Our staff was not aware of the
nature of your sketching and the relationship it has to your blog. We
would welcome being featured in one of your articles. Feel free to come sketch during one of the remaining three demos if you
wish. But, please stop by the front desk and ask for me or Debbie
Komanski so we know you’re on property. We’ll make sure the staff
knows you have our permission to sketch the demo for your blog.”

This was the state of the sketch when I was asked to stop.

I really don’t understand the policy of asking an artist to stop sketching. Anytime I am asked to put my pen down, I feel my right to self expression has been compromised.  There were cell phone photos being flashed all over the web promoting the event. I doubt any phones were confiscated from attendees. I’m still annoyed that the staff member that made the decision, whoever that is, did not approach me directly. I could have reasoned with them, but the volunteer that was sent to stop me was blindly following orders. The Polasek is private property however, and they can enforce any rules they like. Hal, the co-host of the Paint Out has been a dear friend and did everything in his power to help me the next day. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to go back for a second attempt at the sketch.

If the ghost of John Singer Sargent, or Sorolla, offered a painting workshop in Winter Park. I might sit with my hands folded neatly in my lap to watch them work. Then again, I consider it a sin that no one ever sketched these masters as they painted. It would be my moral obligation, a chance of a lifetime. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a world where large groups of artists could gather together and sketches weren’t discriminated against?

Dress Rehearsal, The Little Mermaid

Posted on by Thor

On April 10th, I went to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre to sketch a dress rehearsal for The Little Mermaid with Robert Hill as the Artistic Director and choreographed by Katia Garza. I went in via the stage door and backstage ballerinas where busy stretching. Most of the dancers were very young middle school and high school students. It would have been nice to sketch from back stage but this was my first time ever sketching a ballet in town and I didn’t want to get in the way. There were lots of dancers and I wasn’t a part of this world . I made my way to the auditorium seating.

This was a full run through of the show with the dancers performing to recorded music and narration. I thought the narration was overkill but I imagine it was staged with younger viewers in mind. The costuming was quite elaborate. Ariel stood out from the blue undersea world in her bright pink costume.  Rear screen projections did a great job of creating the undersea setting. When Ariel rose to the surface, a flock of young white sea gulls danced gracefully. As a princess, she had everything, but of course she wants what she doesn’t have. Legs are required for dancing. As any mermaid would do, she gave up her voice to walk beside her man and they lived happily ever after. After the run through, Katia gathered the dancers and shared notes. There was just one performance on April 13th and I’m certain it was amazing.

Spores

Posted on by Thor

At the Earth Day Festival at Lake Eola I decided to get a Vegan Lunch. The food court was at the South east entrance to the park under a huge Live Oak. I decided to get a carrot hot dog at Spork Cafe‘s booth. Tisse Mallon and her sister Joyce were working hard to keep up with orders. Joyce was at the barbecue grill searing the carrots over the coals. For a drink, I went to Midtown Eco Village for a berry smoothy. I ate lunch back at the Analog Artist Digital World tent. The hot dog was delicious although quit messy. A big splooge of mustard fell on my pants.

Journalist, Curtis Franklin had taken several photos as I sketched earlier in the day. He stopped by my tent to interview me. It was a fun talk and it turned out we have quite a lot in common.  Whenever he visits a new city, he walks the streets with a camera and a tape recorder to capture the city’s story.

My next door neighbor was Doug Rhodehamel, one of his art projects is “The SPORE Project” he makes paper bag mushrooms out of used paper bags that would usually end up in a landfill. The SPORE Project was
created in 2005 to promote support for art in schools and to illustrate
the importance of creativity in everyday life. He supplied paint and brushes so the kids could paint their own mushroom. Doug worked with a volunteer from Northland
Church and Hope4Orphans. This summer he hopes to to help send a few volunteers to
Ukraine and Russia. Through several week long summer camps, they will be
providing arts and crafts and paper bag mushrooms to hundreds of
orphans.

Doug’s spores are slowly taking over the world.  He stood next to me and laughed like a mad scientist. Parents and their kids would march through my tent to plant their spore and begin painting. There wasn’t much in my tent so it made the perfect garden gateway. I was glad, cause it meant more people would see my sketchbooks. I had the framed books hanging from the tent upper supports above children’s heads. Parents ended up banging their heads on my frames so I just had to plant a seat below the sketchbook so people knew to walk around.

Patti Matchett and her husband Andy joined me for the afternoon. I can’t thank them enough. With all the merchandise sold out, there wasn’t much to do other than hand out business cards and talk to people about the blog’s sketch a day mission.  Two Japanese culinary students wanted to buy the sketchbook suspended over my head. I tried to explain that it was an entire sketchbook but they could buy a print for $200. Language was a barrier but I have their contact information so maybe there is still hope to close the sale.

Earth Day Gator

Posted on by Thor

Since everything was certainly under control at my Earth Day tent, I ventured out to do another sketch. I had sketched Ibex Puppetry’s huge inflatable gator years ago, but I decided it was worth sketching again. An added bonus was that Oliver Kilkenny was playing accordion. He wore a palm frond hat and sun glasses. His music added a sort of French flair to the event except when he played “It’s a Small World After All” which was a crude reminder that we were in Disney’s backyard.

The woman selling ice pops next to me stood on a small step stool behind her cart. She told me she felt like Scarlet Ohara from “Gone with the Wind” when scarlet had to man a booth at the social when all she wanted to do was dance. She shook her booty to the beat of the accordion and offered Oliver a free pop for the entertainment. She had come all the way from Jacksonville to be at Earth Day and very few people were stopping to sample her wares.

A park ranger walked up to Oliver and told him he couldn’t play his accordion because he didn’t have a permit. In Orlando, if you perform in public, it is considered busking, or begging. There is a small blue box painted on the pavement somewhere near the court house. That blue square is the one place where public performance is allowed. Oliver put away his accordion, collected his ice pop and moved along. The silence once he left was deafening.

Janice Böhrk McIntosh who volunteered to help me at the event ended up getting a $45 parking ticket on a street that was NOT marked very well to say no parking. You are able
to tell by the entire row of cars who received parking tickets at a
this city event! The city really knows how to rake in the bucks! This is how they reward citizens who are trying to make the world a better place.

Earth Day Endangered Species

Posted on by Thor

On April 20th there was a huge Earth Day Festival at Lake Eola. For the first time ever, I agreed to put up an artist tent to promote this site. I framed ten sketchbooks printed some business cards and figured I could sell some of the remaining T-Shirts from the Sonesta Hotel mural. The night before, I packed the car and at 7AM the next morning I was ready to head out. I had used the tent extensively when I painted an outdoor mural for the Mennello Museum over the summer. Now painting outside in the summer is insane and I’m sure the tent had saved me from overheating.

Hurricane Maria helped me find the spot to set up my tent. During setup, people helped each other out. For instance the tent next to me shared their sand bags which would help keep the tents from blowing over.  Rain was predicted but it was a bright sunny morning as I erected the tent. The sketchbook frames were hung back to back on electric wires. They spun in the wind like Calder sculptures. Compared to other exotic tents, mine seemed a bit barren, but that is what my art is like, no flash, just substance.

I had put a call out on Facebook for volunteers who could man the tent while I sketched. Janice Böhrk McIntosh and Patti Matchett answered the call. Janice agreed to come bright and early and Patti agreed to come in the afternoon. Janice arrived and I explained that she could sell some T-Shirts and hand out business cards to people that were interested. She was excited to get started and I walked over to the Ibex Puppetry area to sketch the puppets that would be in the Endangered Species Parade. In the background of my sketch you can see a tow truck removing a parked car. Business as usual it the city beautiful.

As I sketched the display, all the puppeteers posed for a photo. Of course it was tempting to try and sketch them all in, but I knew they would all be gone as soon as the camera shutter clicked. April Tennyson mugged for me but she knew I wouldn’t have time to sketch her in. Necole Pynn who was at the Broomstick Pony tent had a kazoo. She asked me for a good kazoo tune and I wracked my brain to come up with “Jack the knife”. She seemed pleased as she hummed the tune through the instrument.

The Endangered Species Parade began and all the puppets came to life. Heather Henson, the founder of Ibex Puppetry, took hold of the Manatee and breathed life into him. Her mother, Jane Henson, had recently died, but today was a celebration of life. To the beat of a drum the parade flowed past me with grace and rhythm. The children followed with paper puppets they had made in the craft tent.

With my sketch done, I went to check on Janice. She had sold every single T-Shirt and most of the business cards had been handed out. I was in shock and delighted. Within the first hour, all my merchandise was sold and she was telling everyone who would listen about my project to document Orlando Culture one sketch at a time. What a godsend. There is no way I could have accomplished that. All hopes and expectations had been exceeded.

iDentify

Posted on by Thor

John DiDonna Productions in collaboration with choreographers McClaine Timmerman and Jill Lockhart presents
“IDentify”
An original dance experience. I went to a rehearsal at The Venue, (511 Virginia Drive, Orlando, Florida). There were just two dancers there when I arrived, Darcy Ricciardi and Elise Frost. Brittany Wine entered and began organizing the chairs. It became obvious that this was the first time the show was being performed at The Venue. Blue Star, who owns The Venue, came in and welcomed everyone. I decided I wanted a high vantage point, so I asked Helen, The Venue’s stage manager, if I could climb up into the Tech booth. She was fine with that and even found me a stool.

The show fused elements of hip hop and modern dance, It presented a multimedia exploration of how we as individuals and as a society find, lose, transform, and express our identities as we progress through life. The performance, offered a synthesis of dance, videography, music, spoken word, and photography. It was both a lighthearted and somber commentary on the human experience. It delved deep into the question we all seek to answer:
“Who am I?”

Before the full run through of the show, McClain addressed the cast, “You should give everything you got tonight. I’ll be the only one in the audience and I am your biggest fan. I love you all and support your every effort.”  That love, support and camaraderie was felt as the cast stretched and interacted together, and it flowed through the whole show. One of the dancers, Kim Matovina, looked exactly like McClain. I kept looking back and forth doing double takes. It made me wonder, what makes McClain unique? How is it I could misidentify her?

The show began with three females in tight black dresses putting on red high heeled shoes. They read fashion magazines and a narrator explained to them how dress to catch a man. Caffeine was out and they should drink eight cups of water a day.  When they held the magazines up over their faces, it was like a mask showing the fashion model’s face replacing their own. That would be the image I’d want to catch for the show’s poster. Elise gave a hilarious hyper monologue talking to the audience at 90 miles an hour. She would try and calm herself down with quick bouts of yoga breathing. She was laugh out loud funny!

Video presented scenes of the dancer’s everyday lives, jobs, friends warmth and angst. In one clip, McClain danced freely on a foot bridge and her dog padded up to her with curiosity. Lovers lay side by side watching as the other slept. It became clear that the dancers were sharing everything, their doubts and convictions. It was heart warming to watch, even as I battled with line and color upstairs. They drew me in and warmed me.

WHEN: Only three performances remain…
Tonight, Friday April 26th- 7:30pm,
Saturday April 27th- 7:30pm,
and Sunday April 28th- 2:30pm

WHERE: The Venue, Orlando
511 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803
Ivanhoe Village
www.thevenueorlando.com

TICKETS: $15.00 general / $12.00 student and senior
For reservations please call (407) 721-3617 beginning March 2013 – cash only at door
For credit card pre-orders please use www.redchairproject.com beginning in April 2013

Frost Nixon

Posted on by Thor

In the Mandell Theater in the Lowdes Shakespeare Center,”Frost Nixon” written by Peter Morgan is being performed through April 28th. Stephan Jones does an astonishing performance as Nixon. His performance isn’t a satirical caricature but an honest look at a man with insecurities and pride. As a elementary school student I used to enjoy doing political cartoons of Nixon so from an early age I understood his charisma. Timothy Williams performs as David Frost, a talk show host looking to score the biggest interview of his career. John Bateman as James Reston acts as the narrator who has had a long time desire to see Nixon admit and repent for his wrong doing. In a humorous moment he meets his long time nemesis and he goes mute and shakes Nixon’s hand. Nixon turned smugly away with his best attempt at a grin.

The interview itself was like a prize boxing match with Nixon evading question with his long winded rope-a-dope memories and effusive tales. In the first round Frost sits back overwhelmed and exhausted by the ex-presidents long winded and empty answers. The actual interview went on for hours but it is thankfully edited down for the stage production. The interview is cut into four bouts and by the end it seemed like Nixon was a bull that wanted to feel the pain of the matador’s sword.

After the show, the cast assembled on stage for a question and answer session with the audience. Director John DiDonna asked theater reviewer Steve Schneider to join them on stage. Steve wrote a glowing review of the performance but hated the historical inaccuracies of the play. He stated that Nixon never admitted to the Watergate cover up and any younger audience members might accept the play at truth. Artists have a responsibility to present the truth. He equated it to journalistic integrity. Going to the theater to learn history is like going to “The Daily Show” to get the news. John asked a class full of college students, “Who is Nixon?” Only three students raised their hands. The play offered Nixon a redemption that he never had in real life. How much artistic license should be allowed before historical accuracy is ignored or turned on it’s head? To illustrate his point, Steve suggested, we imagine that a Japanese playwright decided to write a play about World War II in which there was no Pearl Harbor. Instead Japan is forced into the war when America stages a sneak attack on the Japanese Navy Fleet. Could that be an entertaining play? Certainly, but it would be divisive and inaccurate.

You have just 3 chances left to see this amazing production.

Friday April 26th  at 8PM

Saturday April 27th at 8PM

Sunday April 28th at 2PM.

Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival

Posted on by Thor

I went to Winter Park on March 15th to be interviewed by “I Luv Winter Park” in the Hidden Garden Courtyard across from Panera’s on Park Avenue. Parking was atrocious, I ended up parking a mile away and then hiking. When I got to Park Avenue, I realized why traffic was so bad, the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival had just opened. I thought the interview went well although I’m never sure if I’m offering enough information.

I decided to explore the maze of tents. I never have high expectations when I look at art in tents but some work always jumps out and inspires me. Matthew Cornell, a local artist from McRae Art Studios  won the overall award for Best in Show. His oil paintings are hyper photo-realistic. A large painting of ocean waves had me do a double take. I had to walk up close to see the incredible detail.

The Festival was crowded, so it was hard to find a spot to sketch where I wouldn’t get trampled. The fountain offered a quiet refuge in the shade. People came and went in a constant stream. Most people who sat down had fast food from the food vendors. When they were done the wandered off to see more art. The sound of the trickling fountain and birds in the trees helped level my blood pressure, but still I had to rush to get the sketch done.

ReDesign

Posted on by Thor

On April 2nd I went to Urban ReThink (625 E Central Blvd • Orlando, FL) for an evening discussion, facilitated by Adam Call, the Herman Miller Collection National Lead and Curator. The evening featured prerecorded conversations with mid-century design icon George Nelson. George’s legacy, and approach to design were discussed, along with the processes that helped define post-World War II modern design. When I entered, Adam apologized letting me know that the time posted for the event was wrong. The discussion was wrapping up.

Several sleek chairs were on display across the room so I assume George was a furniture designer. With the talk over, I continued to sketch as people got up and mingled. I did catch Adam reading one reminiscence where George discussed a brain storming session where sketches were done and each designer jumped in to contribute ideas. It would have been nice to learn more about Georges creative process.