Inspiration Orlando Mural to be unveiled at Pulse.

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Mural artist Michael Pilato came to Orlando shortly after the awful night on June 12th, 2016 at the Pulse Nightclub. He and  Yuriy Karabash have been working non-stop on research and development as well
as producing a piece of art with some of the stories of the 49 victims
the survivors and beyond.

Barbara Poma owner of Pulse, announced that on the one year anniversary, the mural that Michael and Yuriy are working on will be on display at Pulse before it goes to a destination not yet decided. Some hand prints and messages will be added. The panels are starting to pull together nicely as a unified whole.

A number of local artists have contributed to the mural.On Tuesdays, artists are invited to the studio above Anthony’s Pizzeria on colonial Drive and Mills Avenue. I sketched as artists arrived. Angel Jones, an arts activist, and owner of a fashion bazaar talked to Michael and committed to return and add elements to one of the panels. Colin Boyer stopped in to paint on one of the portraits he did for the 49 portrait project I had organized. All the artists who participated in that project were invited to work on Michael’s Inspiration Orlando Mural. There was a $100 stipend for contribution artists.

Love appears across from Pulse.

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Artist Michael Owen used to live in Orlando, going to Dr Phillips high school. He moved to Baltimore to attend art school and has lived there ever since, his family is still in Orlando and he visits often. In Baltimore he executed a series of 20 murals, all with the theme of love. After the tragic shootings at Pulse he wanted to return to Orlando to share this theme. Finding a location was difficult, but Einstein Bagels right across the street from Pulse decided this was a great idea that might help in Orlando’s healing process.

Michael used large rollers to paint. He also executes more refined detail using house paint brushes. “They are like the filberts I use when painting on a smaller scale.” he said. The lift helps him paint the details high on the wall. LOVE is spelled out in silhouette using human hands. I first met Michael at After Orlando, a one night theater collaboration that featured 20 plans that addressed feelings and emotions after the Pulse shooting. Originally, he intended to have 49 orange blossom floating in space. After Orlando inspired him to paint more of the stems and leaves for the blooms. The outpouring of community support is symbolized in this more solid base.

We talked d bit about a common friend, Cole Nesmith, it turns out that Cole is the first person to ever buy a piece of Michael’s art.  People would stop to talk to the artist and he was always happy to tell then his story. One woman walking past the mural had on a deep purple blouse. “you match.’ he said. “I what?” she replied. “You match the mural.” Sure enough her deep purple blouse matched the purple hands on the mural.  “Purple is the color of royalty.”  he informed her. Several I cars honked their approval and some people wanted to shoot photos with their phones. “People just react” he told me as we talked abort what it is like to create art in public. The positive responses he has had from everyone in Orlando has been unprecedented.

 From interviews with Pulse shooting survivors, I know that the Einstein Bagel’s parking lot had been used as a triage site where the injured and dead had been taken to get them any from the gun fire. Survivors used their shirts and socks to plug bullet holes in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Blood had stained the pavement. Now splashes of purple spattered paint dripped from the well to the pavement. Once the scene of horrible carnage, the parking lot is becoming a beacon of hope and love.

The drips are all part of Michael’ spontaneous process. He uses the paint as if is were watercolor being used by a giant. He would sweep the roller in an arch creating elegant sweeping lines to the purple foliage. He asked me how far Sam Flat was and I gave him directions. The Sun was getting close to the horizon, and he needed more supplies. He needs some spray paint to because he wants to add delicate gradations to the flowers. Each blossom is unique having it’s own shape and form.

People in Orlando are still trying to process the horrors of June 12. People grieve in their own ways. Creating art is an artist’s attempt to come to terms with that evening. In that way, Michael a I have much in common. I hope his mural does help in the healing for those who visit the pulse memorial across the street. Perhaps some will cross the street and leave memorial items at the base of the mural. Michael has invested his one money and  gofundme money to bring this message of love to Orlando.

I heard a skid and then the crunching of plastic hitting plastic. there had been a fender bender at the stop light.  The drivers got out and exchanged insurance information. Life still rushed past even as art blooms. You can’t rush a labor of love.

The Trinity Ecology Mosaic Was Created as a Cummunity Project

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Lynn Tomlinson supervised the creation of a huge multi-paneled mural for the Trinity Prep School. Students helped to decide what element should be on each panel. Parents and students helped with the grouting. On this day grout had to be wiped off of the mosaic to show more of the ceramics. People came in shifts to help out. When I got to Trinity Prep, I had to ask around to find the classroom where all the creation was happening.

Some panels were on tables being grouted and these panels in the sketch were leaning against the wall to be cleaned. Volunteers and Lynn wiped away grout to showcase the colorful ceramics. All of the birds and animals in the mosaic are native to Central Florida. Some of the leaf shaped ceramics had the names of contributors enscribed. This was a labor of love with everyone lending a hand.

Unfortunately Lynn and her family have left Central Florida to go to Baltimore, so it is unlikely that we will be seeing any more of her mosaics lightening up the walls around town. I always seem to reporting on amazing talents that are leaving or have left Orlando.

Teaching Through the Arts Book Signing

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Susan Bright hosted a book signing at her home in Winter Park on April 7th. The book, Teaching Through the ARTS: WRITING Volume 1, was written by Susan Rosoff and Mary Palmer. I was one of the first guests to arrive and I sketched the dining nook where the authors were going to sign books. Gradually the place grew crowded, but I kept my attention focused on the authors. I’ve met Mary Palmer often at other arts and charity events around town. She is a huge supporter of incorporating art in education.

I was introduced to several intriguing artists at this signing. One artist, Susan Sorenson, did the colorful wire sculptures that were in front of the Orlando Museum of Art. Her work is exhibited across the country and apparently the pieces are quite heavy. Another artist, Que Throm, has a second home out in San Miguel Mexico with an art studio that she shares with her husband, Cicero Greathouse, who is also a renowned abstract painter. I was pleased that she knew about and respected the work that I do. It seems that my sketehes were used as inspiration for a drawing workshop that Que attended. Such a small world.

I quickly thumbed through the book, Teaching Through the Arts, and was pleased to see that Vincent Van Gogh‘s paintings were used to illustrate principles talked about. A letter written by Vincent to his brother Theo discussed what Vincent was trying to express in his work. Theo helped support his brother’s addiction to art by sending small sums of money that often went towards paint rather than food.

The dining nook windows offered a scenic view of a lake and sunlight filled the room that buzzed with excited conversations. I had two Cokes that kept me buzzing as I sketched.

The Solution

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The Solution was an artist collective exhibition held at the Orange Studio ( 1121 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Fl)
on April 4th.
The show represented 6 Different perspectives, 6 different backgrounds, and 6 unmistakable voices in one venue were brought together to show that our differences unite us. These ambitious artists were given no restrictions and total creative control of the 4000 square foot venue. They intended to avoid the feeling of small stale claustrophobic galleries that display limited art styles. The artist invited the public to ignite their senses and experience art in a large open environment coupled with local musical acts, modern dance and local fashion designers. The goal was to showcase the overwhelming creative talent in Orlando and bring together all these different crowds. The exhibition was free and open to the public but only for one night.

 When I arrived about an hour early, the exhibition was still being hung. One exhausted artist was asleep on a couch. Several of the paintings by Genevieve DeMarco on the far wall refused to be hung. A ladder was used to hang one of the expressive paintings high on the wall and when the ladder was put away the painting crashed to the floor. The hot paintings of Natasha Brockman were expressionistic in style. One painting had a woman holding a bird cage which was open, allowing the birds to fly off towards a blazing sunset. Natasha sat at the computer likely firing off last minute invites or checking to see who was coming to the show. Other artists included, Victorious Fidelis,
Marcela Rivera,Yve Illz Tbg.

Loose spiraling figurative wire sculptures depicted what I imagined to be dancers. A romantic couple titled “Compromise” by Jamile B. Johnson, held hands while their intestines spiraled free from their severed torsos. They didn’t seem to mind. A DJ set up her station on the white seamless photo corner. As I was finishing my sketch people began to fill in the space and move their hips. Thin fashion models were in the green room being made up. The place was jumping.

Paint Nite

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On March 4th  I went to Avenue Gastrobar (13 S. Orange Ave. Orlando, FL) to see what Paint Nite was all about. For $45 patrons registered to paint a simplified version of Vincent Van Gogh‘s Irises. The event was Sold Out. About half of the bar was filled with small easels with blank canvases, brushes, along with plastic cups of water and plastic plates for palettes. Thirty to forty people showed up to “drink creatively.” Each artist was given a green grade school smock.

Avenue Gastrobar offers a casual refined atmosphere that welcomes beer and cocktail drinkers, along with fussy eaters and foodies alike. Avenue is not quite a bar, and not quite a restaurant, but an innovative & modern pub hub to sip, grub and socialize. I had a sandwich and a Coke while I sketched.

I had contacted artist Megan MacGregor and since I wasn’t using any of the art supplies, she was fine with letting me sit on the sidelines and sketch without the $45 cover. Megan graduated from New College of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. Apart from studying art, she also specialized in animal psychology, focusing on animal training. Her senior year of college she worked as a marine mammal intern at Dolphins Plus in Key Largo, Fl. Her senior thesis, “Fragmented Perspective,” focused on redefining the stereotype of dolphins, came about as a result of her experience working there. After graduation, Megan was accepted into a six month marine mammal internship at The Seas in Epcot, Orlando, Fl, which has continued the inspiration of her paintings. She currently lives in Orlando, and is looking forward to taking her paintings out of the water and into new realms on land.  I like how her work breaks one large image into a series of panels. She works in watercolor which of course I also find appealing. I kind of wish she had coached everyone to paint a dolphin portrait, but that would have required much more drawing skills from participants.

In the workshop, all the artists were first instructed to cover the entire canvas with a coat of yellow acrylic paint. Then large green brush strokes defined the leaves. Every one’s painting was unique. The purple Irises were the last item added to all the paintings. Megan coached everyone from a small stage at the head of the room. She had a head mic which amplified her voice giving the impression of a fitness trainer rallying everyone to exercise their creative muscles. I imagine the amount of wine consumed might have resulted in some liberal abstractions. Participants liked joking with each other as they questioned their creations. Paint Nites are happening all over town with many different paintings to choose from. Though I was skeptical, I must admit that a Paint Nite would certainly be a fun date. Everyone is searching for adventurous distractions and this fits the bill.

Ghosts of Brutality

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On February 11th, artist John Hitchcock gave a talk about his artistic process at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum (1000 Holt Avenue, Winter Park, Fl). A whole room in the Cornell is filled with an installation he did called “Ghosts of Brutality“. Cut out screen prints on paper and felt created a complex mosaic on the walls and floor. Military helicopters dropped bombs while tanks roamed the base boards. Severed heads of bison, deer and donkeys floated in space among the bombs. John isn’t strict about the placement of each print in the installation. Students and staff helped with the installation so they were very much a part of the artistic process.

Before John’s talk, a movie clip played of Indians dancing in their full regalia.  John grew up in Western Oklahoma in a Comanche reservation across from a US Military base. As a child he grew up with artillery training always in the background. His first drawings were to help his grandmother prepare intricate bead work. He did a series of circular prints that showed bison with a target symbol. He was very proud that one of these later sported a bullet hole.

John prints a massive amount of work for his installations, often recruiting students to help in the process. On a trip to Venice, he left a print at every historic place he went. The prints left behind were like bread crumbs of his travels. John’s work addresses war, assimilation and imperialism.

A doctor found a large malignant growth that threatened John’s life. At this time, when faced with death, John began to sketch obsessively every day. He would post each days sketch on his Facebook page. I wholeheartedly identify with his obsession. He also began to incorporate more color in his work.  The threat of death caused him to bloom.

Mark your calendar! Ghosts of Brutality is up through April 13th. Admission to the museum is now free, thanks to the Bressemer trust, so you have no excuse not to go.

Wrapping the Maitland Art Center

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March first was Artist Colony Day at the Maitland Art Center (231 Packwood Ave W, Maitland, FL). Between 2-6pm there were Open Studios and hands on activities, then between 2-6pm The Maitland Art Center was wrapped in blue plastic. I’m sure the idea is inspired by the art of Christo. The entire month of March was filled with experimentation and collaboration referred to as Art 31.

I expected a crowd on day 1 but instead found that the only people on site were the dozen or so volunteers. A food truck was purring behind me as I started to sketch. The wrap began at the South east corner of the building. Two volunteers on the roof lowered a roll of clear blue plastic on a string. The volunteers on the ground secured the plastic with a cinder-block brick and then the roll was pulled up to the roof where it was again secured with a brick.

Courtney Jean Canova rode up in a recumbent bike to say hello. He had biked from his home about 11 miles away. I admired his exercise ethic. My bike has broken spokes and flat tires and has been neglected for years. Perhaps it is time to give that bike some love, attention and use. Cortney parked his bike and then started shooting photos of the volunteers at work. Courtney’s wife Kelly arrived by car so that Courtney didn’t have to bike all the way home. Linda Saracino was at the event for a short time. She lamented the fact that such a cool event was getting so little attention. I did what little I could with a sketch.

As I making final preparations for my retrospective show, Courtney came through in a crunch when I put out a request for an old beat up table to put my art supplies on in the exhibit. He had a battered old drafting table that fit the bill perfectly. I also picked up an old French folding table from Kathy Wilhelm Witkowski but the drafting table was picked for display. Kathy has a studio called “New Leaf Studio” which I’m now curious to sketch. The name implies fresh new foliage after a long winter or perhaps it simply implies the leaf’s in a table.

Southwestern Allure: The Art of the Sante Fe Art Colony

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The Mennello Museum of American Art (900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, Fl.) kicked off it’s 15th anniversary season with the opening celebration of the first exhibit in their series devoted to “The Art of the American West.” Southwestern Allure: The Art of the Santa Fe Art Colony considers the development of Santa Fe as an art colony through the artists who visited there and helped establish the city as an artistic center, tracing the colony’s formative years from approximately 1915 up to 1940.

When artists from eastern locales began to settle in the Santa Fe area, they discovered a rich culture and a wealth of picturesque imagery. Southwestern Allure focuses exclusively on the art and artists of the Santa Fe colony, presenting the best of the artists’ work and showing the distinct artistic climate of this unique locale and the qualities that distinguish it apart from the rest of the state. The city has a majestic landscape and multicultural environment, which proved a matchless blend of inspiration.

The exhibition presents a thorough picture of which artists went to Santa Fe, what they found compelling about the environment, the work they produced, and the prevailing artistic trends, from Realism to Modernism, which they applied to Southwestern subject matter.

Through the works included in the exhibition, a range of styles are presented, encompassing the Santa Fe Old Guard, such as Carlos Vierra, Gerald Cassidy, and Warren Rollins, the Realism of Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, and John Sloan to highlight only a few of the prominent artists.

I was so pleased to see so many of the Ash Can artists I admire on display. Southwestern Allure features almost 50 outstanding artworks carefully selected from leading public and private collections. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue is organized by the Boca Museum of Art in conjunction with independent curator Dr. Valerie Ann Leeds, a specialist in American art of this period.

In the corner of the back gallery, a kiva (bee hive) fireplace was set up. Close to a dozen candles flickered while images of Madonna and Christ gave it the feeling of an alter. Genevieve Bernard pointed out to me that the candles were actually flickering diodes. From where I sat they looked completely real. A Robert Henri portrait of a beautifully chiseled Indian woman looked on with her eternal gaze. Several chiefs with their prominent head dresses flanked the other side. A gallery goer paused to finger his phone and he forgot about the art. Mark your calendar! This show is on exhibit through April 6th. Don’t miss it. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $1 for students.

An Evening with Rebecca Rose ‘Sculpturings’

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On January 30th, Rebecca Rose gave a talk about her creative process at Snap (1013 East Colonial Drive, Orlando FL). Rebecca is a bit of a hoarder. She collects anything small and representational. She has entire drawers full of these tiny trinkets from a Lilliputian world. She used to be a painter, but an elective class in jewelry making changed that. In one assignment for class she re-imagined what a ring should look like. Her teacher was astonished and he asked her where her inspiration came from. She knew she was onto something.

She had to take a long hiatus from making jewelry however, because she didn’t have the necessary equipment.  She spent several years selling paintings until she could afford the needed furnace, molding equipment and other tools of the trade. A documentary was shot that shows every step of her creative process which is part art, science and alchemy. From the first sketch to the finished piece cast in pure silver, she spend endless hours devoted to her craft.

 ‘Sculpturings’ are beautifully created pieces redefined beyond
their traditional sense, each piece with unique form and story. The
pieces blend luxury with urban activism relevant to current social
issues. Rebecca sketches, assembles, carves, invests, kiln fires, and
casts her own work in her home studio. Rebecca’s work was exhibited at
Select Fair in Art Basel Miami, Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, and
the Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco. Last year she was the Halstead
Grant winner. In March, he work will appear in two gallery shows: “In Dreams: A Tribute to the Films of David Lynch”, at the Spoke Art Gallery, in San Francisco, CA,  and “The Season of Spring”, at the Flower Pepper Gallery, Curated by Daniel Rolnik, in Pasadena, CA.

Her rings are both art and jewelry. Each comes in a specially prepared bell jar for display when not being worn. She often leaves a magnifying glass near the display case so people can truly appreciate the intricacy in her designs. She was recently commissioned to create a ring commemorating the Winter Olympics. The prices on the pieces on display in January and February were extremely affordable. Considering their popularity, those prices are sure to go up soon. It was such a pleasure to meet an artist who loves what she does and was willing to share every step of the process. I hope to visit her studio to sketch her in action someday soon.

Mark your Calendar! My work is now hanging on these walls and I hope you come out to the opening on March 21st from 7pm to 10pm at the Cameo Theater (1013 East Colonial Drive Orlando FL).