Weekend Top 6 Picks for Octover 27 and 28, 2018

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Saturday October 28, 2018 

9am to 3pm Adults: $19.50. Seniors 60+: $15.95. Children 3-12 years: $13.75. Children 2 and under: Free. Annual Pass Holder: Free. Zoo Boo Bash. Sanford Zoo 3755 W Seminole Blvd, Sanford, FL 3277. The Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens invites children and
adults alike to trick-or-treat throughout the park while learning about
the myths and realities of endangered animals. Kids are encouraged to
wear costumes and bring goody bags. Events include costume contests,
face painting and more. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Event included in general zoo
admission. At the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens, 3755 W.
Seminole Blvd. 407-323-4450. centralfloridazoo.org

10am to 6pm Free. 13th annual Central Florida Veg Fest. Festival Park, 2911 E Robinson St, Orlando, FL 32803. The Orlando Weekly has again signed
on as an Earth Sponsor of Central Florida Veg Fest! The Central Florida
Veg Fest Info Guide will be printed as a pull-out in the middle of the
Orlando Weekly on October 24, 2018 and circulated to over 277,000
readers. The event will also have several promotional ads in the Weekly.

8am to 10pm Free. 10th anniversary “Halloween Block Party”. Liam Fitzpatrick’s Restaurant and Irish Pub at Colonial Town Plaza located at 951 Market Promenade Ave., Suite 1115, Lake Mary, FL. North Orlando’s block party and nightlife destination is at it again as
Liam Fitzpatrick’s Restaurant and Irish Pub joins together with Colonial
Town Park plaza neighbors Graffiti Junction, Dexter’s of Lake Mary,
Duffy’s Sports Grill, and Cantina and Corona Cigar Company to
welcome the 10th anniversary “Halloween Block Party” on Saturday,
October 27, 2017 starting at 8pm. The eek-citing event is free and open
to the public, and all guests (21 & up) are invited to drink, dance
and dress in their Halloween best outside Liam Fitzpatrick’s and around
the festive plaza, while enjoying two live DJ’s spinning throughout the
night, tasty brews and bites and the area’s biggest costume contest
awarding $1000 in cash prizes for the winners.

For
the 10th anniversary, Liam’s Halloween Block Party will support Orlando
City Youth Soccer, who will be on site collecting donations and
receiving 100% of proceeds from a specialty Halloween shot all night.
Orlando City Youth Soccer is the preeminent youth club in Central
Florida, whose core values are player development, parental guidance,
coaches education and community outreach.

Sunday October 28, 2018

10am to Noon Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources.

11am to 4pm Free. Puppet Slam. 707 E Washington St, Orlando, FL 32801. Live puppetry performances happening sporadically during the Bazaar Botanica Art Market.

10pm to Midnight Free but get a coffee. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out & laugh, or give it a try yourself.

St. Augustine at 450: A Crealdé Documentary Project

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Hannibal Square Heritage Center, (642 West New England Avenue, Winter Park, FL) held an opening for Crealdé‘s newest photo documentary project, which  celebrates the oldest city in the United States, Saint Augustine, on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of its founding.

Ten photographers captured the city’s past, its preservation efforts and its place as a tourist destination, college town and home to a diverse population.The photos showcased the city’s historic sights. Had this been an exhibition of pie in air paintings and or sketches it would have been a different story. The historic city of Saint Augustine has a law on the books which makes the creation of art in the city’s most historic areas illegal. Artists found guilty of painting or sketching are subject to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The city of Winter Park decided to copy this insane ordinance which is being contested in the supreme court for being unconstitutional. It is non illegal to create art in Winter Park’s Park Avenue, New England Avenue and Heritage Square. Largely drafted to prohibit performance art, visual art’s are included in the law. If I were to return to Heritage Square Center, where this sketch was done and I tried to sketch the building exterior, I could face jail time today. The ordinance went into effect on December 14, 2015.

The Musical group in this sketch is Ka Malinalli which performed traditional Mexican tunes and original music. The violinist is 16 year old Ariah Deason.  Kattya Graham, who founded the group has since decided to perform solo. Kattya gave me a CD and I enjoy the music in my car on long drives. A large Day of the Dead skull and a small sculpture of a face breaking free of a mask pointed back to the mystical Mexican roots behind the music. 

Would I return to Hannibal Square to sketch now that Winter Park considers my actions criminal? Only time will tell.  But Winter Park has certainly taken a step back to the dark ages by limiting and criminalizing freedom of expression.  Were Ka Malinalli to perform outside the Heritage Center today they too could face jail time.

Night of Fire lights up Crealdé School of Art.

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The fourth annual Night of Fire at Crealdé School of Art, (600 Saint Andrews Boulevard, Winter Park, FL) offered a chance to see artists at work in each of the studios. I settled in to Painting and Drawing Studio 1A where Crealde faculty Robert Ross and Barbara Tiffany were painting a still life with some eggs in a bowl and a letter. Marie Orban was also drawing from a model, although the model as on a break in the time I was sketching.

The whole campus comes alive after dark for  A Night of Fire. There was live music, refreshments and storytelling around the fire. Other workshops and demonstrations including a bronze pour, a gas kiln firing and raku firing. After finishing my sketch I warmed up with a cup of hot spiced wine and walked toward the lake to wait for a light-painting photography display. A dark silhouette of a boat on the lake could faintly be seen. I speculated with another patron to try and figure out what the light painting was all about. Small fireworks and sprinklers began dancing over the water. A camera with it’s shutter open recorded all the action compiling all the light motion into one image. I lost interest and wandered off to a warm fire pit.

The evening also served as the opening reception for the “Director’s Choice V” exhibition of works by Crealde’s youth faculty.

The Alice and William Jenkins Gallery had paintings by Bill Jenkins, the school’s founder in honor of the school’s 40th Anniversary. The Front Office was open to register for classes. All the activities were free.

Night of Fire

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Crealde held an event called “Night of Fire” at the school campus (600 St. Andrews Blvd. in Winter Park). Tiki torches lined either side of the long gravel path leading back to the school. I wandered around trying to decide what I should sketch. There was a huge kiln about 8 feet tall that filled a shed. It was burning hot but there was little activity around it. I then found this little garbage can kiln in action. The garbage can glowed red hot, sitting on top of fire bricks. The flame was fed by a propane gas tank. This is referred to as Raku firing.

Lynn Warnicke would remove a properly heated ceramic pot with long metal tongs and place it in a garbage can with newspapers. The newspapers would smolder and then burn. I was blinded quite a few times by the smoke, finding myself downwind of the cans. A garbage can lid would be lifted and then the tongs would be used again to drop the pot in a vat of water to cool down. The finished and glazed pots would then be lifted by hand and placed on a bench where they were all lined up.

There was a constant flurry of activity and I was never certain if I was catching the right moment. I learned about the process as I sketched and now that I better understand it, I would probably get a better second sketch. There was no time for a second sketch. I walked around searching for Terry. There was a cool sculpture behind the school, lake side, that shot up a blue flame into a tall glass tube. There had been a bronze pour but it was finished before I got there to sketch. A story teller waved her arms as she spoke to enchanted children and parents.

Inside the school, Ken Austin was demonstrating his watercolor techniques and Megan Boye was in the print department showing people the process. There were prints and paper hanging and lying everywhere. It was an amazing event. I probably cold have learned a thing or two had I lingered.

Lone Wolf

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The next performer at the Jug-ly Art & Antics fundraiser at the Peacock Room was the Lone Wolf. He set up behind a simplified drum set with a megaphone attached to the base drum. He had a harmonica set up with a brace to hold it to his lips. A tin can hung below the harmonica perhaps for added acoustics. His voice was raspy and deep. Something about singing into a megaphone made the vocals seem bad ass. I worked quickly trying to capture him in the dim light. His drum set was bright green and he disappeared into bloody reds. His girlfriend stood directly in front of the stage checking her iPhone occasionally. He called out to her once, to help him find the slide for his guitar. He was the quintessential one man band.

Next on the line up were the Kitschy Kittens Burlesque Troupe. Suddenly the room was jam packed. A thick wide and tall gentleman stood right in front of me. Two slender women dressed in German Tyrolean dresses got on stage. They each got a beer out of a cooler and popped off the caps. They began a seductive dance to a beer song. I only caught a glimpse of the one girl when she moved to stage right. Soon frilly under garments were flying into the crowd. John Theisen kept picking them up and putting them back on stage. The girls began to sway and stagger as they sipped and danced. Before I could close my mouth and put a pencil to the page, it was over. The girls bounded off the stage, their shiny symbol shaped pasties bouncing. They gathered their garments and exited stage left. Perhaps I’ll have a clean line of sight and get a sketch next time.

Another band started to set up their equipment on the small stage. They were all young college kids in stone washed cut up jeans. The Getbye was emblazoned on a drum set. I considered another sketch but decided I had enough eye candy for one night. I headed home. I had started the evening thinking I would sketch the Bloody Jug Band. I will have to catch them another night. Hopefully plenty of money was raised for a Gift for Music and the Crealde School of Art.

Crealde

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On Sunday mornings from 10am to 12:30pm there is a figure drawing class at Crealde. I go periodically to play with new materials and to experiment. The drawings I have been doing for the Mennello Museum mural are being done on larger sheets of bond paper with pencils, prismacolor and watercolor. There is a good chance that sketches done for future blog posts will be done in this larger format. The bond paper I have started using accepts watercolor washes with ease. I love being able to throw down loose gestural washes and then putting line work on top of it. The pens I usually use tend to clog up if I sketch over a wash. What I need now is an 11 by 17 inch hardbound bond sketchbook.