The Timucua Arts white house.

Posted on by Thor

Nora Lee Garcia, performed on flute
and Rene Izquierdo, performed on guitar at the Timucua Arts white house (2000 S Summerlin Ave, Orlando, Florida 32806) on Sunday January 8th, 2017.  The featured visual artist live painting was Elizabeth St. Hilaire.

The program
included: 

Suite Buenos Aires by Maximo Diego Pujol (1957- )

I- Pompeya
II-Palermo
III-San Telmo
IV-Micro Centro

Musiques Populaires Brésiliennes by Celso Machado (1953- )

Sambosa
Algodao Doce
Pe De Moleque
Piazza Vittorio

Ave Maria by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

Hasta Alicia Baila by Eduardo Martin (1956- )

and History of Tango by Astor Piazzolla

It was fun watching Elizabeth paint to the music in her bright pink socks and shoes. Her work was spot lit around the room. The canvas was prepped with a faint collage of hand written letters, and she painted a 1920’s era bathing beauty. After the concert people crowded around the entry table to sip wine and the potluck snacks. The White House is one place in Orlando that truly fosters a sense of artist: community. The number of concerts keeps growing now that Benoit Glazer has retired from his musical director position at Cirque du Soleil. There is now member ship options that can be bought. Members get to enter the venue first and there are other perks around town.

Form Structure and Interactions at the White House.

Posted on by Thor

The Timucua White House (2001 Hamilton Ln, Orlando, FL 32806) hosts weekly concerts in their spacious living room that rivals some concert halls. Benoit Glazer built his home around this pitch perfect sound proofed space. This concert featured original compositions for trumpet and electronics. Most of the composers were in the audience. Besides the main performance, an artist usually creates on stage as well. On this evening, a sculptor named Diego Inkusual worked on a life sized bust of a young poised dancer named Megan Crawford. I’m pretty sure I sketched Megan at some dance rehearsal, because I recognized her. I decided to sit down at a back patio table, and my chair tumbled over backwards, thankfully with out me in it. As we all waited to get into the concert hall, Diego kissed Megan’s neck and she smiled at the distraction.

Benoit’s wife Elaine Corriveu, Wendy Wallenberg and others bustled in the kitchen. Guests usually bring a bottle of wine or a side dish, turning the evening into a community potluck. Strange, the program doesn’t list the Trumpet player’s name. That is a strange oversight. Anyway, he was quite good as was the sculptor, also not listed.

Diego had several life sized sculpture on stage, and another in The entry-potluck area. Fabrics flowed from their semi nude bodies. It was impressive work. Diego was quite active as was his model, Megan. He would often ask her to rotate in her seat so he could sculpt her from a different angle. He would often stand and he would gouge deep grooves in the sculpted hair. The facial features had been delicately refined back at his studio. He was feeling the music and it influenced his movements. Megan kept perfect still.

One composer wasn’t in the audience. He was at an inspirational seminar. The concert was being shared with him and another audience with him at the seminar. Most composers got on stage to introduce their original music, he called in to talk to us all. Charles Griffin composed Between Islands this year. He told both audiences, that when he moved to Orlando, his creative urge dried up. He tried to work through it, but he was stuck. He had never experienced this before. The support and contact with other creative people finally reversed the stagnancy. This composition was the first he wrote as he got back on track. He spoke about his mother’s death, loss and the need to remember. It is a theme that has hit home with me many times as I sketch people affected by Pulse. I try to remain in business mode, but often it sinks in. Charles used the sounds of ocean bells clanging quietly on the waves. the somber music hit a chord with me and the pencil stopped dancing on the page, so I could stop to close my eyes and truly listen.

The next White House concert is, Tonight 10/16/16 at 7:30 pm. It is Contemporary Classical, featuring Elizabeth Baker, Toy Piano and electronics, Art is by Gladiola Sotomayor.

The Timucua White House is granted a Conditional Use Permit.

Posted on by Thor

Benoit Glazer and The Timucua Arts Foundation has been providing world class art and music to the Orlando community free of charge for a long while. In 2007 Benoit built a custom home that was built around an acoustically perfect music hall with two levels of balconies overlooking the stage. The living room concert venue is completely soundproof so that neighbors never hear the music. Dozens of performances happen each year, most of them free of charge. Guests bring wine and food to the venue for each concert which cultivates a true sense of a community potluck. The Timucua Arts Foundation, is a benefactor to cutting edge music organizations like the Accidental Music Festival and the Civic Minded 5. The White House has established itself as a culture beacon for the Central Florida Music scene.

The home is in an area zoned for residential use, so the Orlando Municipal Planning Board demanded that Benoit apply for a conditional use permit. That type of permit is typically issued when the city wants to allow an
activity beneficial to the community despite zoning restrictions. Without the permit, one of the
most enlightened cultural lights in Orlando
would be be extinguished. An online petition was established to try and save the White House. Over one hundred people signed it in the first hour. In all 832 people signed the petition.

At 8:30am on April 19th, Benoit and his wife Elaine Corrivev, sat in the City Counsel Chambers to hear the Planning Board’s verdict. The Chambers were packed full of supporters for this home spun cultural institution. Jeremy Seghers sat in the row in front of me and Diana Rodriguez Portillo sat next to me to chat. There were so many friends of the arts in the room. The chair, Jason Searl, said he had to abstain from the vote since his little daughter takes piano lessons at the Benoit’s house. He clearly couldn’t be impartial. With in a matter of minutes, the Conditional Use Permit was granted. There was an audible sigh of relief and then most of the people in the room got up to leave. Exited conversations began and the celebration continued just outside the chamber doors. The concerts will continue with some conditions: Glazer will have to
formalize a parking agreement with the city for use of nearby spaces at
Wadeview Park, limit attendance to 99 guests and guarantee events end by
10:30 p.m. In some small measure, the bureaucrats won, but music and art will continue to shine at the White House. 

This, we believe:

Art and music belong to everyone.

Art and music are the highest manifestation of our humanity.

Art and music should be enjoyed in the most intimate venue: the living room.

Every community is better when art and music are performed and nurtured within it.

Kattya Graham performed in Blue Box #5.

Posted on by Thor

27 Blue Boxes are painted on sidewalks in Downtown Orlando. These boxes
are for panhandlers and buskers. Busking is possible only during day
light hours. Although set up for panhandlers, police often insist street
performers must use the blue boxes. If a police officer receives a complaint or witnesses a street
performer asking for money, that officer can “take the appropriate
action related to that issue, a warning is an option, but so is arrest.” said Sgt. Barb Jones of the Orlando Police Department. Performing outside the boxes can
result in 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. In 2002, former Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood killed a proposal to allow
street performers in downtown Orlando, saying that would be
“inconsistent” with the city’s ordinances that ban panhandling.

Kattya Graham volunteered to perform in Blue Box #5 on the Corner of Amelia Street and Orange Avenue. This corner is near the Court House parking garage. As I arrived on foot, I searched for the now familiar blue dotted lines that delineate a box about 5 by 15 feet. For the first time the were no blue lines. There were red lines and orange lines that surveyors put down as they plan where to dig for electric and plumbing pipes. I checked the City Hall issued Blue Box map and this it was the right spot. The blue lines must have been power spray washed away. There was a small blue plate above the street drainage. It said, “No dumping, all water drains into lakes.”  The spray washed blue paint must now be in Lake Eola.  The blue plate became our Blue Box.

Kattya arrived and unpacked her guitar and set up her music stand. At first she put her collection pan right on the blue plate and then she decided it made more sense to put it out behind her for pedestrians to see. As a joke she stood on her tip toes on top of the blue plate. There weren’t many pedestrians, at most three people walked by in the two hours we were on that street corner. There were however plenty of cars that had to stop at the stoplight as they waited to drive West across Orange Avenue. Kattya got to watch drivers reactions. Many drivers smiled through their closed car windows. Three women rolled down their windows to listen better while men did the opposite, by rolling up their windows. Perhaps they feared she would rush up to them and squeegee clean their windows and demand money. Only one pedestrian glanced over his shoulder at Kattya as he was waiting to cross over Orange Avenue. No one ever dropped an money in her tip pan. She has just recorded a new album of original songs and several covers at the Timucua White House. Benoit Glasier is now polishing the sound mix.

Kattya grew up in Mexico City which is the largest city in the world. She started busked in Mexico City when she was 18 years old. Crime was rampant, but she never had an incident as she performed. Here in Orlando for the past 15 years, she feels safe, but performing on a city street corner didn’t, seem appropriate. She performed beautiful Mexican ballads in Spanish. After one song, she said me, “I’m glad most people don’t understand the lyrics, the last song was about being a drunk.” I laughed. The music was soothing and lyrical, at times being drowned out by honking horns, or the sound of the Sun Rail train roaring by a block away. Her brightly embroidered blouse was the only bright note of color on the otherwise grey street corner. Had she performed on block south, closer to the entrance to the court house, there would have been a constant stream of lawyers and jurors who would pass her on their way to find lunch. There is no blue box one block south however.

Benoit Glazer at Avalon Island

Posted on by Thor

On the third Monday of each month, The Gallery at Avalon Island (39 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando Florida), hosts the In Between Series, a music series before the art goes on the wall for Third Thursday. June was a bit different because the nude photos by Yuri Maiorov  stayed on the walls until a fee the concert. Benoit Glazer usually hosts concerts in his custom built acoustic living room in the White House, he works at Cirque Du Soleil in Downtown Disney as the composer. He was on the trumpet along with Dan Jordan, Doug Matthews and Bobby Koelble some of the
greatest jazz musicians from Central Florida.

There were lofty sounds from flutes and clarinets, African flavors, and funky
odd meters, with a touch of sad ballads and angry mobs. The music related the story of a storyteller. It was about 2 boy named Abu, and his muse Lela. The music ebbed and flowed with intensity. The event was catered by Maxine’s on Shine.

The TrIP

Posted on by Thor

Patrick Greene who is the curator at The Gallery at Avalon Island, 39 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL, asked me to be a part of the TrIP Project. The TrIP Project has artists and writers ride the Lynx bus system to report on the mass transit system in Orlando. The first plan was for me to sketch Benoit Glaser and several other musicians who were going to play their instruments on the bus. Unfortunately Patrick gave me the wrong date and I knocked on Benoit’s door a day early. A second option was to sketch Genevieve Bernard‘s Voci Dance who did an interpretive dance performance on a bus. However, a close friend and artistic spirit, Mary Hill, took her own life and I needed to go to her memorial service that day. The bus tickets sat in my pocket unused for the longest time.

Finally, I saw that there was going to be a reading at The Gallery at Avalon Island called, “There Will Be TrIP” on January 14th. I decided I would take the bus downtown for this reading. When I graduated high school, I decided to go to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I stayed with my parents the first two years and took a bus to the city everyday. The bus ride and consequent subway rides took well over three hours out of the day. Since I also had to get back, that was six hours in transit. Sketchbooks at the time became filled with sketches of fellow passengers. I didn’t own or drive a car for the entire decade I commuted to and stayed in NYC. When I came to Orlando to work for Disney Feature Animation, I got off the plane, took one driving education course and then got my drivers license at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Within the first week I had purchased my very first car, a sweet Honda del Sole convertible. Not once did I ever take a bus in Orlando.

On the morning of January 14th, I got ready for my TrIP adventure. It was raining, so I put my sketchbooks in a zip top plastic bag and put on a full set of rain gear that included plastic pants. I looked like I was ready for an Arctic Expedition. Google Maps on my iPhone said the closest bus stop would be near Universal Studios. It was a four mile hike. The reading downtown was going to be at 7pm. I left at 2pm since I had no clue what I was doing. I hiked through isolated suburban side streets and marveled at all the McMansions surrounding a lake I walked around. The rain was persistent but light. I felt a little uncomfortable walking with my hoodie up since Trevor Martin had been gunned down for walking in a neighborhood much like this I imagined. Someone was just recently shot for texting during the previews at a movie theater. People with guns are crazy in Florida.

Besides raining it was also hot and humid which meant I was getting wet from the inside out rather than from the outside in. When the rain became the faintest mist, I took off the rain jacket to vent some body heat. One of the side streets leading to the bus stop turned out to be the entrance to a gated community. I would have to walk around the gated community adding more miles to my hike. I realized when I was maybe one mile from the bus stop that, had I driven, I would already be downtown and parking,

I walked past a bustling middle school with long lines of cars waiting to pick up children. I realized this was a prime sketch opportunity although I imagined some parent might question my motives. When I arrived at the bus stop it was 3:30pm. I had been hiking for an hour and a half. Five construction workers in bright green vests were at the stop. Conversation was about car envy. A female worker lamented a friend who had a job and makes money on the side. Her friend could afford a Honda Civic. The construction workers make about $150 a day helping build a huge new motel right next to Universal. A large SUV driven by a fellow construction worker pulled up and they all piled in. The 21 bus that I was waiting for didn’t arrive for another hour at least.

On board, the large female driver had to help me figure out how to insert the ticket into the column shaped payment device. Digital lights and numbers gave me too much information to look at. The ticket got sucked in and then spit back out. On the back of the ticked, I found out I could board any bus until 3am in the evening, after that the ticket was void. On the bus, people sat in tight constrained poses clutching bags with arms crossed.  A mom boarded with her excited little girl. They likely had just been at Universal. The child’s eyes were filled with delight.  This bus trip was a fresh adventure for her. They sat next to me and I saw the girl motioning to her mom to look at what I was up to. She sat on her moms lap and watched every line and wash as it splashed on the page. At the Valencia College bus stop a gorgeous woman got on and stood right beside the driver checking her phone periodically. I sketched her quickly, so happy she had brightened the scene. Sketching on the bus got me motion sick. The bus lurched and pitched every time it stopped and it stopped 65 times on the route downtown. The driver also had a lead foot. Perhaps she had learned to drive at the Daytona racetrack.

At 5pm I arrived at Central and Garland Avenue downtown near Church Street Station. The walk to Avalon was less than a mile, so I figure the TrIP probably took three and a half hours whereas a drive downtown usually takes me half an hour but I park in the suburbs to avoid meters and being towed, so the walk can be an extra half an hour or so. So my assessment is, Bus = 3 1/2 hours and Car = 1 hour. The good news is that if I ever got drunk downtown, I know what bus would get me to within 4 miles of my home. But why would I get drunk downtown? Since I was early, I decided to go to Jimmy John’s to get a sandwich. I checked into Avalon where artwork and poetry was being hung on the walls. A poem by Naomi Butterfield was hung by a painting by Parker Sketch. The show is titled “I Believe.”

Marty Morell and Michiko

Posted on by Thor

On Sunday June 2nd, Marty Morell and Michiko performed a free Jazz concert at the White House (2000 South Summerlin Avenue, Orlando FL), with many special guests and a little Latin music.

The guest visual artist was Lorraine Turner. Lorraine didn’t paint live on stage because there were so many musicians. There just wasn’t enough room. Steve Rodney was shooting a documentary, so Benoit Glazer in his introduction advised us all to look enthralled. Richard Drexler was at the piano, Carlo Garcia was on the drums, Jeff Rupert on saxophone, Benoit Glazer stepped in on trumpet, and Ben Cramer was on Bass.

Marty met Michiko at a jazz festival in Japan and they have been performing together ever since. Michiko sang several of the songs. It was an up beat concert with plenty of energy. I tapped my toes and bobbed my head as I sketched. I was perched on the third floor balcony. I like getting this bird’s eye view, but it means standing for the duration as I sketch so I can see over the railings. By the end of the concert my legs were aching. I’m always afraid that I might drop my palette on someones head, so I step back a bit as I’m painting. Having to sketch in so many people and instruments means I’m working right up to the last note in the concert.

It seems like the number of concerts held at the White House keeps accelerating. It is one of my favorite places to listen to music and let the lines dance on the page.

Granted

Posted on by Thor

I have three sketches on exhibit this month at City Arts Factory (29 South Orange Avenue). They are part of an exhibit called Granted which is showcasing the work of artists who received grants from United Arts. Between 2009 and 2011, 86 talented artists with a broad range of creative
disciplines including visual arts, film, literature and performing arts,
received grants ranging from $1,000-$2,500 for artistic projects or
training. A total of $97,400 in grants was awarded during the three-year
period in Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties. I applied for a
$1,000 grant which paid for most of my sketchbooks and pens last year. I’ve never hung my work in City Arts Factory before because they have a hanging fee. I’ve never seen the point in paying to have my work seen. The good news was that there was no hanging fee for the Granted exhibit. I still had to go to Michael’s to find $8 frames. The show runs through September 15th.

I went to the opening and was immediately drawn to a back gallery that was filled with huge balloons and beach balls. Banks Helfrich had filled the room to promote his upcoming independent feature film called 7 Lives of Chance. There was no one inside so I immediately pushed my way in and found a spot to perch and sketch. Slowly small groups of people were brave enough to push inside. The film’s soundtrack was playing from some speakers on top of a large roll top desk. Benoit Glazer had composed the soundtrack which had a distinctive French, light, breezy and fun air.

A large circular oak table had a pile of balloons that were waiting to be blown up. One guy worked his way under the largest balloon to pose for a photo as Atlas. Immediately after the photo, the balloon popped loudly causing everyone to jump and scream. He apologized profusely to me and I had to explain that I wasn’t in charge.  Periodically as people explored a balloon would pop causing my line or a splash of color to jump. As I left a girl was busy stomping on the smaller balloons with her high heals. Every balloon’s destiny, large or small, was to eventually be popped.

Jazz at the White House

Posted on by Thor

The Civic Minded 5 presented reed player Trevor Watts and pianist Veryan Weston, a longtime duo and storied members of the British improv scene at the Timucua White House, (
2000 South Summerlin).  This free concert presented cutting edge new jazz, where mastery met sensibility and the joy of the moment. The visual artist for the evening was going to be Martha Jo Mahoney, but she couldn’t make it. Bernie Martin was working on a watercolor at stage right and I was sketching in the balcony so the visual arts were represented. I was surrounded  by a family who took some interest in what I was doing. I recognized the husband but couldn’t quite place him. Finally after a short conversation, I realized it was Mark Simon, who wrote a book called Storyboards, Motion in Art. I have that book in my art library and refer to it anytime I get a storyboard assignment. What a small world. This was the first time Mark and his family attended a Timucua concert. They were in for an explosive, experimental treat.

The music was edgy and on the verge of  pure cacophony. As I worked, I realized I didn’t have a rag to wipe off my brushes. I used the sketch itself to wipe clean the brush. I worked in a frenzy driven by the music and the panic of the moment. Both performers had thick grey hair that swept around the back of their skulls reminiscent of friendly poltergeist clowns. I’m considering growing my own grey  lion’s mane to duplicate this bohemian look.

After the concert people socialized around snacks and wines in the entry foyer. I caught up with Wendy Wallenburg, who helps out at the social hour, and her friends, Sarah Austin and Nikki Mier.  Nikki suggested I should start wearing outlandish clothes as a fashion statement so people can spot me at events.  I still prefer to blend in with the wallpaper. Elaine Corriveu, who is Benoit Glazer‘s wife, and the hostess for the evening, wanted to see my sketch. I honestly believe she appreciates what I do. If you haven’t been to the White House, then you are missing out on a gem of the local music scene.

The Central Florida Composers Forum Concert

Posted on by Thor

CF2 was evening of new music by local composers at the Timucua White House. I arrived with Terry about an hour before the concert because the idea had been tossed around with Serena Jones, that it might be nice for me to project a sketch I was working on live during the concert. Unfortunately for technical reasons, that didn’t work out but I still got a great sketch from the second floor balcony. Serena worked the multi media imagery on a flat panel TV screen from her laptop.

The featured artist for the evening was Woody Igou. Woody set up a series of sculptures on card tables. One sculpture was of a series of hollow horns stacked up. At the beginning of the performance he mixed some gorilla glue with pigments and salt and he poured the mixture inside the horns. For the rest of the evening the mixture expanded like the blob, overflowing and oozing down like lava.

The CF2 concert offered contemporary composers an open forum to showcase their recent work.

Featured Composers on the Program:

Daniel Crozier (Rollins College) – Piano solo (2009)

Benoit Glazer (Music Director for La Nouba) – Brass Quintet and Percussion Quintet (2011)

Charles Griffin (Full Sail University) – Flute Quartet, prerecorded audio and video projection (2010) Rebekah Todia (Full Sail University) – Soprano and piano (2012)

Charles Griffin’s composition featured animated projections that responded to the music. The audience was encouraged to repeat vocalizations as they appeared on the screen. Everyone followed with shhh, and ah, ah sounds. This gave a primal feel to the proceedings.

The concert was an invigorating multimedia mix of electro acoustic, post-minimal, contemporary art song, solo piano and big-band jazz pieces by musicians and composers from Rollins, Full Sail, UCF and of course, Benoit Glazer, the musical director of Cirque du Soleil, and resident of the (Timucua) White House.