I fist spoke to Jeff at the War of the Worlds wrap party. He told me all about the state of the art equipment that is used at the Fist Baptist Church of Orlando. He explained that he would be setting up the lighting for a big concert on Sunday night so I asked him if he would mind if I sketched his lighting crew at work and he was all for it.
The sheer size of the interior of the First Baptist Church is almost impossible to convey in a single sketch. I decided to move in for a closer view rather than sketch the half dozen workers like ants on the stage. Here Jeff, in the backwards baseball cap, and Derrick Mckenzie, a former Disney Co-worker, work on getting some fabric columns attached to the lighting boom. Jeff showed me the lighting design sketch he had done and explained that lights would shine into the columns from above and below creating an ethereal effect.
The stage lights hanging from the boom are state of the art LED lights. LED’s use much less energy than traditional stage lights and they can be made to project any color. Jeff showed me some of the LED’s in action and let me tell you those tiny bulbs are bright.
Dandelion Communitea Cafe
I went to the Mills 50 district to sketch Dandelion Cafe. It was a really hot muggy afternoon. I am starting to realize that sketching locations outside int the Florida heat is less than enjoyable. About halfway into this sketch looming clouds started to drizzle. The drizzle lasted for some time so I sat there closed my sketch book, raided my open hand to the sky, and waited for the rain to stop. Well, that didn’t work because the drizzle turned into a torrential downpour within minutes. I ran for my truck and sat inside wondering how I should finish the sketch. Luckily, Sam Flax, an art supply store was nearby so I decided to drive by and pick up a few new pens and tubes of watercolor paint. By the time I got back to Dandelion the rain had slowed to a drizzle again.
I set up shop a second time and started quickly throwing down washed.
A woman walked up to me and introduced herself she was Kristen Erickson and when I mentioned my blog,, she lit up and said “I know you!” She is the Mills 50 Main Street Program Director and she invited me to a mills 50 event going on in two weeks. Every time I do a sketch these days I seem to meet someone who knows of a place I have to sketch next. My blog is slowly becoming more of a community effort.When the sketch was done I went inside and asked for a nice iced tea. I ordered a Jasmine iced tea to go and I drank it on the way to a sketch class in Winter Park.
Brian Feldman eats everything on the Loving Hut menu
At the Fringe Festival, Brian Feldman offered himself up as an award to the Loving Hut which had won an award as the favorite Fringe food vendor. Brian staged a performance piece in which he would attempt to eat everything off the Loving Huts all vegan menu. Brian’s original plan was to eat full servings off the menus 44 or so listed dishes. He gave himself 10 hours to accomplished this Herculean feat.
When I arrived I saw this figure slumped over on the far side of the restaurant. From a distance he looked like one of the employees and I thought to myself this doesn’t leave a very good impression for the employees to be asleep in the restaurant. On closer inspection I realized it was Brian who was slumped over. He had collapsed after eating 14 menu items. Since I was meeting Terry for a movie afterward, I knew that I only had an hour to catch the proceedings, so I got right to work. As it turned out Jessica Earley was in the restaurant as well and she was being interviewed by a video crew. She later sat down across from me and introduced me to her friends. More of her friends arrived as I sketched. The staff of the Loving Hut became very curious about my sketch and at one point I lost precious sketching time as people flipped through my sketchbook pages.
A facebook message from Jessica the next day confirmed a suspicion I have always had about events I sketch. I often get the feeling that the second I leave, suddenly the party explodes with activity and people let loose with joyous abandon.
Jessica said “Soon after you left Loving Hut, that place got down right ridiculous…It was like slap happy city. The staff just started getting super kooky and bringing Brian out tiny mini little versions of the meals and every single time anyone walked into the entrance of the place the entire restaurant clapped and cheered and welcomed them.
All tables were talking to one another.. complete strangers hanging over chairs to laugh and make absurd conversation. There were two little kids there who were just coming out with the most funny comments ever about Brian’s eating performance.
Then the staff started to get COZY.. They were coming over and putting their arms around every one’s shoulders and saying things about being happy..
and I ended up getting a massage from one of the ladies!
It was so so silly and funny. Wow.”
Since Brian did not manage to eat all the items on the menu Saturday, he returned Sunday for a second chance to complete the task.
United Methodist Church Demolition
The First United Methodist Church located at 142 East Jackson Street was demolished in preparation to build the New Performing arts center. When I did this sketch the last wall was slowly being bought down. Many other buildings are slated to be demolished in this neighborhood across from the city hall. With the economy taking a nose dive it will be many years before the city can afford to build this Performing arts center. I am left wondering how long this lot will remain empty. I heard that the members of the church raised the money to built this structure by having bake sales and other fundraisers. I am sure it came down much faster that it went up. It is always easier to destroy than to create.
A fellow in a wheel chair stopped and asked me what I was sketching, I offered the brief story I just outlined and he said “Well maybe they should have asked for more money in the collection basket.”
The Studio of Brigen Gresh
Brigen is working on a series of abstract paintings called the aftermath. This series explores and deals with the stages of grieving. Each piece begins with a set understanding and she then searches for new ways to convey sensations. Although the work is not illustrative, she does extensive research before she starts painting. For instance she has a whole series of photos she shot of people who are or have been grieving.
Her first series of 12 paintings was more personal and dealt with her relationship with her mom. Each painting offers her new ways to learn about herself. She conveys sensations using line and form. She keeps the inner meaning subtle enough so it creeps on a viewer and then moves them. Her work is light, subtle and delicate with multiple layers of glazes plaster and meaning. She presses door hinges into the plaster as a way abstractly reconnect to the feelings she had when all the doors were removed in her home to allow her sick mother to move from room to room in her wheel chair.
Recent research sent her to a cemetery in Fossil Springs Florida. There she found full body sized grave stones all painted with silver leaf. The stones were lying on the ground side by side with no dates or names indicated. A whole family was lined up together. The heads of the stones were curved and the sight was beautiful and unnerving.
Brigen hopes to fill in the gaps in the development of characters that her work represents. The work is personal yest she still has to edit and remove things that might make the work to personal. Her studio is located in her garage. In this sketch you can see the garage door which her panels are leaning up against. She hasn’t insulated the space or set it up with air conditioning so in the summer months the heat becomes brutal. I was sweating up a storm by the time I finished this sketch.
Box springs and a strange plaster figure were hanging from the rafters. Tiny halogen lights illuminated her panels. From here I was heading down to the Shakespeare Theater to see the final showing of the War of the Worlds so I bought my suit and tie to change into. I changed in Brigen’s bathroom and headed out to the show.
Princess for a Day
On Saturday there was an open casting call auditioning for Character Look A -Likes for Princess Tiana from the new Disney Feature animated film The Princess and the Frog. As I drove up to the Casting Building at 9 AM I found a line of young ladies waiting at the front entrance. I imagined this would be a mob scene but there were only a dozen or so girls waiting. At 9 the doors were opened and everyone filed in. As I sketched a few more young ladies arrived. I was impressed when a gorgeous silver Lexis drove up in front of the building and a leggy slender young lady exited the passenger side and strutted into the building. She had a slender neck, impossibly thin waste and was a dead ringer for Princess Tiana though perhaps a bit to old for the part.
There is another Casting call Saturday evening and another 2 calls on Monday for Prince Naveen and Dr. Fadilier. I have high hopes for The Princess and the Frog. It is the first traditionally animated feature from Disney in over 5 years. I have seen the trailers and I got a close look at one scene. I must say the film looks exciting. So my fingers are crossed and I remain hopeful that the American public can see the value in traditional hand drawn animation.
Shut Up And Write!
Mad About Words organized this writing event called “Shut up and Write”. Mary Ann deStefano who runs Mad About Words usually hosts events where writers gather and talk about the process of writing. In some ways all this academic talk is just another form of procrastination. So Mary Ann organized this free event where writes gather and quietly write together. Besides this front room of Dandelion Communitea Cafe there were two other rooms in the back filled with writers at work. As I walked up to the cafe several writers even sat outside at the picnic tables and were tapping away on their laptops. Mary Ann said 22 people signed her sign in sheet but I am certain that many more authors came and went during the 3 hours of this writing event.
Since the room was so packed, I decided to lean against a wall in the doorway between rooms. I had to step aside each time a waitress would go by but it was worth it since this location offered me a great view of the entire front room. The interior of Dandelion is brightly colored and festive. The fellow in the foreground knew of my flickr page and I suspect he is also a blogger. A sign on the wall pointed out that the maximum occupancy is 49 people and this event made me think that maximum might be met.
Some authors left while others drifted in. A few were just here for dinner. A girl in the far corner leaned back in her chair after writing for an hour and exclaimed to her boyfriend “I have officially been productive today.” The two of then then chatted for a while before getting back to work. Patricia an author that teaches a write your life workshop that I sketched last week, came in and asked me if I wanted a tea. I had a butter cup iced tea that has an interesting creamy taste. I really liked it. To say this event was a success would be an understatement. The arts are very much alive in Orlando.
SAK Comedy Club
The SAK Comedy Lab held a panel discussion among eight members of the improv comedy group. For the first half of the panel, Richard Paul acted as the MC and asked questions of the troupe. When asked where did each of you come from, everyone answered at once.
When asked what their greatest horror story was on the stage, Mark related a story in which he had been given a bottle of Champagne before a performance. He had never had Champagne before but he decided to have a few drinks right before going on stage. He stumbled onto the stage and “acted” drunk holding onto the bottle. Before long he realized that he was drunk and his act was quickly sliding down hill. Unfortunately he wasn’t a funny drunk. This was his most embarrassing moment of his career.
Robyn who is the only female member of the cast related that she grew up in a family with all brothers and herself.She said that growing up in a family of all brother prepared her for the stage. She then gestured to all the med seated beside her. She then related that she would like to see more women get into comedy. She also want to see women break out of established roll, for instance the ditsy blond. She also said women can aspire to any position and any roll is possible. At this point David Russell shouted out “Except President!” This got a big laugh from the audience.
David Russell related a story in which he decided to go on stage with pants o n his arms and his legs stuffed through shirt sleeves. He wanted to enter on stage walking on his hands but dressed as if he was right side up. He forgot that the shirt had a large opening for his head and became concerned when he felt a breeze between his legs. Mike Carr chimed in “That is why they call it the SAK Theater.”
David summed up the ingredients for great comedy with three simple ingredients: Truth, Excellence, and joy. This was my first time visiting the SAK and I definitely want to experience more.
Ballet Volunteer Meet and Greet
I went to the Doctor Phillips Performing Arts Center at 1111 North Orange Avenue to a Ballet volunteer meet and greet. I arrived a little early and was asked to wait in a lounge area. I peaked back into the dressing rooms and the rehearsal halls and tried to imagine the place bustling with activity. Areas of the concrete floor had pools of water and stepping stones to get across the small lakes. The building used to be a pumping station and the ground floor is below the high water table of the lake across the street so anytime there is a heavy rain the place floods.
Jeff Garcia seen seated on the stool in my sketch, explained to the 30 or so people assembled that the ballet has 200 or so volunteers on its roster. Beside Jim was Kim who is in charge of development and publications.
The Ballet has a new Executive Director coming in starting September first. It is still to early to announce who that is. Robert Hill is the Ballets new artistic director. He is helping make the Ballet more relavant for the world we live in today. He is focusing on much more modern Ballet with a few of the classics. Jeff explained that the Ballet is not going away, meaning they will not go bankrupt like the Opera which used to have board meeting in the room we were meeting in. The Ballet now uses the whole Dr. Phillips building. They plan to survive in these difficult times by cutting costs wherever possible and relying on volunteer help whenever possible. If the Ballet makes $10 it will only spend $8. They no longer plan to operate along old established ABC operating norms. They will no longer send mail because of the cost. Instead they plan to rely on phone calls and e-mail.
There are many exciting fund raising events coming which will rely on volunteer help. There will be a casino night fundraiser, a Christmas gift exchange with the dancers, help is needed in the Ballet Boutique found in the Dr, Phillips Center. There is a luncheon coming up with 2 dancers as guest speakers. On February 19th of next years there will be a Latin night at the convention Center and on November 12th there will be the grand opening of the Waldorf Astoria with a Ballet Performance.
From what Jeff said, it sounds like the Ballet is as vibrant and active as ever and it is making changes that will keep it vibrant in today’s economy.
War of the Worlds – Its a Wrap
At the War of the Worlds Wrap party, Chantry Banks complained that in all the copy I had written about the show, I had never mentioned his name. So to satisfy his ego, here is a post lovingly dedicated to Chantry.
Whenever there was a break in rehearsals Chantry would pick up his knitting needles and start knitting. Erika who had to knit on stage while listening to the radio broadcast consulted with Chantry to get her up to speed. During every rehearsal Chantry would say something that would get everyone in the cast laughing. Sometimes after one of these outbreaks an actor would try and say a serious line and would end up cracking up and start laughing for no apparent reason. Chantry is a true professional however and often volunteered to read the Mercury Theater broadcast parts when it would help in the Public’s independent rehearsals. If there was any doubt about what would motivate his character, Chantry would never shy away from clarifying the point with the directors.
While doing this sketch I was intrigued by Chantry’s focus, his hands moved with sure deft precision. Did I mention Chantry? Chantry, Chantry. Chantry.
The play had its final performance two days ago. I am going through a bit of withdrawal. It is hard to say goodbye to such an amazing cast. I miss them all. Hopefully I will see some of them again if I sketch at other show rehearsals.