Seen up close, butterflies become monsters.

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When it began to rain during Artlando, I ran inside the Orlando Museum of Art for cover. A crowd of people had the same idea. Inside the museum, local art galleries had exhibits. Jai Gallery was set up in the lobby. I was curious about a large hyper real photograph of a butterfly. Artist and architect James Cornetet was taking microscopic photos of a butterfly. The digital camera was set up on a metal framework which allowed James to move the camera in tiny increments. To get the final high resolution image he shoots hundreds of photos horizontally, vertically and in depth. The camera has a very shallow depth of field which means the tip of an antenna might be in focus but the butterfly head might be out of focus. James had an exhibit titled “High Fidelity” of his monstrous insects at Jai Gallery. Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon was also on hand to let people know about Jai Gallery. One of Josh Garrick‘s black and white photos of a sculpted Greek god’s head was also on display.  Josh’s photos went on exhibition at the National Archaeological Museum in Greece. He was the first American artist to ever have his work displayed there.

Snap! Orlando teamed up with The Falcon and The Gallery at Avalon Island for a special installation at Artlando. The exhibit featured the art of Szymon Brodziak Photography, Aurora Crowley and an interactive digital installation ‘Beautiful Chaos’ by Nathan Selikoff. The exhibit was in the rotunda of OMA, as well as the galleries located to the left of the museum’s entrance. Once I was done with my sketch, I ran outside to my tent to make sure none of the cards on display had gotten wet. Everything was dry, but I was shocked to see that the tip jar which was half full of dollar bills earlier in the day, was now empty. I was furious. Who would stoop so low to steal money from a tip jar? Later that day I found out that my wife Terry had removed the money, “for safe keening.” The tip jar earned me enough money to pay for the food truck feast I enjoyed later that day.

The Urban Art Museum: Kickstarting Party

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Jai Gallery, (101 S. Garland Ave, Suite 101, Orlando, Fl), held a Kickstarter party for the Urban Art Museum on August 9th.  The Urban Art Museum is NOT a building, it is a project designed to
enhance the cultural and artistic experience in the city of Orlando by providing public art installations  that are meaningful, and beautiful. It is art with a vision and a
purpose. Gallery owners Coralie Claeson-Gleyson and Dennis Liddy welcomed everyone warmly to Jai.

Behind the stage, photos of Greek antiquities on aluminum were by local artist Josh Garrick.  His work will soon hang in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. The museum is ranked as one of the top ten museums in the world and t his is the first time an American has ever exhibited in this prestigious museum so this is a true benchmark. Mayor Buddy Dyer and Linda Chapin were at the opening for Josh’s photos as well as George Kakava the National Archaeological Museum’s curator who was flown in from Greece.

The project is spearheaded by architects James Cornetet and Wes
Featherston, who have offices in the newly restored Cameo Theater. James took the microphone and briefly explained the project for the patrons in the gallery.  James told me that is important for people to “like” the Urban Art Museum on Facebook since a large number helps him promote the idea to local and national businesses. The first art installation will be by artist Marcos Cruz who specializes in using acid-etched aluminum. Marcos has pieces in the new Amway Center garage at each of the elevator doors. He had school children in Parramore create drawings which he then acid etched into metal. Unfortunately the school children never got to see the finished work that they helped create. It is a shame that the city didn’t follow through by funding a reception where the kids could see the art installed. It might have made a huge impact for a child to see their art permanently on display in public. Marcos had some smaller pieces on display in Jai Gallery that had a flower pattern cut out of the raw aluminum. One piece was sold that night.

The Kickstarter raised over $4,000 which is enough to fund the first installation which will appear in the Mills-50 District at 934 N. Mills Avenue. There is a tight gap between buildings that pedestrians would throw bottles, beer cans and other garbage into. The plan is to have a tall vertical aluminum facade that would block the space and beautify the area. The metal sculpture might also incorporate a back lit display. Marcos explained that he might incorporate some of the visual history associated with the site. Hopefully the Urban Art Museum will continue to expand creating a more vibrant city.

Wine Women & Shoes

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Wine Women and Shoes held at Sea World‘s Ports of Call on May 18th, raised money to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida which is a private, nonprofit organization that collects and distributes donated food to more than 500 nonprofit partner agencies in six Central Florida counties: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia.

When Terry and I arrived at Ports of Call, we first had our photo taken. The photographer remembered that I had sketched Wine Women and Shoes last year and she later took several shots of me at work. Maria Diestro lead Terry and I inside a bit early so I could get a jump on my sketch. I immediately focused my attention on these couches bathed in magenta light. No one was seated yet but I figured women wearing high heels would definitely want to sit and rest.

Terry sampled the food and wine while I sketched. She sat on the couch and I caught her fingerirg her iPhone. The only other men in the room were waiters holding silver platters with high heel shoes on them. There were vendors everywhere and a percentage of any sales went to Second Harvest. For $50 you could buy a key to a closet door. Inside that closed was merchandise valued at over $6,000.

Wendy Wallenberg and Coralie Claeysen-Gleyson, the director at Jai Gallery, joked around with Terry for a while.  This was my first time meeting Coralie and I was so pleased that she knew about my sketch-a-Day project. Wendy was wearing an industrial pair of high heels that seemed to catch every woman’s eye. There was a competition for the woman wearing the most fabulous shoes and I heard Wendy won. Terry lamented that she didn’t wear her Eiffel tower themed high heels. With my sketch done, I had time to nibble one pastry before the food was carted away.

Jai Gallery

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Josh Garrick informed me that he would be reciting a Homerian Greek Myth at Jai Gallery (101 South Garland Avenue Orlando FL) on Third Thursday. Josh took the gathered patrons on a journey through the world of Barbara Sorenson‘s artwork. Dancers from John DiDonna productions / Empty Spaces Theater Co(llaboration) performed to the narration. Jennifer Bonner designed some magnificent cloaks for the dancers that mimicked and accentuated tall sculptures in the room. Josh spoke of potions for the fairest in the land as he stood by large vases. I didn’t realize that this Snow White theme dated back to Greek myths.

Wendy Wallenburg was shooting pictures and Carl Knickerbocker had ventured out of his art studio to gallery hop.
Melisse Mila Makaroff was one of the dancers and I almost caught her in my sketch but the moment flowed past too quickly. The performance moved all throughout the gallery for just 20 minutes and I could only catch one view. As people mingled afterwards, I rushed to complete what I had started. This was my second sketch of the night and I needed to get home. Patrick Greene tripped on one of Barbara’s colorful metal sculptures and I laughed out loud. The pretentious veil had been lifted.