Culture Pop at the Maitland Art Center.

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Culture Pop at the Maitland Art Center, (231 W Packwood Ave, Maitland, FL 32751) featured the work of two acclaimed artists, John Petry and Derek Gores, who used Art Under the Stars at Lake Lily as a springboard for their current success.

Mark you Calendar! Art Under the Stars runs from November 11th to November 13th.

Friday Nov. 11              6pm – 10pm

Saturday Nov. 12          10am – 9pm

Sunday Nov 13.            10am – 4pm

Art Under the Slars is a boutique art festival surrounding Lake Lily Park in Maitland with only
135 artists vying for $26,000 in awards.  Art Under the Stars, The 40th
Rotary Club of Maitland Art Festival is the only night-time fine art
show in Florida.  With subtle live entertainment and sparkling lights
the evening hours create magical experiences for artists and patrons
alike.

Collage artist Derek Gores is a recycler of everyday ephemera.
Magazines, labels, newspapers and digital media combine to reflect his
contrasting interest in the abstract aesthetics of figures and objects
in space. A black and white collage  looked like Audrey Hepburn’ The Eifel tower loomed behind her. The entire image was created from fashion magazine strips of paper. He must n are large bins filled with the colorful strips of paper. The attention might wander, with the preexist, photo coming into focus. Several Orlando based artists use this technique to create their art. Derek wag the first to master this technique and they are his decides.

 Chattanooga artist John Petrey is a sculptor working with metal, rubber,
plastic and other industrial and everyday items. Petrey creates iconic
dress sculptures that reference stories from history, pop culture and
childhood experiences. John used to run his own advertising agency when he lived in Orlando. He feels that his work in advertising helped is pi his life sized dress sculptures. The dress in the foreground featured old 1960s yard sticks. John bought about 7000 of these yard stick’s for $100 at an estate sale. The top blouse was of agree copper. Each dress was completely unique u sing unique metals and materials. The furthest dress had a large bell shape skirt that was built from brightly colored past is spoons and forks. From a distance it reminded me of the glass sculptures of Chiuli. John has been building the dress sculptures for the past nine years. His work keeps getting larger and he is now doing large public installation sculptures. I had John sign my sketch.

 

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.; Closed Major Holidays

Admission: $3 adults; $2 Seniors (55+) and Children (4-18 years); free
Children (3 & under) and A&H Members (Memberships start at $30)

Eugine Snoden performed at the Maitland Art Center.

Posted on by Thor

On September 12th, Eugine Snoden performed at the Maitland Art Center for their monthly “Culture Pop” music series. I went to the art center right after work, so I arrived early. The arts building had just been renovated and expanded. The band arrived and started loading in their equipment. Once all the mics were in place, one of the band members plugged in an amplifier and suddenly all the lights went out. A Maitland Arts Center staff member tried flipping the fuse box switch but that didn’t work. It was dusk and getting dark fast. I couldn’t see my sketch page.

Guests who arrived informed us that the lights were out all over Maitland. I recalled that on the drive to the event, I had passed utility workers working on a power pole about a mile away. The work had caused a major bottle neck on the drive north. Being a consummate performer, Eugine decided that the show must go on. The band brought a few chairs outside and they began to perform an acoustic set.  The audience sat in the grass and on the steps.  There wag a romance in listening to the music under the huge live oak trees covered in hanging moss.

After a few songs, the lights flickered back on. I quickly returned to my seat to continue the sketch I had started. Eugine is an amazing performer. He acts as a ring master inviting other performers to join him at any time. His music is soulful and verges on being a religious experience. He invited violinist Beth Black to join in for several songs and her music blended beautifully into the mix. If you ever have a chance to see Eugine Snoden perform you must jump at the chance.

Chasing Jonah

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On January 10th, Terry and I went to “The Dapper Date: Celebrating the Art of Fashion” at the Maitland Art Center, 231 W. Packwood Ave., Maitland Fl. Other People’s Property, which specializes in vintage clothing, showcased fashions from each decade, and clothing was on display and
for sale. One hundred percent of the proceeds were donated to the
Art and History Center. Terry was looking forward to seeing models sporting the various vintage outfits. We got there pretty early and immediately did see some slender models sporting their makeup cases.

“Culture Pop!” is a monthly, one-night-only pop-up exhibition of Central
Florida artists and artisans. Guests took part in interactive art
happenings, listened to “flash fiction” and literary readings
performed by Maitland Poets and Writers, and relaxed in the museums’
Mayan Lounge with music, mingling, beer and wine. Someone had a barn own that he was showing to guests. A native owl swooped down out of the nigh sky, curious to see the owl perched on then guys arm.

Cuban born artist Jake Fernandez gave a quick talk about his work on exhibition, “Constructed Landscapes”. He works with a wide range of media including, collage, drawing and
painting. His work moves between
realism and abstraction with mechanical precision as he documents the
beauty and mystery of the landscape. This show is on display through February 28th. He used thousands of photos and cuts them apart and reassembled them like an intricate mosaic in his final pieces. The final art resembled aerial photos of vast landscapes. Larger pieces are built using a grid which remains visible. Terry was curious about the shadow box frames he uses for his work. Apparently this is the way most museums frame and store work. Jake will be in isolation in one of the at the Maitland Art Center studios for the month of March. The windows will be blocked up so that he gets no sense of night and day.  web cam will be set up so people can see how this isolation affects his art. I sketched Robert Ross in this studio and can vouch fort the face that the room has now windows except a tiny window in the bathroom.

Though I spotted a few models in the hallways, I never noticed them doing anything resembling a runway show.  Chasing Jonah performed in the Mayan courtyard. The bass player, Brandon Miller, recognized me because I had sketched him performing onstage for the play, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  Ashley Dudukovich, had a strong earthy singing voice as she performed mostly original songs. One person from the audience asked for them to do a cover, but they kept sharing original tunes. Sketching became easy as I lost myself in the music. I was seated right in front of the spotlight that illuminated the performers. Mayan base reliefs glowed in the stage lights as the night sky became a deep dark purple.  Ashley was curious about my sketch between sets. She let me know that an animation exists that was done for one of her songs. Chasing Jonah is now recording their first album so it is an exciting time for the group.


Terry joined me listening to the music but lost patience and left. As I sketched, she explored the artists studios. I texted her when the sketch was done and she texted back that she was posing nude for a sculptor. I feared that my sketch had taken to long to finish. I started searching the studios to see what she was actually up to. I asked a couple of friends to keep their eyes open just in case they saw Terry nude somewhere on property. The search posy expanded. I eventually found her in Dawn Rosendahl‘s studio and she was fully dressed. Disaster averted.