Katie Windish the owner of Frames Forever & Art Gallery helped get me a press pass for this show held at the Cameo Theater (1013 East Colonial Drive). Twenty two artists from around the country were featured in this show. Each artist was given a large drywall slab on which to work their magic. Many of the panels were painted the day before in the parking lot of Frames Forever & Art Gallery. When Katie and I arrived, music was blasting in the back of the ground floor space. The DJs this night were SJ Supershot, DJ SPS, Rubeox and Divinci of Solillaquists of Sound.
It was hard to choose a spot to sketch from since the space was broken up with all the drywall panels. I finally settled onto a comfortable red couch with a view of a bicycle that was covered with graffiti. The bike was decorated by Chico who is one of the earliest NYC graffiti artists. On the base of many of the spray cans that were mounted on the bike, Chico had painted his self portrait.
Across from me a New York City artist was painting an amazing mural of skulls. I had watched him start the mural the day before and I was fascinated to see how he was finishing up the process. Much of the work in the exhibit had a pop cultural hard edged feel. A friend of Katie’s named Tobar had a panel that featured a man in a gas mask. This iconic image appears again and again in his work. What really struck me was the fact that he had 2 security cameras mounted on the top edge of the display. It left me feeling a little uncomfortable like Big Brother might be watching.
Chico stopped over to see what I was working on. He offered me a signed print of one of his paintings which he gladly signed. It was a relief to see so much urban art. This show really was worth going to.
Something Worth Going To
The parking lot behind Frames Forever & Art Gallery became a large outdoor working studio for the Urban artist who came to Orlando from all over the country to showcase their work. In Progress Urban Arts Magazine hosted the event which would ultimately be staged at the Cameo Theater (1013 East Colonial Drive). In this sketch, local Urban Artist, Swamburger is seen working on a large sheet of Drywall. The old trees offer a perfect easel for the large works.
It was exhilarating to watch artists from all over the country all working together. While I was working on this sketch, a third panel was started just to the left of my view. This work of art was started with bold sharpies to block in the basic shapes. Then spray paint was used to throw in the dark’s and more drawing was added. Finally a wide brush was used to add bold drybrush highlights to the skulls which had taken form. I had a fantastic time watching this bold execution and I would have stayed longer if I didn’t have another event to sketch lined up. It is exciting to see this vibrant Urban Art being created right in white bread Orlando. The city and its art scene seem to be growing up. As I packed up to leave Katie Windish explained that she might be able to get me a press pass to the actual show the following night. I most certainly had to see the final results.
Sketchy Broads – Alice in Wonderland
The Cameo Theater hosted Sketchy Broads as they posed in an Alice in Wonderland setting. The event cost $7 to sketch and $10 to take photos. Sketchy broads is a sketch club consisting of three costumed models. Megalo Music was playing a mix of Alice themed music all night which made sketching even more fun. When I arrived I was a bit frantic because my cell phone had died in my pocket and I hadn’t mentioned to Terry that I would be out sketching at the Cameo. I asked John Ageeb if he had a cell phone and he was nice enough to go all the way back to his car to get it. It turned out he left his cell at home. I then asked Geoff Sprague if he had a cell and he let me borrow it. I suddenly realized I didn’t remember Terry’s work phone number, I always just instant dial the number. I ended up leaving a message at my home phone.
When I entered the model who played Alice was busy helping the rabbit putting on his makeup. This in itself would have been a good sketch but they were finished before I committed to the sketch. I loved the outfit of the female Mad Hatter. She work a shiny black girdle and vibrant shirt and stockings. An artist complimented her saying she was a better Mad Hatter than Johnnie Depp.
Perhaps seven or eight artists showed up to sketch at this event and there was plenty of room for more. I did my first sketch from the side lines so I could get a view of some of the artists at work. the models kept knocking down the paper mache mushrooms between poses.
There were three photographers wandering around as well. I kept getting blinded by flashes and strobes. On photographer set up a huge light right next to me which blocked the light that had been on my sketchbook. I struggled on but I was getting distracted. I am encouraged however that there are new venues being offered for artists to explore in Orlando. The models were professional and held the poses while staying in character sometimes for 20 minutes at a time. As scatter shot as this first event was, I am sure to return to see what they come up with next.
FRESH-The Coffee Mound
Rather than staying with my exhibit of sketchbooks at FRESH, I returned again and again to the main show space to sketch the performers. In this performance, TinTin danced on the mound becoming more and more a part of the earth. He then dug into the earth, essentially resurrecting his dancing partner, Ashley Kroft. She gracefully rose up, spreading her arms towards the sky. Their dance then became an erotically charged dance of embraces, painful separations and joyful reunions. They both embrace the earth, and share it with each other. They rub the coffee scented earth into each other’s skin. It would be awesome if Starbucks would embrace this celebration of coffee by bringing this dance to the center of its coffee shops. I am certain they would sell more coffee.
I am writing this post from the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Gentle new age music is playing as I enjoy my morning coffee. The music perfectly brings back impressions and feelings I had while watching the FRESH performance. I feel at peace although I am here, to do one last portrait of my stepmother who is losing her battle with cancer. I visited her yesterday and she is a frail fraction of the woman she was. This portrait is the most important sketch I will do in some time. It is time to pack up my supplies and get to the hospital. I approach this new found day buzzing with hope and faith. I do not want to waste a minute.
FRESH – The Coffee Mound
In the final hours before the opening night performance, Jessica Mariko had the dancers do a full run-through of the whole show. I had spent most of the day setting up my art installation of the 2009 Sketchbooks in the entry room. I had fun using a whole lot of junk found in my garage to create my odd, somewhat alienish installation. In the main room I leaned up against a wall and started to sketch. Everyone was rushing around to clean up before the first audience arrived. Bob Kodzis asked Christie Miga where a garbage can was. She pointed towards me and said “Over there next to the artist sketching.” It is humbling being a landmark for garbage. When Ashley Kroft and Tin Tin started to explore the coffee mound which is the stage for one of the dance routines, they discovered rocks and glass in the dirt. Ashley, and several other volunteers, had to sift through and remove as much glass and rock as possible. They can never be sure they sifted every inch. Lighting was being installed and aimed right up until the last second. There are no dressing rooms in the Cameo theater so for the rehearsals the dancers changed in the man’s room and the women’s room became the bathroom. I only discovered this when I had to actually use the bathroom and I almost walked in on a costume change. Right before the performance Jessica poored a whole bag of raw coffee grounds on the mound which filled the room with the distinctive pleasing aroma of coffee.
There was a rumor that someone was going to propose marriage to his girlfriend this night so I had my eyes on the lookout for who that couple might be. For an additional fee some couples were allowed to wander through the Willy Wonka like edible environment on their own before the main crowd arrived. The more daring also had their bodies painted and got Henna Tattoos. This was a small group of couples and I figured the marriage proposal would be among them. Tisse and I debated on which couple it might be and we agreed on a slender young woman who was getting a Henna Tattoo. Her boyfriend however was in his iPhone not really paying attention to her. I wrote this behavior down to nerves and figured he was texting a friend to try and decide when he should pop the question. I kept my eyes on this couple for some time but then out of the corner of my eyes I saw a glint of gold and a woman hugged her fiance and kissed him. I had missed the main event! Bob, who was acting as the MC, announced the proposal and acceptance, and everyone in the room applauded.
If you want a unique sensual and pleasurable evening with your true love, then FRESH is without a doubt the hottest ticket in town!
FRESH – Building a Tree
Becky Rankin is seen here adding the finishing touches to a huge tree trunk that now acts as the centerpiece to the FRESH performances now going on at the Cameo Theater. I watched Becky as she delicately interwove branches into the rope and potato sack-like structure. In the background, Christie Miga, one of the DRIP art directors, is working on a waterfall installation which is also part of the show. Christie put out a request for various forms of junk which she wanted to use as the raw materials to built the set pieces. I bought in a VCR and an old air conditioning unit. My VCR can be seen in the foreground of the sketch with its various wires now acting as the delicate inner workings of an exotic plastic flower made from a soda bottle. Using everyday objects in unconventional ways is seen throughout the DRIP installations. Tree branches which had been painted white can be seen at the front of the warehouse. I find myself drawn back time and time again to see what they will come up with next.
Evan Miga told me it took two trips in a U-Haul truck to transfer all of these creations to the Cameo Theater, where they then had just two days to set everything up and make sure it all worked. Evan said that he had tree branches sticking out all around him as he drove to the Cameo in the truck.
I spent all of yesterday at the Cameo setting up a display of my 2009 sketchbooks. Keeping with the theme of the whole show, I ended up hanging my work in a rather unconventional way using found objects and plenty of creativity. I thought it would take only an hour to hang the show, but when the ideas started flowing, I found myself lost in the process for the whole afternoon. From my garage, I bought in some folding closet doors that had been sitting unused for years. I also bought in various Indian drapes and pillows to decorate the space. I had decided to share the space with photographer, Tisse Mallon. She hung her photos from vines made from rope and fabrics. I was delighted at how seamlessly we designed the space. I was amazed that Louise Bova, another exhibiting artist, had bought in folding doors almost identical to the doors I had decided to bring in. This sort of melding of creative minds happened more than once, making it seem like these choices were preordained.
The first run-through in the Cameo Theater in front of a select audience was thrilling to say the least. FRESH indulges all the senses so you really have to experience it for yourself to truly understand it, but I will be sharing many sketches in the next few weeks since FRESH is as exciting as the Moulin Rouge.
Dinner events for couples:
Feb. 5-6 8PM
Feb. 11-12 8PM
Feb. 13, 6:30PM, 9PM
Feb. 14, 6PM, 8:30PM
Brunch events:
Feb. 6th Kids FRESH 11AM (Presented by PLAYGROUND Magazine & Misty Forest Enchantment Center)
Feb. 13 Friends and Singles 12PM
Feb. 14 Big Gay Brunch 12PM
Complimentary Childcare during dinner events on Feb. 13 & 14. (Provided by Misty Forest Enchantment)
Fresh Rehearsal
Jessica Mariko invited me to sit in on rehearsals for Fresh which is starting February fourth at the Cameo Theater (1013 East C0lonial Drive). Rehearsals were held at the new Drip Warehouse on Old Winter Garden Road. I got hopelessly lost the first time I tried to find the place but Christie Miga, one of the amazing Drip Art Directors finally gave me some landmarks to help me find the place.
Fresh promises to offer a Willy Wonka like edible environment where guests get to experience culinary performances all revolving around the theme of love. There will be an art and candy market in which you will be able to see my work as well as photos from Tisse Mallon. This is an amazing event that will appeal to all of your senses. Everyone at the event will be dressed in their bohemian best along with colorful hippie accents and beatnik flair.
At this rehearsal Tin Tin was leading the dancers as they rehearsed a piece around a new hand made silk screen printing press. In previous performances they had rented a printing press but for this show a hand crafted press was created using PVC, wood, and lots of creativity. Now the press looks like a glorious lotus flower. The music for this piece is driving and rhythmic. At first he dancers move like zombies who are discovering their body movements for the first time. They stretched and reached out in staccato violent moves. They shivered and shook until they discovered the press and through it they developed a sensuality and vitality to their movements. As they created, every movement became more vibrant.
The warehouse where the rehearsal was taking place was littered with all of the creative elements that are being assembled for the set. Christie asked me for any junk I might have lying around my garage, and I bought in an old Computer monitor, a VCR and a broken down air conditioner. There were disassembled and incorporated into organic creations. I saw VCR wires hanging from a flower made from plastic bottles and the computer monitor was painted white. I joked that if these set designers had been given the task of fixing the Lake Eola Fountain they could recreate and get it working it with found objects, old PVC, duck tape and a whole lot of creativity.
Seven Deadly Sins – Sloth
The Cameo Theater on Colonial near Mills was the venue for an Emotions Dance Company event called Seven Deadly Sins. When I arrived, the first thing I saw in the theater’s plate glass windows was Brian Feldman who sat on a worn and tattered recliner staring at a TV which was showing nothing but static. Brian had a remote control, but for this 30 hour performance he was personifying Sloth so he never had the ambition to change the channel. There was also a fake aquarium with animated fish swimming about. I immediately sat on my portable stool and started to sketch. Several times people passed by that I knew so I paused for a moment to say hello. A drummer set up camp right next to me, leaned over and asked “Hey, I love your stool. Any chance I could borrow it?” I was working so I had to say “No”. He began putting out plastic buckets of varying sizes and before I knew it he was banging out a very loud beat. He must have banged on those cans for close to an hour and I found it hard to concentrate. I probably rushed this sketch a bit since I wanted to get inside away from the noise. If Brian noticed the drumming, he never showed any interest, he just stared listlessly at the static screen and ate Cheerios.
Tisse Mallon, who organized the event, came outside and said to me, “Brian is very proud of the Game of Life that is in the foreground. He replaced LIFE with SLOTH“. Feeling a bit slothful myself, I hadn’t even noticed, so I went back and added that detail to the sketch. Inside the theater, there were semi-nude dancers painted to represent the 7 deadly sins. I spent some time trying to figure out which sin each represented. They moved in slow motion constantly gesturing in an abstract sinuous ongoing performance. There were also staged acts throughout the night. This was a fun event and sketch outing.
Cameo Theater
I went to an event called Mills 50. When I got to the location, called Cameo, there was a crowd outside. I made my way inside got a wrist band and was surprised when I was greeted by and old friend from my Disney Days named John Hurst. Not only had I known John from Disney but his dad taught me history in High school in New Jersey! It turns out John and his wife had bought the building on a leap of faith and turned the ground floor into an entertainment complex. John told me that the building opened on Christmas day in 1940 as a movie house. Today the ceiling has been lowered to add another floor. John has his freelance animation studio on the second floor and rents out other offices to entertainment companies.
The interior of Cameo is a hip industrial complex of exposed brick and ceiling beams. An arched line on the wall hints at where the movie theater seating used to be.
The evenings entertainment consisted of folk singer Kaleigh Baker who’s warm inviting voice greeted me when I first entered. The Black V Tribal Dancers were sitting to my left while I was sketching. There exotic belly dancers outfits caught my eye but I was committed to this sketch and it looked like they might be the next act on stage. Sure enough they went up and danced and gyrated to the whoops and screams of a very pleased crowd. The last act I saw was Beef Wellington and Divinci they played the keyboards to the right in the drawing. Divinci, who I didn’t draw, played the keyboard for a solid 10 minutes with his face which was to say the least very amusing and entertaining.
I fell in love with this place. It has the best of art and entertainment. It is raw, exposed and very real. I suspect I will be back many times.