Arab Cultural Heritage Festival

Posted on by Thor

The Arab Cultural Heritage Festival was a celebration of Arabic art, food and traditions. It was held at Lake Eola near the Disney Amphitheater. A huge crane was parked on the street holding an American flag. The truck served a secondary purpose of blocking any vehicles from driving down Washington avenue straight into the park. Every outdoor event in Orlando these days had large trucks or buses blocking possible vehicular homicide.

Pam Schwartz and I ordered some Arab food from vendors and then sat on the grassy knoll next to the Amphitheater. I focused my attention on the American flag and the Orlando skyline. The fellow next to us on the grass was having a cigarette break. He was probably one off the vendors. The star of the festival though was a lady holding an ice cream sign over her head and shouting out to everyone who passes that they were hot and could cool down with an ice cold ice cream. She seriously shouted louder and longer that any other vendor at the festival. We ate shwarma and chicken kabobs with veggies, but the dishes weren’t memorable. In the end we ultimately didn’t get an ice cream from the screaming and animated vendor.

In among the food vendors was an mechanical rodeo bull surrounded by inflatable mats. Was this an Arab festival or the Silver Spurs Rodeo? It was very confusing. The mechanical bull would have been another great sketch opportunity but there was no shade by the bull. The grassy knoll was a peaceful place slightly above the crowd to have a picnic and a quick sketch.

Accidental Historian

Posted on by Thor

I was sent to several locations in Orlando to sketch scenes that had been photographed back in the 1920s. In this scene Many trees had been added over the years and the old bandshell was replaced by the now rainbow colored Disney Amphitheater. The original bandshell in the historic photo was designed by Frank Loyd Wright’s secretary, Isabella Roberts who was an architect in her own right.  She also designed several buildings in  the Orlando area. I found it fascinating that many of the same shadows cut across the scene, 100 years later.

This is the Sperry Fountain which is actually the second fountain on this site. Having sketched this from life and comparing it to the original, I can say it is a fairly close replica. The duck on top of the fountain has a slightly different pose in the original sculpture, and today the green patina  had some purple paint stains perhaps from pride day.  The original is now
located in Greenwood Cemetery. The fountain is made of wrought iron and
has a duck base and water flows from the duck’s beaks and an acanthus leaf.

In 1883, wealthy Orlando resident Jacob Summerlin the owner of the Summerlin Hotel,
the first City Council president, and financial lender for the
construction of Orlando’s courthouse in the 1870s—donated a large tract
of land to establish a park in Orlando. In 1883, Summerlin came to a
city council meeting and offered the land around the lake on the
condition that it be beautified and turned into a park. He also required
that the city plant trees and put a “driveway” around the lake. To ensure that the city followed through with the stipulations of the
donation, Summerlin put reverter clauses in the contract to allow his
heirs to reclaim the property if the city failed in its obligations. Several years later, his sons threatened to exercise the reverter
clause if the city did not make good on its promise. Today, the park is
still maintained according to his requirement that it be kept
beautiful.

These sketches were done as part of Accidental Historian at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801). The premise of the show is that any one today might be a historian without even realizing it. That could certainly
true of many bloggers, urban sketchers, photographers, and more. In this
engaging exhibition, created at the History Center, patrons can learn how
individuals who are absorbed in documenting the world of today
accidentally become some of Central Florida’s finest historians for the
future. The show offers a glimpse into some of the museum’s favorite collections that were
created for the now, more than 100 years ago. Put it on your calendar, The Accidental Historian runs from September 21, 2019 to January 19, 2020. Work from Orlando Urban Sketchers will be on display along with historic and contemporary photos and journals.

Brand new swan boats at Lake Eola.

Posted on by Thor

When I sketch in downtown Orlando, I always park near Lake Eola. I like to walk around the lake before finding theaters, galleries or clubs. I was impressed to see that the city has invested in band new swan boats. They have canvas awnings that keep the tourists from getting sun stroke. I paddled the old swans and it is quite the aerobic workout. In that case I had to paddle and sketch at the same time. Unfortunately if you try to paddle a swan boat alone, you end up traveling in a tight circle.

Music is now being piped all around the lake and I must say it is growing on me. It is nice to have a personal soundtrack as I head off to the next sketch location. Holiday lights have been going up even before Thanksgiving and the artificial Christmas tree is already taking form next to the Disney Amphitheater. The seating area at the amphitheater now has extra police tape between the gaps in back row seats to insure that no one is tempted to sit. There is one ugly duckling in among the fleet of swans. The duck is basically a swan boat minus the black eye patch design. The duck also lacks the awning to block the sun, so insist on a swan if you are up for a paddling adventure.

Activists or Anarchists?

Posted on by Thor

I arrived at the Lake Eola Band Shell a few minutes late for an MP3 event called “Push Play“. Since the event was downtown, I asked my wife Terry to come down during her lunch and enjoy the show. People had their headsets on and had already begun to perform. All the participants had MP3 players with an audio file they had downloaded from the internet. Following the example of Improv Everywhere the participants would listen to the audio for instructions. The audio began…”This experience is about joy and fun. It is about embracing the unknown and each other with an open heart and a playful spirit.”

Not being a techie I did not have an MP3 player so I observed as an outsider. Everyone began jumping up and down waving their arms in the air. They then began to form long lines behind people who like me had no clue what was going on. Terry arrived with a long line of people walking behind her and mimicking her every move. She waved to me as did her line of followers. When Terry settled in all the 30 or so participants began to dance. Periodically everyone froze and then began to dance again.

Then the unexpected happened and the event turned surreal. 4 park Rangers showed up and they looked concerned and confused. The participants all began to lie down on the benches for a nap and what was a playful experience suddenly looked like an anarchist demonstration to the Rangers. The lead Ranger started shouting and asking to see the person in charge. Since everyone had headsets on no one heard him. I turned to Terry and said “This is bad, there is a law in Orlando against performance artists in public places and there is a No Loitering law forbidding people from lying down on benches in Lake Eola.” The parks Rangers used their walkie talkies to call in several Bicycle Police Officers.

When the police arrived and asked for a leader, the participants began to laugh uncontrollably as they had been instructed to do on the audio file. They then placed a finger to their lips as if to say Shhhh and they all raised a hand and made peace signs. The police blindly interpreted this as an anti war demonstration that they had to get under control. The police and Rangers thought the participants were mocking them. As the Rangers forced everyone out of the Amphitheater the MP3 participants were listening to a song titled Peace, Love and Happiness on their headsets.

Terry and I were asked to leave the area as well although my sketch wasn’t finished. It turns out that most of the entrances to the theater had NO TRESPASSING signs hung on velvet ropes. In order to sketch in the final details I sat at the edge of the roped off area adding background details. With the crowd contained on a grassy knoll the lead Park Ranger became more indignant claiming he had been ignored and everyone should be sent to jail. He was finally able to assert some authority to a captive audience. Jane Thompson stepped forward trying to reason with him and assumed responsibility for the group. A Police Officer took her license and issued her a summons that banned her from Lake Eola Park for one year. You might wonder what her deviant agenda might be, well she is the President of A Gift for Teaching which helps transfer the communities surplus materials and resources FREE to teachers and students in need. I applaud her efforts to bring this organizations work to the public’s attention. My simple act of sketching suddenly felt like a quiet plea for freedom of expression. The police watched me with suspicion until I finished my sketch. The irate Park Ranger asked me to step aside so he could take a picture of the NO TRESPASSING sign I was sitting near. Perhaps he needed that photo for his trophy case or to remind me that I was sitting dangerously close to the forbidden zone. In Iran thousands of brave people took a stand for democracy but here in Orlando you might face possible arrest for dancing in a public park.

A related article at “The Daily City“.