Come Alive

Posted on by Thor

Encore presents Come Alive, in Steinmetz Hall in the Doctor Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Friday August 19th at 8 PM to Sunday Aug 21, 2022 at 11 PM. Tickets are $19. I went to sketch a rehearsal in Steinmetz Hall. It seemed to be their first time in the venue since much time was spent trying to arrange the seating for the hundreds of singers in the chorus. All of the singers could not fit on the second level, so twenty five volunteers went to an even higher level to sing. There are 135 singers in the chorus and 60 in the orchestra.

It’s time to celebrate 20 years of Encore. Come see Encore alumni from across the country collaborate with new talent to perform songs from some of their favorite movies and musicals. In this exciting concert, you’ll hear the highlights from Encore performances across the years and fantastic new selections from the stories that currently capture their hearts. Join Encore as they take a fond look back at the past and an enthusiastic leap into the future!

We walked back stage to get to our seats in the hall. This is a truly awesome venue and I hope to someday to have the chance to sketch the amazing structures we walked past back stage. One structure looked like a two story tall fire hose reel and I cant figure out what it might do. There is more to this hall than what first meets the eye.

There were so many powerhouse singers in the cast. The show moves from one musical number to the next in quick succession with each song more uplifting than the last. It was an inspiring evening. When the full chorus joins in on a number you can feel all the voices as they reverberate in your chest.

COVID-19 Warning: An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease that may result in personal injury, severe illness, and death. By visiting the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and or attending the Dr. Phillips Center shows, events, education programs, classes or other activities, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19. All visitors must follow the Center’s health and safety protocols. Please help keep each other safe.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: First Chinese Presbyterian Church

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The First Chinese Presbyterian Church on 61 Henry Street in New York City was built between 1817-19. The land for the church was donated by Revolutionary War patriot, Colonial Henry Rutgers. It first opened it’s doors in 1819 as the Market Street Dutch Reformed Church. In 1864, the Dutch Reformed Church disbanded. The church building was then bought by Hanson K. Corning in 1866 and it was transferred to the Trustees of New York Presbytery to be occupied by the Church of Sea and Land which served the seamen community in the area.

In 1868, mission work began within the Chinese community in New York City. On December 18, 1910, the First Chinese Presbyterian Church was incorporated at 223 East 31 Street. In 1951 the church moved to 61 Henry Street, sharing the historic church building with the Sea and Land Church. The Sea and Land Church was dissolved in June of 1972.

The church building has the distinction of being the second oldest in New York City. In 1966 the church building and the 1824 Erben pipe organ were designated as historic landmarks.

Pandemic Panera’s

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For the last Urban Sketching class, I had my students sketch in Panera’s. We had already covered how to sketch an interior by sketching the classroom and I gave a refresher on how to populate a scene with people. Myself and two of my students were wearing masks in the classroom. Hospitalizations for the BA5 variant had reached a peak and were hovering at about 40,000 COVID patients each day. 300 to 400 people continue to die each day from the virus, but despite this, most people are “done” with COVID though the pandemic is far from over.

I had just dodged a bullet since a house guest had contracted the virus and we isolated for 10 days. Somehow, even while living with the virus Pam and I managed to not get infected. We have taken every simple precaution since the start of the pandemic, masking, social distancing and hand washing.

One of my students had been infected. She had stayed clear of the virus for over two years, but her husband brought home the BA5 and they both got sick. My other masked student has managed to evade infection and wants to continue to do so.

Both of my masked students decided to sketch Panera’s from outside, and I applaud them for that choice. I ordered some food and ate it outside. Then I masked up with a KN-95 held in place by my well worn cloth mask. I was the only masked person inside Panera’s except the person who took my order.

One student asked me to sign my Urban Sketching book, which surprised me. Three other students arrived late after they ran across the note on the classroom door letting them know where we would be sketching. They missed all my introductory remarks, but I worked with each to bring them up to speed. They remained unmasked. This is the reason I have tended to hold off on sketching at indoor venues with students. I am unable to protect them from themselves.

A few days later the CDC lifted many of their suggestions for quarantining and social distancing. I know the reduced 5 day quarantining was instated by the CDC to be sure that health care workers could be available as the hospitals filling up with COVID patients. It was never intended to become a general policy for everyone. Now even the 5 day quarantine has been abandoned to keep people at work. Close contact no longer involves taking precautions.

People refuse to protect themselves against a virus they can not see. I will continue to take the precautions I have been taking since the start of the pandemic. I know full well that politics play a greater roll in deciding how COVID recommendations  are decided. I also know that any recommendations are ignored my most people regardless. You can choose your own COVID adventure.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Grace Church Concert

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The first worship service at Grace Church was held on Sunday, December 21, 1808 in a modest building at the corner of Broadway and Rector Street, some two miles south of where the church sits today. That humble site is where the Empire State building stands today.

New York City was expanding northward, and in 1843 a site was chosen and property purchased in what was then an apple orchard owned by Henry Brevoort, Jr. at Broadway between Tenth and Eleventh Streets. The commission to design the church was given to , James Renwick, Jr., a civil engineer who had never built anything so grand. His largest previous work had been a part of the Croton Reservoir at 42nd Street.

The rector, Thomas House Taylor, toured Europe extensively looking at church designs around the continent. He returned energized and adamant that the new church would be in the Gothic style. Renwick poured himself into the project, sketching a Gothic design mainly from books and collected anecdotes. The building was completed in 1846, and consecrated on March 7th of the same year

Due to significant financial strain, the new church was far less ornate than what stands today. The windows were of lightly tinted glass and the steeple was built of wood rather than marble. The marble steeple was eventually added in 1883.

Carriage House

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At the Phantasmagoria photo shoot in Sanford, the carriage house behind the historic home was turned into a dusty attic space filled with props from past shows. Thin lace hing fro the rafters like spider webs and draped itself over an antique wooden wheel chair.

Each cast member in turn searched the space while the photographer took shots.  Each actor explored the space in their own unique way. Puppets from past performances were hidden among the attic clutter. Punch sat comfortably in his rocking chair while a human skull dominated an end table.

It was a rather hot day and two large fans circulated the air in the room. There is clearly no insulation in this old carriage house structure. Since each photo shoot was over in an instant, I struggled to piece together one performer by taking bits and pieces from multiple performances.

Summer Camp

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Teaching Elite Animation Academy virtual summer camps has lead me to drawing some odd stuff. One issue beginning students have is not knowing what to draw. In a world full of billions and billions of things to draw I find this notion confounding.Many beginning students are caught up in drawing cartoon characters to impress friends and family. I try and break them away from that habit to draw the world around them.

In the foundation drawing class I ask students to first draw their hand while not looking at the page. You can tell when a student looked when a drawing comes back where the line touches where it began. We attack that assignment a few times until I convince them to make an absolute mess.

Then we do the same thing but glance down every time the pencil needs to be re positioned to start a new line.  Each line is a bit meandering since it moves at the same pace as the eye across the object. This idea of visually touching the object takes time and practice to convey.

Then we turn to any object in the room. I chose this rough carved panther head which is an unused book end for my book case. Lines don’t close off shapes and there are dozens of mistakes but there is some very deliberate observation in each line put down. If you add some color, it all pulls together.

Studio in May

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For my Elite Animation Academy virtual Urban Sketching class, I usually ask the students to sketch the room they are in. It is a good lesson in one point perspective and adding objects inside a space. I have been teaching seven days a week all summer, so I have done a few of these studio studies. The first thing I teach is to find a vanishing point and a horizon. Sine we are not outside the horizon isn’t obvious. a clue can be found in the lamp shade against the far wall. The bottom of the shade arcs down meaning it is below the horizon, and the top of the lamp shade arcs up meaning it is above the horizon. The horizon might be the top of the roll top desk, or just below. The vanishing point is above that small stack of books just to the right of THOR.

Since my students usually work much slower than I do, I tend to have time to add paint and push the piece a bit further than just the line drawing. This particular piece started with me blocking in all the foreground elements in a warm yellowish tone. The studio lights were on and the far room lights were not, so they got very different color treatments. The outdoors were painted pure white to start and light versions of outdoors colors were added over the white to keep the outdoors bright.

Like most of my sketches done on location, I had to finish in about 2 hours. When class was over, I closed up the tablet and had to consider it done.

Mackay Elementary School

Posted on by Thor

I have been teaching virtual drawing classes seven days a week all summer. Each time I teach foundation drawing I like to do a demo in two point perspective by drawing a building. I always encourage the students to draw their own home or a place they go to often. To keep the assignment interesting for myself I always draw a new building from my past using google maps as a reference.

After 1972, I moved to Tenafly, New Jersey and transferred to Mackay Middle School. I remember that in one class I was encouraged to make use of my drawing skills to make political cartoons. I remember drawing Nixon and Kissinger in class. It might seem a bit odd for a 10 to 13 year old to have an interest in producing political cartoons, but I enjoyed interpreting the news of the day. My dad had a subscription to the New York Times and he taught me how to scan the headlines to find the articles I wanted to read. This is a habit that persists to this day.

It is funny that it took many years before I came back around to the interest that I had back in middle school. Though my COVID series has slowed down due to the summer work load, I continue to create illustrations that some might consider political cartoons. I consider them my explorations of the theater of the absurd.

This school and the high school were close enough to the Knickerbocker home so that I walked there and back. I never took a bus to school.

Knickerbocker

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After my mother died when I was ten years old, my father quickly re-married and we moved to 363 Knickerbocker Road Tenafly, New Jersey. It was a Brady Bunch type of situation with two families quickly merging. Sons and daughters in both families were of the marrying age so not every sibling moved into the new house.

One of my older brothers stayed in the basement of our former home in Dumont, New Jersey. That home was rented out and the renters completely demolished the place from what I heard. One of my older step sisters was having a shouting match with her mom the first week we moved in. Shortly after she moved to California. All told, there were ten brother and sisters including myself. I don’t think all ten ever lived in the home together. If I remember right, an older step sister lived inn the attic while my step brother, who was just about my age, and I shared a bunk bed. My younger sister had her own bedroom.

There was another bedroom at the top of the stairs and an older sibling must have been there. I took that bedroom while I was going to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. After commuting to college each day by bus, and working at a mail sorting facility to pay for it, I had a bit of a meltdown and had to leave home. I bought a tent, panniers, a sleeping bag and a bike and started camping in the back yard to test out the tent.

In the middle of winter, I left to bike across the country. My older brother had gotten a job out in Seattle and that became my final destination. This was my way to leave the nest and take flight. It wasn’t an easy flight, but now every choice was my own. If I could make it across the country I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

SS “Lost” Texts

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The US Secret Service (SS) erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after they were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency’s response to the US Capitol riot, according to a letter given to the House select committee investigating the insurrection and first obtained by CNN.

The National Archives and Records Administration is investigating the “alleged unauthorized deletion” of a large cache of text messages sent by Secret Service officials in the days surrounding the attack. There are only two explanations for the deletions, one is stupidity and the other is malicious intent to hide evidence.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general, who is charged with overseeing the Secret Service, has criticized the agency’s handling of the matter and said some of the messages were deleted after he requested them in February 2021.

The SS ushered then-Vice President Mike Pence to a secure loading dock beneath Capitol grounds while the Jan. 6 attack was underway. Pence aides have described efforts by his detail to get Pence to leave the Capitol in his motorcade, which Pence refused to do, contending that he wanted to remain in the Capitol until the counting of electoral votes was complete. The vice president’s motorcade retreating from the insurrection would have been seen world wide as a symbol of defeat. Was the SS complicit in wanting to achieve that defeat?

The Homeland Security Department’s watchdog has opened an investigation into the loss of Secret Service text messages. The January 6 committee is seeking missing text messages from 24 Secret Service employees related to Jan. 5 and the day of the Capitol attack. The committee has subpoenaed the texts for clues to what happened that day, including reports of then-President Donald Trump being blocked by agents from accompanying his supporters to the Capitol.

Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called the allegations “concerning” in a statement August 11, 2022. “We need to get to the bottom of whether the Secret Service destroyed federal records or the Department of Homeland Security obstructed oversight. The DHS Inspector General needs these records to do its independent oversight and the public deserves to have a full picture of what occurred on January 6th,” the Michigan Democrat said.