Tenth Annual Grandma Party Bazaar

Posted on by Thor

On December 16th, I went to Stardust Video and Coffee (1842 E. Winter Park Road, Orlando) to sketch the tenth annual Grandma Party Bazaar. The Grandma Party is a fusion of arts, crafts, rummage sale and performance. Tents were set up everywhere in the Stardust parking lot. The Death by Pop-Up Shop was open, so I stopped in to look at the art. Several artist were at work inside the store. Christie Miga was talking to Skip who was pealing up a mask from his painting.

Doug Rhodehamel had built a bright green and blue “Free Hug” booth out of a large corrugated box.  I got my hug and then we talked art for a while before I scouted out a spot to sketch. Dough has had an amazing number of gallery showings in the last few years. He wants to try something bigger with his art. He is one of the contributing artists in the upcoming “Cardboard Festival” happening January 25-27 at Say It Loud (1121 North Mills Avenue). Work by Jessica Earley, Brendan O’Connor, Christie Miga, Adriaan Mol, and Nathan Selikoff will also be featured.

I never caught the name of the band I was sketching. As I worked, I heard the strange surreal sound of a Sci-Fi zither. A couple was lying in the grass and they were both covered with a wedding veil. The were both holding dolls and a woman waved a wand above them. A cardboard sign announced that this was a non-surgical vasectomy station. I wondered if I was seated too close. I might catch some stray radiation from the home brew procedure. Everyone was smiling, laughing and taking pictures, so the vasectomy seemed painless enough. If the procedure didn’t work, it might be hard to find these snake charmers nine months down the road.

Death By Pop Community Paint

Posted on by Thor

On Tuesday October 30th I went to the Death By Pop-Up Shop, (1844 A Winter Park Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803) for a Community Paint event. These Community Paint events will happen every Tuesday from 3-11pm. It is all about giving artists an excuse to get out of the house and escape some of the distractions for a day. Artists brought canvases, easels, paint, sketchbooks, notebooks, laptops or whatever they needed to create with, and they worked along with fellow artists, musicians, poets and designers.

Death by Pop is a hip urban custom clothing store with B-Side Artists work adorning the walls. Chris Tobar was there to show me around. Artists whose work were on display included: Steve Parker, Justin Barrows, Peter Van Flores III, Peterson Guerrier, Jaime Torraco, The three Bears, Cake Marques, Jeff Pfaff, Michael McGrath, Brian Heeter, Decoy and Chris Reason.  

Swamburger was the guest artist that evening. He sold one of his pieces online while everyone was working. He found an image online of a ghetto Spongebob and he laughed as he said, “This is just wrong!” A huge jar of Cheetos puff balls sat on a table, largely ignored. Artist Tiffany Dae was seated right in front of me. She was painting an intricate sculpted wooden totem. She assembles various photos found online into cosmic, ethereal images which are painted. I always like meeting artists and learning how they work.

I spoke with Mila Belle Dykes just as I was leaving, having finished my sketch. I had met Mila Belle once before at City Arts Factory at Mia De los Muertos. She was painting a skull mask on a young woman’s face. I considered sketching Mila at work that day, but she said she would be done in just five minutes. I needed more time so I focused on other artists. The painting she was working on at Death by Pop was light and airy with white doves appearing and rising within abstraction. She worked her oil on canvas with thin glazes retaining the vibrancy of light bouncing through the paint and back out.