Dawn Rosendahl – Analog Artist Digital World

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.

In the Orlando Arts Magazine, I learned that there is a resident artist program at the Maitland Arts Center. The work of Dawn Rosendahl was on the cover, so I contacted her to see if I could stop by to learn about her work and do a sketch. Artist and architect J. Andre Smith established the research studio in 1937. The studio acted as a haven for artists of national prominence in the winter months, The tradition continues today with the Artist in Action program.

Dawn’s studio door was slightly ajar, so I knocked lightly and went inside. The room was perhaps ten foot square and one wall had large barn doors which would be helpful if you worked large. Robin pointed out that there was a mural painted on the opposite side of the doors, so they were never used. A skylight offered extra illumination. Dawn was working at a folding table where she was surgically altering a book. She used an xacto knife to carve into the book at times unearthing illustrations and creating stair stepped forms like rice paddies in China. A series of circular cut pages folded back resembled a clam shell. A large pile of fresh books and encyclopedias sat in the corner of the room next to her. She had a one foot diameter cardboard tube that was about four feet high in the opposite corner. She plans to create book totem poles.

Dawn studies art at the American Academy of Art and the Art Institute in Chicago. She worked as a sculptor at Disney World, doing the scale sculpted studies of the swan and dolphin for those respective hotels. She told me a story about a creative who couldn’t get approval on a project because an executive kept insisting the color used didn’t match a pan tone color swatch. To get the approval, the guy decided to paint over the pan tone swatch. The project was approved.

Artist Robin Pedrero stopped in since she was dropping off a painting. She and Dawn had a discussion about pricing art work. Robin felt that if a prospective buyer was willing to spend $75 on a painting, then they could just as well afford to pay $200. I am of the opinion that art work in Orlando is all to often under priced and under valued. It was nice hanging out in an artists studio and having another artist visit. It made me feel that there is an artist community in Orlando.