Search Results for: robots

La Femme Fondue

Posted on by Thor

Christie and Evan Miga needed time off after the mad rush to bring Dog Powered Robot to Fringe last year. They had four months of extensive rehearsals and a whole cast of cardboard robots that were built. They were constantly managing people. After the show they decided to live in Paris for two months. Fisher Miga, the dog behind Dog Powered Robot went with them. Christie said that within four days they had settled into the Parisian lifestyle. Three days a week Evan freelanced for the design firm he was working for in Orlando. Though he was living in Paris, he worked Orlando hours, sharing his work via the Internet. That left the rest of the week open for the couple to explore Paris. They discovered quirky arts outlets that few tourists visit. Christie loved a tiny Museum of Magic that had rooms filled with mechanized tin toys. Right next to the Eiffel tower was a sumptuous garden that only Parisians frequent.

 When Christie Miga returned to Orlando she started a series of paintings inspired by the trip to Paris. Though abstract, the work is autobiographical as she explains with pure color how Paris inspired her. This series explodes with rich vibrant color. The blue is the exact color of the Mediterranean and the bright magenta reminds her of tight bright magenta pants that many women were wearing in Paris. Provence inspired her use of bright yellow and orange. She mixes her own water based paints and she has some idea how the paints will interact when they are poured on the canvas side by side. The word fondue is the feminine of the French verb fondre (‘to melt’). The colors seem to melt an flow together on the canvas. The paintings are abstract yet they feel like violent storm clouds on a distant planet or the delicate vibrant colors of a butterfly wing. The black dripping motif is used often and it reminded me of a piano keyboard as I tried to sketch it. Ironically, earlier that day, I had been writing about color for a Book on Urban Sketching. Christie’s bold use of fluid primary colors offered amazing insights about how colors interact. She worked to modern pop French music.

Many of the pieces have bold urban graphic elements that look like graffiti stencils. For instance one canvas has a bold image of the Eiffel Tower that then melts into vibrant dripping colors. Subtle blue lettering in French says, “This is not the Eiffel tower.” A bright splotch of moon then drips as well. Once Christie starts one of these liquid abstracts, she has to finish it while the paint remains wet. Amazingly she finished her canvas in the same amount of time it took me to do the sketch.

La Femme Fondue is being shown at the Timucua White House, (2000 South Summerlin Avenue, Orlando FL), on March 22nd starting at 7:30PM. This reception is one night only. The artwork and prints will be for sale.The White House is a fantastic venue to see Christie’s work since the spotlight literally make her canvases glow.

Cardboard Art Festival

Posted on by Thor

Saturday January 26th was the second day of the Cardboard Art Festival at the Orange Studio (1121 N Mills Ave, Orlando). This was a day for the kids to experience the exhibit and make their own cardboard creations. The carpeted area that had been the dance floor the night before  now had folding tables cluttered with the detritus of creativity. Parents were helping their kids cut the cardboard and robots began to take form.

I decided to sit back under some cardboard carnivores and sketch  Nathan Selikoff‘s tall cardboard man marionette. Kids, young and old alike, couldn’t resist pulling the strings. Having control of a giant’s movements can be addictive. Event sponsor, Mark Baratelli walked up to me and announced,  with a Marlene Dietrich flourish, “I do it all for the kids.” He then leaned against the wall and checked his cell phone for messages about the next Food Truck Bazaar happening that night. Later, he was ready to leave holding a thick stack of Food Truck Bazaar signs. He was off to his next event.

Evan and Chritie Miga helps kids into the new Dog Powered Robot dune buggy for photo ops. An old record player nestled inside a cardboard TV was playing Polkas and The Tiki Room music. The music added a surreal, playful atmosphere to the proceedings. Like in a Disney theme park, individual robots from Dog Powered Robot came out from back stage to pose for photos with the kids. Someone shouted out for a group photo and all the kids stood in front of me with their creations.

As Terry and I left, I saw Mark get back out of his car. I thought he had left some time ago. I shouted out, “You didn’t get very far!” He shouted back, “That’s the story of my life! You didn’t need to point it out.”

Cardboard Art Festival

Posted on by Thor

Mark Baratelli of TheDailyCity.com came up with the idea of having a Cardboard Art Festival. The opening night was Friday January 25th at the Orange Studio (1121 N Mills Ave, Orlando). I had to work till 9PM that evening, so I wasn’t even planning to go. Terry sent me a text photo of the new Dog Powered Robot techno beach buggy. She let me know that the event was open past midnight so there would be time to get there and do a sketch.  There was a line of people out the door to get in. I could see strips of Doug Rhodehamel corrugated cardboard bacon hanging from the ceiling. All of the Dog Powered Robots stood, deactivated in a corner.

The opening reception featured music and dancing with DJ Nigel and tons of cardboard sculptures filling up the space created by artists: Jessica Earley, Brendan O’Connor, Evan and Christie Miga, Adriaan Mol, Doug Rhodehamel, Nathan Selikoff. Cardboard dinosaur helmets lined the back wall created by Banjo Bob. They were just the right height where you could stand up and have your photo taken with the helmet on yet still mounted on the wall. Blue Moon beer was being served under the bacon strips and the carpeted dance floor was always full of dancers. After making the rounds with Terry, I settled in to sketch. Blue submarines and ferocious deep sea fish hovered over the dance floor. A rocket garden thrust vertically upward above a collection of mini robots. A tubular instrument resembling a pipe organ could be played by swatting the tube openings with cardboard fly swatters. A ten foot tall tube marionette stood with a tetrahedron head. People could pull chords to make him dance. I got plenty of abuse and by the end of the evening he was lying on the floor, a spent mess.

The opening night was an undeniable blow out success. The place was surreal, the music loud and the dancing furious and care free. It’s not too late to experience the madness in person.


Sunday January 27

  • 10am-11:30am for kids 7 and under
  • 12pm-1:00pm for kids 8 and above
  • Kids Matinee Sponsored and hosted by Kids Fringe and Mennello Museum of American Art $1
    admission. Kids only! Attendees will get to (1) use cardboard to build
    and decorate their very own mask, hat, or wings, (2) meet the famed Dog
    Powered Robot and (3) get a chance to tour the entire exhibit.
  • 7:30pm – 12am
  • Dog Powered Robot + Andy Matchett and the Minks, $5 admission (pay at the door, cash only), wine and beer by donation. Dog Powered Robot is a fantastic group of cardboard robots defending the world against evil via a robot powered by a Pomeranian. Andy Matchett and the Minks is a very popular and fun musical group.

House of Blues

Posted on by Thor

I heard that Andy Matchett & the Minx were performing at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. Traffic on the Disney roads was really backed up. I’ve never seen so many cars on the road, and I worked down there for ten years.

I also heard there would be plenty of robots from Dog Powered Robot. Last year, Dog Powered Robot made a surprise visit with the band at House of Blues. Fisher, the Pomeranian who powers the robot, was unfazed by all the commotion. The stage manager at House of Blues had a fit. There is a “no pet” policy at House of Blues. There wasn’t much she could do since the crowd loved them. You couldn’t exactly have a Dog Powered Robot without the dog.

Even after breaking all the rules, the robots were back, but this time the friendly Blue Pomeranian powered robot wasn’t in the mix. The curtain opened and Andy was bound center stage, being held captive apparently by a robot with a grudge. I didn’t follow events closely, but I believe Lollybot must have saved him. I’m sure her robotic claw could have cut through the ropes. Terry was on her feet shouting, “I love you Lollybot!” She had on her Lollybot t-shirt and was as rabid as any Beatles fan. Andy Matchett & the Minx began playing and confetti canons blasted it’s colors over the crowd. Balloons and beach balls were then surfed over the crowd. People went wild. Balloons were popping everywhere and strobe lights made me dizzy as I worked on the sketch. Then, just about every robot at some point danced on stage. Ninja Noids were up on the balcony level and they wafted large hot dog shaped balloons over the crowd. A large parachute was unrolled over the crowd and Andy jumped down off the stage to join the audience as the dance under the undulating canopy. Oh yea, there was also plenty of hard driving fun rock & roll! An Andy Matchett & the Minx concert is a guaranteed good time.

Dog Powered Robot Rehearsal

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Dog Powered Robot is gearing up for action at the Orlando Fringe Festival in May. Rehearsals are happening twice a week at the Jewish Community Center. When I arrived, the cast was standing in the center of the room in a circle. There were lots of new faces indicating that the show would be bigger than ever. An actor got in the center of the circle and started acting like an orangutang. Once people started to laugh, he walked back out and stood in the circle. The person who laughed first had to stand in the middle. He acted like a giraffe, regal and slow. He looked over at an actress and started to curl his long tongue the way giraffes do. She couldn’t help but laugh. So she was next. I laughed non-stop since I was safely outside the circle.

 This evening was to be devoted to choreographing several dance and fight scenes. Darci Ricciardi was in charge of the choreography. Katie Green, the DPR director asked all the froggers to rehearse their part right after the dance scene. The scene was run multiple times without the costumes. I drew all the actors in pencil and was about to ink them in, when everyone was told to “suit up”.  Lollibot, played by Serafina, wandered bewildered. She came upon this gang of deviant froggers lead by a  frog with a large fedora and a cigar. Grace “Scully” Nolan was high above everyone else on her stilts. The head frogger entered the scene between her stilts. Part of his his costume got caught on her stilt. They had to stop the scene and untangle him. “Good to know!” Katie shouted, “That’s why we rehearse.” “I was so excited when I saw his head made it between my legs!” Scully shouted back. Everyone started laughing till they were red faced.

Christie Miga sat beside the director working non stop on a moving set piece. Evan Miga entered the scene as Dog Powered Robot when needed but he didn’t suit up. New ideas playfully sparked up throughout the rehearsal. Fisher, the dog behind Dog Powered Robot, kept track of everyone. Some robots are still being constructed and refined at the Dog Powered Robot Labs.

Dust

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The Dog Powered Robot Fundraiser 2.0 was held at Stardust Video & Coffee (1842 E Winter Park Rd at Corrire Drive). I had donated 5 DPR prints for the fundraiser and two of the prints were sold! Whoo hooo! I was at the Dust to pick up the remaining three prints. The day of the fundraiser, there was a flurry of activity with the DPR army rushing about getting the stages ready. A projector was being hung from the rafters. Andy Matchett & the Minx were slated to play at the fundraiser, so there would be a wild time with confetti, fans and a huge parachute. Today the place was quiet in comparison.

The people seated in front of me were discussing some design work. She listened to his premise and then pulled up graphic designs that were similar in intention. The meeting went on for the whole duration of the sketch so they had a lot of ground to cover. The tables are made from old doors with a thick coating of polyurethane. Old windows were suspended in the plate glass windows. Single shoots of Mothers in Law Tongues thrust up out of old coffee cans on each table. Strings of Christmas lights and Oriental lanterns decorated the ceilings. Once in NYC, set designer James Yeomans asked me to go to Chinatown to pick up such paper lanterns for the play, “A Street Car Named Desire.” It seems a lantern is ripped down every evening in that play. So I brought several dozen large lanterns. It turns out they were too large so I was stuck as a lantern salesman for the next year to make my money back.

It had been several weeks since the fundraiser. Christie and Evan Miga were seated at several tables surrounded by DRR art. This fundraiser had been a huge success, giving them the much needed cash as they continue building more cardboard robots. One of the Dust staff was sweeping the floor and she was surprised that she was still sweeping up confetti. “Where does it keep coming from?” she asked a costumer. “It must be coming from underneath the stage.” he suggested. “It was cute at first” she confessed, “but this stuff just keeps multiplying.”

Dog Powered Robot Build

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Dog Powered Robot will be returning to the Orlando Fringe Festival in 2012 with an all new adventure. After a very successful fundraiser at Stardust Video & Coffee, the crew is now busy in the robot lab building all new robots for the new show. A mockumentary was made of the DPR cast and crew and the Florida Film Festival expressed interest in screening it. The top secret DPR Robotics Lab is full of gizmos and gadgets galore.

Evan Miga showed me a schematic for the robot they were working on. It was a female robot that is the antithesis of the sweet and quaint Lollybot. This purple bot has a very angular attitude. Evan was constructing her head which featured some deep purple eyes. Christie Migawas busy deconstructing an old robot and salvaging any usable components. The laser cannon was still workable. Jeb Britt was working out the delicate geometry of the robots body and skirt. Occasionally Christie would try on the skirt and body parts to see how they fit. Cardboard boxes were stacked halfway to the ceiling in the center of the lab.

Charles Smith whipped together some robotic headphones in no time flat. Some very serious weaponry hung from the ceiling. The large laser cannon has some high tech weaponry which will shock any Fringe goer. A new red white and blue astronaut bot was already constructed. After the work session, Evan demonstrated the bot. It’s arms move in a wacky rubbery way that is hilarious. Glowing plates and neon edging make this bot a sleek and sexy addition to the cast. Fisher, the dog behind Dog Powered Robot, entered the lab several times to supervise.

Hench Bots

Posted on by Thor

Some thought it couldn’t be done. Dog Powered Robot was an instant flash fire hit at last year’s Fringe. Back then the show was just three minutes long. Every night it won an award that said it would make a great full length Fringe show. Tons of dedicated hard work went into making the show a runaway hit at this year’s Fringe. Now there is a small army of new robots all built from cardboard yet seeming high tech on a shoe string budget. It’s the simplicity that continues to give DPR it’s charm. In this sketch, “No Bones” lies on his flaccid bean bag chair. His delicate inflated ego needs constant re-enforcement from his two “Hench Bots” who were programed to offer constant praise and adulation. They weren’t designed with legs however so they move on simple coaster wheels using their robotic arms for propulsion.

In one magical sequence in the play, a simple overhead projector shows transparencies that animate YouTube pop cultural viral clips. I was laughing uncontrollably when “Keyboard Cat” started tickling the ivories. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breath. You could see the operator’s fingers as he moved the transparencies to animate the cat’s paws and pink head. But this is just one example. I laughed just as hard throughout the rehearsal. These two bickering “Hench Bots” played off each other like Laurel and Hardy but with metallic voices and endless robotic charm.

When Dog Powered Robot finally appears, the epic robotic battle still has an adorable humor to it because Fisher, the dog nestled inside the chest of Dog Powered Robot, steals the show. The show is cleverly written and expertly directed yet there is a playful quality that come’s out in rehearsals and is sure to hit the stage. I can imagine flash mobs across the country breaking out and doing the Dog Powered Robot Ddddance!

5/26 THU 7:40PM
5/27 FRI 6:40PM
5/29 SUN 1:25PM

Dog Powered Dreams

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This was the first full run through of Dog Powered Robot that I got to see at a rehearsal. The laughs started right from the moment Lollybot came out to introduce the show. Lolly offered a lollypop to John Bateman’s wife who had also come to see the rehearsal. When she sashayed up to me and offered a lollypop I was stunned. In her metallic voice she said, “You can have my sweets anytime.” I swore I saw her bright pink pupils dilate and then she winked at me. I swooned. I love Lolly!

No Bones played by John Bateman is integral to the epic drama that followed. While the large cast of robots all move stiffly, John flails his limbs around like wet noodles. In the opening scene when I sketched him, his controlling manipulative ways became obvious as he played a futuristic holographic version of a video game. He isn’t a villain, he is just someone who always has to win at any cost. I have had friends with a similar world view.

In a strange dream sequence, Allissa Foley came out as a slice of watermelon. She was a sinister slice who planted the seeds to a truly diabolical plot. Of course she was simply a recreation of No Bones’ warped imagination and she sounded strangely like his mother with whom he had a contentious relationship. Much like the relationship between Norman Bates and his mother in Psycho.

5/24 TUE 5:15PM

5/26 THU 7:40PM

5/27 FRI 6:40PM

5/29 SUN 1:25PM

Dog Powered Rehearsal

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When I arrived at the Chandler Art Market the entire Dog Powered Robot cast was gathered around a table eating pizza talking and laughing. Fisher, the dog behind the robot was dancing on his hind legs for scraps. He doesn’t seem fazed by his sudden rise to fame. He still appreciates the little things in life like pizza crust. Christie Miga got things started by reading off what robot and set parts people would be responsible to get off the truck during load in. They would only have 20 minutes to get everything off the truck and get it set up in the theater.

For the first part of the rehearsal Katie Green, the stage manager, asked everyone to move all the robots, set pieces, and technological wonders from the back room to the main room. She set the stop watch on her iPhone and shouted go. The cast rushed through the narrow doorway and they scrambled like frantic worker bees to get everything in place. Once everything was in place, they then had to “suit up.” Alyssa Folley who plays Lollybot squeezed into a shiny black nylon or spandex body suit with a hood. Christie was helping her slip on the glove. Center stage Doug LoCicero quickly maneuvered into his Henchbot. Fisher scrambled around until Christie picked him up. They were ready for showtime with time to spare. Of course at the Repertory Theater they would have to move everything a bit further depending on how close they could park the truck. Dog Powered Robot was ready to roll!

At the Green venue at the Rep Theater. Tickets.

5/22 SUN 9:20PM

5/24 TUE 5:15PM

5/26 THU 7:40PM

5/27 FRI 6:40PM

5/29 SUN 1:25PM