New Winter Park Bandshell

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I met a new Urban Sketching student at Central Park in Winter Park. It turns out that the band shell is getting a facelift. I set up in the center of the field and started sketching. My student found a shady spot off to the side.

In June of 2022 the old 1980s structure was demolished. The original structure had one upgrade due to hurricane damage in 2004. I was sketching the new band shell which looks pretty much like the old band shell. The chain link fence will remain around the construction site through September of 2022.

The new band shell is supposed to “complement the charming architecture of the nearby Winter Park Train Station.” A grand opening event to celebrate the new stage will be scheduled in late September 2022.  The fabric roof has however been replaced by plywood. Compared to the band shell in New York City’s Central Park, this looks like a few two by fours thrown together.

 

April is the Cruelist Month

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CNN News Anchor Chris Cuomo has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and he continues to broadcast from home. He has been very open about his fevers, chills and shortness of breath as well a phantasmagorical visions. In one of his broadcasts he said doctors are referring to the virus as “The Beast” and he said that April will be the Cruelest month. Indeed the hospitals in New York City are being overrun with patients infected with the virus. Refrigeration trucks are being set up outside hospitals to be used as temporary morgues since the morgues are already over run.

Cuomo’s reference to the Covid-19 virus at “The Beast” reminded me of a painting I studied as an art student by Rubens called “Daniel in the Lion’s Den.” I imagined those lions representing the virus as they pace in the cramped hospital room. I have seen so may picture of doctors exhausted emotionally and physically to the point that they just collapse on the floor or under a table. A photo of a nurse whose face was scarred by her surgical mask went viral.

Healthcare workers at Mount Sinai Hospital held photos
of sick colleagues at a protest demanding more personal protective equipment (PPE) in New York on April
3, 2020. Hospital staff were not able to get tests even after a nurse contracted the virus and died. The death of Kious Jordan Kelly, 48, was confirmed by Mount Sinai
Hospital. It comes amid an escalating crisis in New York in which
hospitals are faced with surging numbers of Covid-19 patients and
shortages of crucial medical equipment and protective gear for staffers. Senior Vice President Vicki R.
LoPachin announced that starting on Tuesday, April 7, Mount Sinai staff who develop symptoms consistent with Covid-19, will be tested for this viral infection within a few days of the onset of symptoms. 

On March 13, 2020 one nurse developed symptoms after treating a patient. Symptoms included shortness of breath, fever, and an unrelenting, dry cough. She was told to manager her symptoms at home because she could not be tested. She instead turned to her primary care physician who told her to call the Covid hotline. She waited two hours online and eventually was sent to another hospital to get tested. She tested positive. After seven days of managing symptoms at home and not improving, a
primary care doctor prescribed new treatment medication:
hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc.

Doctors and nurses are referring to the hospitals as war zones. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hospital staff said nurses were told to reuse gowns, ration N-95 masks, and
wear surgical masks, which do not offer the same level of protection
against the virus. Some nurses in England have had to resort to wearing garbage bags since there is such a shortage of scrubs. Nursing staff are pulling together and doing what they can to rise above this  disaster. One of the horrible aspects of this virus is that it forces patients to suffer alone.


Fourteen white tents have been set up in Central Park to handle the overflow of patients from the hospitals. The 68-bed facility is run by Mt. Sinai Hospital, which is located
directly across the street from the tents in Central Park. Other locations hosting medical pop-ups include the Javits Convention Center and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. The USNS Comfort Hospital Ship docked at pier 19 to assist in the pandemic. AS of April 4, 2020 the ship accepted “less than five” patients who were infected. Initial screenings prior to patients boarding the ship did not reveal that they had contracted the virus. The CDC screenings consist only of a temperature check and “a series of
questions addressing member’s recent health and contact history.” A ship can be a highly deadly breading ground for a deadly virus. The Comfort, which can hold up to 1,000 hospital beds, has treated fewer than 30 patients since arriving in New York on Monday March 30, 2020.

41 Annual Christmas in the Park

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Pam Schwartz and I met at Winter Park‘s Central Park (150 W Morse Blvd, Winter Park, FL) for the 41st Annual Christmas in the Park hosted by The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art and the City of Winter Park.

At 6:15 p.m. nine century-old Tiffany leaded-glass windows were lit. They were scattered across the lawn with two framing the chorus on stage. When I arrived I voted against muscling my way up to the stage, instead I was fascinated by the lines of people who would needed to shoot cell phone photos of the stained glass. I recognized the docent who was cheerfully talking to people about the history of the stained glass panel.

On the Central Park main stage the 160 voice Bach Festival Society Choir performed. I was seated behind a hedge and a secondary stage so I never actually saw anything that happened on stage. However the constant stream of people pressing close to the stained glass was just as entertaining for me.

Anyone who stopped to read the tombstone label was illuminated a ghostly green from below. This particular Memorial Window created  in 1909 was for a chapel for the Association for the Relief of Respectable Aged, Indigent Females which provided housing and pensions for poor elderly women. The ARRAIF was located at 891 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, N.Y which was founded in 1883 and closed down in 1974.   In 1908, a Mrs. Sage gave the association a gift of $250,000, that was used to  extend the building south to the corner of West 103
Street. The architect for the addition was Charles Rich. The addition
included the installation of Tiffany windows to the Chapel.

Tiffany wanted to return the art of glass making to the glory days of Medieval churches. Each piece of glass has a variety of color, tone and texture that became known as opalescent. The glass has imperfections, streaks, bubbles and folds that become a part of the beauty of the finished piece. The design was symmetrical yet elements within that design stepped outside of the symmetry creating some tension. I love any art that accepts imperfections as part of the process.

The crowd on the lawn came prepared for the occasion. Some had entire picnics with bottled of wine and Christmas lights to decorate the tableau and themselves. One of the songs was of course Jingle Bells and people knew to come to  the concert with their own jingle bells that they jingled and jangled in time to the music.

Spring Pops, The Race for Space

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The City of Winter Park
hosted the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Dean Whiteside as
they presented Spring Pops in Winter Park’s Central Park main stage. Patrons set up on the grass lawn
with blankets and lawn chairs. Some folks came really prepared with wine
candles and a full spread. Everyone was ready for a relaxing evening of music
under the stars. The sun set behind the stage as I sketched creating a warm
glow behind the performers. I squinted as I starred straight into the sunset.

The evening featured music by composer John Williams along
with other space themed music. Guest vocalists for the night were Natalie
Cordone and Shawn Kilgore. I was set up and sketching before the performer got
on stage. I was fascinated with the cello player that had a wheel on the bottom
of his instrument so he could roll it around like a wheel barrel. By the end of
the performance the stage s lit by two stage spot lights that had been set up
stage left and right.

It is so nice to enjoy an outdoor concert as the northern
states are still experiencing cold temperatures. As I write this I am at my
Sister’s home in Port Charlotte Florida.
She is looking up photos of the snow covered landscapes in the northern towns
where out other brothers and sisters live. There is nothing so rewarding as
seeing cold weather while basking in the Florida
sun.

Tai Chi in Central Park

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I rented a place in Winter Park two summers ago. Since I lived there, I started looking for local events to sketch and when I found out that Tai Chi was offered in Central Park, I had to go out and sketch. I arrived early, sat on a bench in the shade and started sketching where I assumed they would set up in the grass.

Back in 1998 I was working for Disney Feature Animation on the film, Mulan which is set in China. During the making of that film I studied Tai Chi as a way to unwind from the stress of production. I knew the moves and could have joined in on this day, but I decided instead to focus on the zen of creating the sketch.

When the Tai Chi participants showed up they set up on the main stage which is usually reserved for musical performances. Rather than start the sketch over, I just placed them on the green grass where I felt they belonged. Of course Tai Chi could be interpreted as a form of dance and an art form.

Creating art is forbidden by city ordinance in Winter Park. According to the Ordinance, artists a lumped together with street performers…”Perform and performance means to engage in any of the following activities: acting; singing; playing musical instruments; puppetry; pantomiming, miming; performing or demonstrating magic or acts of illusion; dancing; juggling; or the public display of and composition or creation of crafts, sculpture, artistry, writings, or compositions, including the application of brush, pastel, crayon, pencil, or other similar objects applied to paper, cardboard, canvas, cloth or to other similar medium.” I still wonder if a digital sketch is exempt.

“Prohibited public area means the pedestrian accessed public areas of the Central Business and Hannibal Square Districts along Park Avenue from Fairbanks Avenue to Swoope Avenue, and along New England Avenue from Park Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue including the area within fifty (50) feet of the public right-of-way of Park A venue and New England Avenue on the public lanes, streets, thoroughfares, and ways, including the Winter Park train station and the public property at

what is  known as the Winter Park Farmer’s Market and the Winter Park Historical Association located at 200 West New England Avenue, excluding public performance zones as provided in subsection ( d)(2). ”

The city of Winter Park does allow for a “Weekend of the Arts” in February. Thankfully, no police wrestled me to the ground to take my pencil and the shops on Park Avenue hummed and generated profits despite my anarchistic decision to sketch performers at their craft.

The 58th Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.

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Mark your calendar, the 58th Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival will be in Central Park and along Park Avenue in Winter Park, FL on March 17, 18 and 19th between 9am and 5pm. It offers a wide variety of fine art from
225 artists from across the country, a Children’s Workshop Village, Leon
Theodore Schools Exhibit, and live entertainment throughout the weekend. 

This sketch was done at last year’s festival. There is a new law in Winter Park that makes it illegal to create art on Park Avenue and Hannibal Square. Anyone found guilty must face 30 days in jail, and a $500 fine. Central Park is considered exempt from the law, allowing for freedom of expression. Artists can create in the Park but only in the Park. Because of that law, I decided to sketch the police who were serving and protecting at the Art Festival. It was a fairly relaxing day for them and none of them flinched because I was sketching. Hopefully this means this absurd law will go unenforced forever. Perhaps it will never be enforced like the Florida state constitution that allows for freedom of speech, a trial by jury, and pregnant pigs to not be confined in cages. Pregnant pigs roam free, but artists are banished.

I did this sketch while waiting for a Winter Park friend who wanted to see the festival. The friend never showed. When the sketch was done, I reached for my cell phone to text and find out what was wrong. My darn phone was dead. Should I stick around or go back to my car and charge the phone? I decided to walk to the car which was parked about 1 mile away since parking is a nightmare during the art festival. When I got back to my car, I discovered that the charging chord which was wrapped in multiple layers of black electrical tape had finally decided it’s charging days were over. Wires must have severed and it was dead. Rather than hike back, I decided to call it a day. I didn’t feel like returning to a stretch of road that outlaws the creation of art. Winter Park is no longer home and the Winter Park friend is no longer a friend.

Live painting demo in the Rose Garden.

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The Winter Park Paint Out has brought about 25 plein air painters from all over the country to central Florida where they are capturing the area’s charm mostly with oils on canvas. From 6pm to 8pm on April 26th, John Guernsey from Marietta Georgia gave an Oil Painting Demonstration on Dynamic Shadows in the Rose Garden in Central Park. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and join us in Central Park by the Rose Garden. Spectators brought lawn chairs to sit and watch as the painting took shape. It was the golden hour, so warm light ignited the scene as the sun set.

John had completed the drawing aspect of the small composition by the time I arrived. He then blocked in dark shadows using a large two inch flat paint brush. He used this brush for the entire painting using mostly vertical and horizontal strokes. The resulting grid was a bit like a pixelated version of the scene. He used the paint thickly and boldly. He worked incredibly fast. When the sun set behind the trees in the west, he stepped away and said he was done. In a conversation with someone, he said that architects and graphic designers are great wit the drawn aspect of a painting, but the messy and abstract blocking in of colors and valves often gives them trouble. Even after the demo was over, John kept adding dark strokes to the canvas to push the value range.

The Paint Out will come to a close with a Garden Party from 6pm to 9pm tonight, April 30th at the Polasek Museum (633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL). Tickets are $100. Each ticket enti­tles the buyer to $50.00 off the pur­chase of a paint­ing dur­ing the Gar­den Party! (Limit one ticket per paint­ing val­ued at $300 or more)

Wine and Art in Downtown Lake Mary.

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WineArt Wednesdays at Downtown Lake Mary (101 North 4th Street Lake Mary, FL) is a monthly event. Enjoy a beautiful stroll through the park and the sidewalks of Downtown merchants lined with displays from local artists. Relax and unwind to some live music while sipping a glass of wine from the new beer and wine garden in Central Park or dig into some eats from some of the best food trucks and newest restaurants in town.

This year the even keeps the awesome live band, but, every other
month or so instead of the band they will have “A Movie In The Park”. A
gigantic outdoor movie screen playing a great movie in the tranquil
setting of Lake Mary’s very own Central Park. So bring your favorite
picnic blanket and enjoy!

Check the WineArt Wednesday Facebook page, to see when the next event is being held. Get out and check out the art.

A Funeral for the Arts in Winter Park.

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On December 14, 2015, the City of Winter Park passed an Ordinance that essentially states that it is illegal to do anything creative on Park Avenue, New England Avenue and Hannibal Square. Merchants felt that the presence of artists was a conflict with their commercial interests. Apparently one band set up and used a car battery to power their amplifiers. Rather than write an ordinance to ban amplified music the town simply copied an ordinance from Saint Augustine that bans all art. Of course Winter Park sells itself as a town that has a great museum and a few remaining galleries. They like some art, but they don’t want to see it created in their view.

Paul Felker, affectionately known as the Park Avenue Poet used to sit on a public bench on the commercial side of Park Avenue. He uses a 1938 Remington Deluxe Noiseless typewriter to write poems given any prompt. Since the ordinance was written, police now hassle the poet and tell him that he must go to the “First Amendment Zone” which is Central Park. Of course there is far less traffic in Central Park, so Paul writes fewer poems. Donations Paul relieved for his poems were being used to help put him through college. What some find quaint and endearing, the city finds criminal.

Paul organized a Funeral for the Arts in Central Park on January 29, 2016. Angel Jones from Melborne helped make artists around the state aware of the funeral. The funeral was to take place from 10am to 5pm. I arrived at 10am to find the park empty except for a news crew from Chanel 13. I chatted with news anchor Jerry Hume for a bit, and then we walked the length of the Park to look for black clad mourners. When we didn’t find any, I decided to sketch the peacock fountain, in the rose garden. Winter Park seems to worship this colorful bird. A more appropriate bird now would be a black Raven. As I was finishing up my sketch Jerry let me know the mourners had gathered a block away.

I found a Ian Twitch Reents all in black with his face painted white along with a red nose and aviator goggles. He was standing in his mile high rock and roll boots beside a five foot long black coffin lid. A woman noticed him and asked me to shoot a photo of them together. She might never realize she was posing next to a coffin. Paul had run to Old Navy to get a pair of black pants. He didn’t want to buy the pants in over priced Winter Park. When he got back he painted R.I.P. on the lid. Since there were only two protesters, I decided to meet a former co-worker, from my first job at Zip Mail in Tenafly New Jersey from over 30 years ago. She was seeing a free film at the Morse Museum called “Beauty in Art“.  It seemed a fitting subject since art was now banned on the streets of Winter Park. After the film and lunch, we returned to the protest.

Paul had called the police to let them know that he would be setting up in the forbidden zone to write some poems. TV news crews filmed the walk across the street, but police kept their distance, knowing that issuing a citation on TV wouldn’t look good. The penalty for creating in the Forbidden Zones is 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. After sometime Paul passed back over to the park side of the street. To date no citations have been issued. About six artists had joined the protest. I sketched Paul hard at work at his typewriter for the first time. Angel was dressed in a gorgeous black Victoria dress with a lace veil. Curtis Meyer was improvising  beat box poetry on the fly. I had heard that poets planned to walk up and down Park Avenue reciting poetry into their cell phones. Ray Brazen performed with a guitar that had no strings, allowing him to perform “The Sound of Silence“.

A man walked up to Paul and shouted, “What’s in it for me?” He kept repeating this question like an angry toddler. Paul calmly explained his poetry. Perhaps the man had been drinking to heavily at a Park Avenue cafe, then again, perhaps he was just like the city commissioners and merchants who are always looked for the bottom line in their lust for profit in their small town lives. “What is in it for me?” As if a quest for beauty and understanding is not something that can be comprehended. Was art put on this earth just to annoy this white bread Winter Park Scrooge? How many others are out there whose grey dark matter can’t comprehend color, joy and passion. I feel sorry for his loss.

Move It or Loose It

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On Saturday September 14th there was a rally for The Capen House in Winter Park’s Central Park, adjacent to the rose garden. The citizens responsibly for trying to save the Capen house have a short window to make this happen, and they need the community behind this effort.This is a BIG , monumental,task  to move a home built in 1885 across Lake Osceola to the grounds of the Albin Polasek Museum and Gardens where it can be enjoyed by Winter Park residents and visitors for years to come! 

As of the date of the rally, $200,000 had been raised towards the project. An additional $450,000 would need to be raised by the end of November to save the house from demolition and reserve the contractors for the move. The house will have to be cut in half and then the parts will be floated across the lake on barges. The committee is hoping that the actual transport would happen on December 14th to coincide with the Winter Park Boat Parade.

In the tent, past Winter Park mayors voiced their support for the project. If funds aren’t raised, then the home will face demolition as it is replaced with a much larger McMansion. If it finds it’s way to the Polasec, it will be used for celebrations like wedding receptions and community fundraisers. It would become a place of celebration for many future generations. Relocating the Capen House to the Museum property is a mutually
beneficial solution for the current owners, Winter Park residents, and
the greater Central Florida community,” says Debbie Komanski, Executive
Director of The Polasek. The Polasek Museum property, with a sweeping
lawn to the water, can easily accommodate the 6,000 sq. ft. house which
will be used for public events and education offices for the Museum.
Moving the home by barge, not an unusual event in Florida simplifies the
relocation effort and significantly reduces project costs.

A small model of the home floated in a small plastic pool. Kids were encouraged to save the home by scooping up small balls with a net. Kids won prizes for scooping up the most balls. The Winter Park Owl wandered around like a Disney theme park character. He leaned over a small girl in a stroller and she began to cry. Orange infused water parched hot lips. The speeches continued and the homes future still remains uncertain.