Pulse victim families paint portraits.

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The Orlando Traveling Mural organized by Colleen Ardaman at the Orlando Police Department (1250 West South Street, Orlando Fl). Artist Jeff Sonskin (Paint the Trail) offered advice to paint portraits of their loved ones lost. He had prepared panels that essentially allowed family members to paint by number.

Painting at this session were a Venezuelan family consisting of Aileen Caleos Carillo, the sister of Simon Adrian Carillo Fernandez who died at the age of 31. Along Aileen was her sister Ariani, her mom and her boyfriend in the red shirt. With her back to me was Emily Addison the partner of Dionka Draton. The woman with the curly hair is Daphnie Josaphat, the aunt of Jason Benjamin Josaphat who died at the age of 49. Daphne encouraged Mina Justice, the mother of Eddie Justice  who died at the age of 30, to come out and paint. Zack Osborne was the videographer and he helped supervise. Three Orlando Police swat team members entered and were introduce to the families. Jeff Sonskin was always mixing paint and offering advice.

A reporter sat down and interviewed Mina. She talked lovingly about her son Eddie who was a prankster. He was a real mama’s boy. After her son died, she was unable to leave her home. For months she avoided contact with everyone. Daphnie had dragged her out to paint. She admitted that working on the portrait made her happy. She has been feeling endless pain and loss but the simple act of putting paint on the panel occupied her mind and honored her son’s memory. She wanted to get it right.

Across the room several long tables were pushed up together and canvases were covered with hand prints. The ,”We, Are a Hand print” campaign encourages families, survivors, first responders and politicians to add their hand print to the mosaic. 71 police officers added their hand prints to the project and to date 11 politicians. The painting sessions continued the next day and Jeff is also taking portraits to families homes to be sure every family member can add their talent to the process.

Pulse: One Year Later.

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On June 12th one year ago 49 people lost their lives in a horrific attack by a gunman at Pulse Nightclub. June 12th people gathered a Pulse for Reflections and Remembrance. Throughout the day, members of the community visited to honor the legacies of the 49 victims, their families and the survivors. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., there was be a ceremony including various community speakers, reflective prayers, a reading of the 49 names, a display of 49 wreaths and music by Violectric. The Inspiration Orlando mural, our Angel Force, Hang-a-Heart, Stars of Hope and comfort dogs were present.

It was raining just enough to make sketching difficult. Watercolor and rain aren’t a great combination. The first thing I saw when approaching Pulse was the huge Inspiration Orlando Mural. 6 foot high marine grade boards were mounted on a large sheet of plywood and supported in back by 2 by 4s nailed as braces. At the Mural, a victim’s father was animatedly talking to Michael Pilato the artist. The father was upset that his daughter’s partner was depicted large on the mural. Another father had refused to bury his son. A daughter eventually stepped in to take on the responsibility. When it came time to collect the money raised for families however, the father was happy to take the money.

As I did this sketch, I was offered water and You Matter cards multiple times. Someone even offered MacDonald’s hamburgers and I kind of regretted not taking one. A mom had her daughter dressed in a bright rainbow tutu and they paraded around the site. A young girl across from me, wearing a rainbow cape,  was giving out free hugs. A reporter set up his TV camera and started asking  her questions. “We will not let hate win” was emblazoned on multiple posters and banners. 

While driving away, I passed a hate monger in front of the auto detailing shop next to Pulse. He was surrounded by people who were getting upset. They shouted Love will overcome hate loud enough to drown out his hate filled chants. Police were on hand and I was told that he toughed a policeman which is interpreted as an assault. 5 policemen wrestled the man to the ground while people shouted their message of love delivered with anger. It was a shame that the Angel Force had left because they could have surrounded the man.

I felt a bit depressed since it felt like most people were here looking for some form of attention or acknowledgment. Was I any different? Will these sketches ever serve a purpose? I was just growing frustrated and annoyed that the rain was making my job near impossible. I pushed through regardless. Any blotches and blemishes are all part of the story of creation.

WMFE: One Year Later.

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I went to the 90.7 WMFE Studios, (11510 East Colonial Drive, Orlando),  to attend a taping of The Three Wise Guys of Friends Talking Faith Reverend Bryan Fulwider, Imam Muhammad Musri and Rabbi Steven Engel discussed how the community has changed since the Pulse nightclub shooting.  Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan was a guest on the show. She described experiences on the day of the shooting when she went down to the nightclub to witness blood in the streets. She said that as a gay leader, she had become used to experiencing hate, but what was more difficult to deal with all the love that she felt from the community after the shooting. 

When the dead had to be buried, a hate group from out of town wanted to come to Orlando to disrupt the funerals with their hate filled rhetoric. Locals came together to make walls to protect mourners from the hate. Angel action wings were created to also shield mourners.The idea of Angel wings first came about after the hate crime death of Mathew Shephard. Orlando eventually took the idea one step further creating 49 sets of angel wings, one for each victim. Patty said that Orlando has done an amazing job of helping overcome tragedy through creativity.

The conversation turned to the notion of “otherizing” people. Once a group pf people are the “others”, then it is also possible to dehumanize them. With one years
fast approaching it becomes not only important to remember, but also
important to take a stand and do something to bring about change.Florida is the 50th state in the country in terms of money spent to help fund mental health. First responders might get money if they scraped a knee on the evening of the Pulse Nightclub attack, but they get no help seeking counseling to help deal with post traumatic stress disorder. Al attempts at passing reasonable gun control policies have all failed. Patty pointed out that if the mass murder had happened at a white male country club, then the political response might have been different. She honestly feels that no comfortable politician really cares what happened in Orlando.

 

Many churches that showed support right after the mass murder, now have no plans for the one year remembrance. 90.7 WMFE reporter Crystal Chavez talked about
the shooting’s impact on the Latino community and her forthcoming
Spanish-language podcast on the subject, Orlando Un Año Después. Questions were fielded from the audience, but several just were personal sermons rather than questions for the panel. Rabbi Engel thanked the audience for attending and hoped we all found something inspiring in the discussion. Quite the opposite is true I felt discouraged but the conversation. We live in a country that promotes gun violence and shooting incidents are accelerating rather than declining. a disgruntled employee just killed five of his former co-workers. What has gone wrong in America that allows such insane violence to seem like an option for some people? We are a country divided and angry. Orlando’s flower child vision of love can only take us so far. The religious leaders offered solace but no concrete answers.

The Inspiration Mural.

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In July of 2016, shortly after the horrific Pulse Nightclub shooting, Michael Pilato began his work to create the inspiration mural. Yuri Karabash his assistant joined him shortly after. Chimene Pindar Hurst, a Thornton Park resident was instrumental in bringing this creative team to Orlando. Chimene’s husband John was a college friend of Michael’s so it was a creative reunion. A second floor studio was donated above Anthony’s Pizza on the corner of Mills and Colonial. Local residents rallied to repair and furnish the place which needed lots of work. Michael recalled waking up one night to find a rat breathing in his face. He punched the rat and wet back to bed.

Michael attended my 49 portraits night in which local artists painted and sketched portraits of the Pulse victims in one evening. That night inspired Michael to want to use local talent to paint portraits on the mural he was creating. Some of the artists from my project painted portraits onto Michael’s mural. Those portraits float above the surface in rainbow colored hearts. I painted 4 faces, several of which had to be moved and thus repainted. The mural was in a constant state of flux and is still a work in progress.

On June 12, the mural which is made from a series of marine grade boards was assembled for the first time and exhibited at the Pulse nightclub at the 2AM and 10AM events. The boards were mounted on large sheets of plywood and supported by 2 by 4s that were nailed into triangular braces. “Raising the mural into place was like a barn raising.” said Chimene. After the Pulse event was over, the entire mural had to be moved again to go to Lake Eola where it would go on display during the evening’s candlelight vigil. I was asked to sit at the Albin Polasek Museum table to help promote “Summer of Love: Reflections on Pulse at the Albin Polasek Museum (633 Osceloa Avenue Winter Park Fl 32789). That show which opened in May is running for five months.

There were concerns that the mural supports might become a hazard if people tripped on them. If the huge wall fell it could cause damage. It rained all afternoon and when I got to Lake Eola Vigil, I was pleased to see that despite the concerns, the mural stood tall on the walkway to the right of the Disney band shell.  Crowds of people walked past and took cell phone photos. The crowds got thicker despite the rain. I worked under my umbrella, trying to keep my tablet dry. Pam Schwartz, the History Center curator and some of her staff stopped to say hello and she was kind enough to hold the umbrella as I finished the sketch. We joked about how I had to leave out so many details from the mural because I had to work fast.

Beside me the Kimball sisters, Casadie 14, Delanie 11, Emmalie 10, and Fynnlie 7, were handing out paper hearts colored with crayons to resemble rainbows. These young girls had lost their father before the Pulse attack and thus they know what loss feels like. They were “Spreading love, because there’s too much hate in the world.” They had 2000 hand made hearts to pass out and when done they will have handed out over 20,000 hearts. Passers by accepted the hearts with thanks. There was visible love in the crowd. People hugged and couples caressed hands. The crowd wasn’t as thick as the vigil a year ago, rain likely chased some away. But the memories are still fresh. There is a storm on the horizon. That will not keep Orlando down. we answer hate with love. Pulse themed buses were parked around the vigil possibly to block potential hate mongers. Connections in the community grow stronger and we all hope for a better world. It isn’t a 1960’s ideal, but something we need to work hard for.

The Human Rainbow

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On June 11th, one year after the horrific hate crime that took 49 lives at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, body painters gatherer at the Other Bar (18 Wall St, Orlando, Florida 32801) in Downtown Orlando to paint 49 models each a different color of the rainbow. The models each represented the lives lost last year during the Pulse Tragedy. The bar was packed and I had to sketch fast since, I had to get to the Shakespeare theater to see O-Town in which monologues based on interviews showed how local residents raised themselves up after the tragedy. 

Mandi Ilene Schiff of Base Orlando organized the event which was similar to a body painting event held last year. Each body painter was assigned a color and once a model was painted, another would quickly take their place. There was no time to waste when there were 49 bodies that needed to be covered in pigments. It was a triage of rainbow colors. After models were painted, they move to the other side of the bar where an impromptu rainbow dance party broke out. A body painter’s shirt read, “We Are One.”

Nix Herrera was painting blue people, and I focused my attention on the body painter in an American flag t-shirt that was painting her model orange. The body painter’s husband watched me work and he was in charge of making sure models were lined up ready to be painted. With so much color and sensuality it was at times easy to forget the somber reason for the artistic effort. Outside the bar the 49 gathered and posed in line for the full effect of the 49 person rainbow as it illuminated the grey afternoon.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for June 17th and 18th.

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Saturday June 17, 2017

6PM to 9PM Free. Black and White Art Show. The Barefoot Spa, 801 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803.

7PM to 9PM Free. The Orlando Shuffle. Beardall Senior Center, 800 Delaney Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801. The Orlando Shuffle is always free, family-friendly, and fun. It takes place the 1st and 3rd Saturdays every month. Come play, learn, or just hangout 7 to 9 p.m. at the Beardall Courts, at 800 South Delaney Avenue between Orange and Delaney Avenues. Retro attire is encouraged.

8:30PM to 2AM $7 No Borders Presents The Tournament 2. The Geek Easy 114 S Semoran Blvd, Ste 6, Winter Park, Florida 32792. Our No Borders Art Competition began in April 2015 with two competitions every 3 months. One competition was on a 4ft x 4ft canvas with a 30 minute time limit the other was on a 6ft x 6ft canvas for 1hr. We equipped each artist with enough tools to complete their pieces while also challenging their creativeness.

However, we realized the 6ft x 6ft canvas might be a bit of a challenge for some artists so we created “The Tournament”. It consisted of 8 artists on the 4ft x 4ft canvases that have never competed at our show before. The winners of that show will compete against the previous 4 winners on our 4ft x 4ft canvases come June 17th at The Geek Easy.

Our original rules apply:

4 Black markers with different tips

One color marker

4ft x 4ft Smooth White Canvas

30 Minutes to Complete

Artists get judged on 5 categories:

1. Creativity and Originality

2. Neatness

3. Time Management

4. Use of Color Marker

5. Overall Balance

The Crowd gets to pick The Peoples Champ before the judges ruling is announced.

Our trusty judges are:

Chris Rodriguez

Stazo Oner

Josue Ortiz

The host for the night will be Ozones own, none other than Madd Illz

Our house DJ spinning that 90’s hip hop we all grew up listening to and falling in love with DJ Cubby (Chris Mendez) and Dean Rod Uno Rodriguez

Sunday June 18, 2017 (Father’s Day)

 10AM to Noon Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources.

11:30AM $35. Father’s Day Brunch: Die Hard. Enzian Theater 1300 S. Orlando Ave.

Winter Park FL. A special barbecue lunch buffet followed by a screening of everyone’s favorite not-a-Christmas movie.

Noon to 5PM Father’s Day Grill Out. Deadly Sins Brewing 750 Jackson Ave. Winter Park FL.

Free BBQ and drink deals all day.

Geezers at Breaktrough Theater.

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Geezers written by Tommy Lee Johnston is being presented at Breakthrough Theater (419A W Fairbanks Ave

Winter Park,

FL

32789), through June 19th. Jack, (Sean Kenp) is a young aspiring author who takes a job a a retirement home that his mother has worked at before she died. He is socially awkward and not great around people. Gina, (Carol Palumbo) conducts an awkward job interview with him. She has her own issues, having had problems drinking in the past. Her primary concern is the person she just had to let go. He was found trying to have an affair with one of the residents. This is strictly taboo and she tries to find out if Jack might have similar interests.

Though socially inept, Jack has a rare talent for listening to people and asking pointed questions that peal away any layers of artifice to get to the heart of any story. He begins interviewing the residents, and each has an amazing story to tell. Emily, (Mary Lee Stallings) sat center stage hugging a kitten blanket and watching TV for most of the show. She never says a word. Alzheimer has taken her memories. A woman visits who was adopted and she researched to find out that Emily was her natural mother. She reads a loving letter written by Emily shortly before giving birth. The young Emily was forced to give up her child since she wasn’t married. As her daughter read the letter, tears welled up in Emily’s eyes and she mouthed the closing sentence. Memories had flooded back, but she was still trapped from expressing her love.

Each resident shared their story with Jack in turn. Kate, (Vicki Wicks) who gave off the appearance of being a confident sensual actress was actually insecure. Neil, (Gary Norris) was abrasive and cocky, but his story was about being a Vietnam vet who was welcome home to America as a baby killer and how much he missed his wife. Ray, (Larry Stallings) slept through most of the play holding a yellow pillow to his chest. His story was the most unsettling as he related his wife’s battle with cancer.

The play was fascinating to me since I am sitting in and sketching so many oral histories surrounding the Pulse Nightclub shooting. I am working with incredibly talented interviewers who open themselves to allow the stories to unfold naturally. 49 stories remain untold, but family and friends share memories that prove that love is an amazing and universal force. Art is strongest when it expresses empathy. This play shares that empathy in spades.

Tickets are $20.

Christopher Hanson talks about surviving the Pulse Nightclub attack.

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Christopher Hanson grew up in a small town that was just a 20 minute drive away from where Mathew Shephard was brutally murdered for being gay. On a vacation to Orlando her remembered gong to Universal and seeing rows of cherry blossom trees. It was a gorgeous sight and he decided at that moment that he would move to the City Beautiful. To him the trees symbolized universal love.

On the evening of June 12, 2016, he decided to put on his $3 American flag t-shirt and go to the Pulse nightclub for the first and only time to dance. Since the red striped ran vertically he felt the shirt thinned him a bit. He was new in town and hoped to meet new friends. His roommates didn’t want to go. At 11PM his GPS made him pull into the club driveway the wrong way. At 11:08PM he had to pay for a $10 wrist band. He remembers because he had just missed the opportunity to avoid the cover. He walked through a curtain of beads to enter the club. “I want those beads” he thought to himself. He was meeting someone for a date and was an hour late. The gentleman who was a doctor wasn’t pleased and he left. In the Adonis room dancers in jock straps and tennis shoes dances on the bar. “Wow” Christopher thought, “This is the kind of place I love to find.” In a trip to the bathrooms, he thought to himself that the windows were rather small because he couldn’t slip away from his date if he wanted to.

He ordered another double Jack and Ginger. It was Latin Night, so he couldn’t talk to many people, but music is a universal language. He spoke to Kate the bartender. There was an underwear contest and the straight guy won with his denim underwear. After a few drinks and he leaned up against the wall to steady himself. J Low’s song, “International” was playing.  He heard a Pow, Pow Pow sound. He moved to the beat thinking it was the bass. Then there was a repetition of bullets and he heard screaming. There was the sound of the liquor bar glass shattering. People fell to the floor around him and he dropped himself. Blood spattered. He saw the flashes from the barrel of the gun. He wasn’t shot, so he crawled past the bathroom. People were running inside, but he knew that they had no way out. People stepped on him and over him to get out to the patio. The person to the left of him was shot. Outside on the patio, he stood. People were pushing against a fence gate to try and get out. It didn’t open. He was amazed to find that the drink was still in his hand. He put the cup down. People crushed up against the closed gate until it finally gave way. Outside, a police office was pointing his weapon at the nightclub entrance.

Outside on a curb, Christopher helped a Spanish speaking man named who was shot twice. He took off his bandana and shoved it into a bullet hole to help slow the bleeding. Blood was bubbling up, boiling. He used his phone to call his dad, saying, “I’m alive.” A girl was lying on the grass. She said, “Get me out of the grass.” There were no medical gloves. She had been shot in the arm and back. He didn’t know about the wound in her back but after he cradled her in his lap, he realized that the pressure from his legs might have slowed the bleeding from her back wound. Mina Justice was in the street looking for her son who was inside in the bathroom. She got a text from him that said, “I love you.” “I’ll never forget her face,” Christopher said, “I remember passing the bathroom and thought, there is no way out.” I hugged her and had to say, “It will be OK.” He knew it was not going to be OK, and he sat down and broke down for the first time.

Orlando One Year Later

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The Orange County Regional History Center has mounted an exhibit entitled “One Year Later” that showcases a fraction of the items collected from the various memorial sites around Orlando in the aftermath of the Pulse Nightclub shooting tragedy that took 49 lives. The exhibition commemorates one year of pain, grief, loss, love, fear, resilience, coping and community. The exhibit recalls the heroes in our community who banded together in defiance of hate, who support all those who continue to live through the nightmare, remembering those murdered and holding the victims families in our hearts.

I sketched on the final day of the exhibition install. Museum staff were putting up the final vinyl lettering on the walls and making sure everything was in its place. Over 5000 items were collected from memorial sites. This exhibit encapsulated the shear volume of what was left. Rather than showing just one rosary, there are twenty, instead of one t-shirt there is an entire wall. One wall is covered with a sampling of the hundreds of paintings i have done at vigils and fundraisers since that fateful day last June 12th. Also on display are the original paintings and sketches done by local artists in one evening of the 49 victims of the attack. I hosted the evening and felt it was important to do the work in one evening since all 49 lives were taken in one night of terror.

Above the Angel Action Wings, built from PVC and white fabric, there was a quote… “I don’t have money to give, but I can spread love and I can spread hope. I was waiting for the opportunity to use the one thing I do have, which is the skill to sew, I can sew like the wind.” Jeannie Haskett, a theater seamstress and Angel Action Wings volunteer, to the Miami Herald.

I made my way through the exhibit reading every panel, circling the huge room counter clockwise. At the entrance there was a long platform with artificial grass covered in candles, rainbow pinwheels and flowers. The pinwheels spun in the breeze, recreating in a a memorial site in a ghostly way. The room is organized into sections, each honoring members of the Orlando community. There was a wall for first responders, a wall showed the worldwide response and outpouring of love after the tragedy. There were lines of prayer flags, and a floating wall of stars decorated with rainbows and messages of hope. An Ikea couch was covered in messages as well as the water cooler that was filled daily by church volunteers for people who were visiting the Pulse memorial site. In the corner of the room was a gorgeous dress made from a rainbow of hearts. In a secluded alcove, were the 49 crosses that were left at the Orlando Regional Medical Center. All the crosses grouped together in the tight space, left me feeling overwhelmed by the loss.

There was an opening for the families of victims and survivors. It was incredibly well attended. Probably over 500 people attended the opening night. This was an opportunity for families to get out and see items left in honor of their loved ones for the first time. There were 20 therapist at the opening wearing bright yellow shirts that said, Feeling sad? Lets talk. With so many therapists, it must have been difficult to grieve in peace, let alone move around the exhibit. One therapist handed out stress balls any time there were tears. There were also 11 therapy dogs on hand who performed their jobs with honor.

In my sketch, Whitney Broadaway is putting up vinyl lettering that encourages viewers to use #OrlandoOneCollection when posting information about the show online. Her baby bump proves that new life begins as tragedy ends, just as baby Cory Connell was named for his heroic uncle who died at Pulse. A large interactive area encourages people to write notes on a six foot square sheet of paper with permanent markers. Messages of hope and condolences are added every day. The exhibit runs from June 12th to June 17th when it has to come down for a wedding ceremony. This is an incredible, moving and inspiring exhibit, and I encourage anyone who feels they are a part of the Orlando community to get down there to experience it. The museum is open from 10AM to 7PM each day and admission is free.

Superior Donuts at Theater On The Edge

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I attended a dress rehearsal for Superior Donuts written by Tony
Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tracy Letts at Theater on the Edge, (5542 Hansel Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32809). The theater is small but I am always excited to see how the stage has been transformed. The small space places the audience right in the midst of the action on stage.

The play opened with the house lights going black and then several people dressed in black vandalized the shop writing “pussy” in the wall and shattering glass and throwing donuts everywhere. It was rather uncomfortable to watch, I wanted to get up and intervene. The theater lights came up to show the carnage. Arthur
Przybyszewski who owns the decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of
Chicago, entered and started cleaning up. Police showed up and tried to determine who might want to do so much damage. A Russian neighbor entered the shop blaming blacks despite the fact that one of the officers was black himself.

Franco Wicks, a black teenager enters and starts telling Arthur how he should fix the place up. The whole time Franco is cleaning up and helping out. It is a rather direct and inverted job interview and he becomes Arthur’s only employee. The first act has several monologues in which Arthur reminiscences about his past. His fathers disappointment in him, and his own disappointment at the loss of his marriage and daughter, hint at why he takes the young Franco under his wing. Franco is young and sure of himself, having written what he feels may well be the great American novel. Arthur has sort of settled into the routine of his donut shop and has few ambitions. He lazily smokes weed blowing away his ambitions.

Arthur reads Franco’s his novel which is hand written out on many note pads. He is amazed to discover that he absolutely loves the story. When he tells the aspiring author they both get swept up in the dreams of aspirations that might become true. Arthur then snaps back to reality and yells at his employee that dreams never come true.It takes hope to raise a child, and all of Arthur’s hopes were dashed when his wife left him, forever separating him form his daughter Jamie.

It turns out that Franco has a huge gambling debt. He started working at Superior Donuts to escape his past but it catches up with him. A horrific act of violence dashed his dreams as he is physically mutilated and his book is destroyed. Arthur can’t stand to see his young friends dreams destroyed so he personally pays the debt. A huge fight was treated like a school yard brawl but the stakes were very high.

This comedy-drama explores the
challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship. I had a blast and was often laughing out loud and then choked up as I saw dreams fade from youthful and middle aged eyes. The cast of nine hit so many strong emotional notes right on the money. I left feeling hope can always survive as long as you have friends.

The show runs from Sunday June 8th to Sunday July 2nd. Tickets are $19, $22 and $24.