The Little Sketch that no one Loves.

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I have 7 large format prints on display at the Orlando Public Library downtown (101 E Central Blvd Orlando FL). The show was hung on New Year’s Eve and will be on display through February. The prints are on the ground floor just past the book checkout counters to the right. Hanging the work was an adventure in itself.

I originally threw 8 prints into the back seat of my car and secured them with the seat belt and a bungee chord. I was told that a parking spot was reserved for me behind the library in the loading dock area. Unfortunately all those spaces were full, so I parked in the loading dock itself. The entry to the mail room was through those large plastic strips you might find in a meat locker. I tried to keep the strips from slapping the frames. Calls had to be made before I could enter the library through two locked doors. I was offered help bringing the framed pieces inside, two at a time. With the help, we only had to make two trips to my car. Once the pieces were inside I was told I would have to move my car. There was metered parking nearby, but instead I drove about half a mile away to get some free suburban parking.

On the long hike back to the library I started thinking about one of the prints. The sketch in question had been done at the opening of Morgan Wilson‘s first one woman show at Falcon Bar and Gallery. Her work in the show titled The Holy and Obscene, was sensual, edgy and surreal. She has an amazing ability to capture the female form while making you think about America’s prudish views about sexuality.  The fact that I documented her opening made me a bit deviant by association.

The same print had hung in the Winter Park Chambers for several months along with about 25 other framed origin sketches. When that show came down, I was told that The Holy and Obscene piece had been taken down half a through the run of the show because a commissioner noticed the F-Bomb written on a woman’s tiara. I decided that I might have to open the frame and cut a Post-it note and cover the tiara.  Jessica Earley is an artist who also works at the library, and I figured she might be willing to help with the edit. As luck would have it, there was a Post-it in my pocket.

When I finally got back to the library, the piece I had been debating about was turned to the wall. I walked up behind two staff members who where discussing the piece. They didn’t even mention the F-Bomb. What they had noticed was a male phallus. I didn’t even remember drawing a phallus. I imagined the infamous hidden tower in Disney’s Little Mermaid poster. I took a second look, and sure enough, there it was, flaccid, small and Morgan was shooting a cell phone photo of it.

When Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, he painted the monumental figures naked. After his death, an unknown artist was hired to paint thin fabric over the exposed men. In one fresco next to the alter, Michelangelo depicted Saint Peter willingly offered himself as a martyr. He was nude as both heroes and the humble were depicted, because
he was naked before God. The frescoes were renovated over a 20 year period and in 1994 the Chapel was re-opened. The restorers left the flimsy fabric censorship in place opening an ongoing debate in the art community.

Now I’m wondering if I should have edited Morgan’s work as it was depicted in my sketch. I drew a phallus without a second thought and yet it means that the sketch can never be exhibited publicly in Orlando. As an artist I have sketched hundreds of different nude models in figure drawing classes over the years. The naked human form is something I celebrate. I do, however understand and respect the Library’s policy. For that reason, I decided not to start placing Post-it notes all over the sketch. Instead, I quietly removed the forbidden art from public view.

Across from the men’s room, Martha Merritt was exhibiting mirrors framed with hundreds of shells. She showed me one framed aquatic skeleton that resembled a creature from outer space. Hidden within the structure she pointed out the shape of a crucifixion cross. She went on to explain that sand dollars have religious significance because they have 5 teeth that resemble holy doves.  I found it fascinating that there could be so much hidden religious significance in shells.  The day was a lesson in the Holy and Obscene. I still absolutely love Morgan’s paintings. She pokes fun at a society that celebrates its guns but hides sensuality. If you happen to stop by the library be sure to check out the shells for a taste of the holy, and then see my prints if you dare. You might want to bring along some Post-it notes just in case.

I Believe in You! Performance, Art and Dance Party

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I went to The Space (1206 E Colonial Dr. Orlando FL) on August 24th, right after “The Red Chair Affair” at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center (401 W Livingston St  Orlando, FL). Jessica Earley had organized a one night only performance driven event with a committed group of experimental artists who love what they do and love you too.

Several artists were invited to perform,
they each then curated another artist to show visual works.

 The Space turned out to be a small apartment right above a pizza shop near Mills Avenue. The front door was locked, so I went out back where a crowd was gathered. Mark Baratelli was just leaving. He reported that the event was packed and very hot. Having never been in the space, I had to go up to get a sketch. Admission was $2. The place was more than hot, it was a furnace. My stiff collared dress shirt became semi transparent with sweat. I whipped my brow with my tie.

There was a performance going on when I entered but there were so many people packed in the room, that I decided a sketch would be impossible. I went into a room filled with art and sat with my back against a closet door to sketch.

 Performing artists included, Jessica Earley,
Jack Fields,
Ashley Inguanta,
Melanie Lister,
Stephanie Lister,
Hannah Miller,
Jorgen Nicholas Trygved, and Christin Caviness. Hannah curated art by Winter Calkins. Winter had a fascinating piece that used cigarette butts as a sort of pointillism to depict someones lips and jaw. I was pleased that Winter knew of my work.

The large piece to my left was by Jack Fields. It had intricate crochet work, a sort of wizards hat and eyes peering out from everywhere. Flip-flops were enshrined on red velvet pillows. In the center of the room, letters were torn and re-assembled behind Plexiglas. The one line I could read said, “I hope you can say sorry.” The room itself was painted to look like the inside of a human body. Ribs and muscles were painted everywhere. The room had been used in a film and the walls were painted to show that the character was going insane. The film is now being submitted to film festivals.

Terry stopped in briefly with Matt McGrath. They couldn’t stand the heat and left to go to a bar. With the sketch done, I walked around and said hello to Becky Lane and Tisse Mallon. Jessica Earley had mascara running down her cheeks. She looked like a battered wife or junkie. The disheveled look must have been for her performance piece.  She had been concerned about how many people would show up. I believe she maxed out the capacity at The Space. I know that Christin performed a dance piece in the hot crowded space. Afterwards she went outside to collapse and catch her breath. Ashley gave her last poetry reading before she moved to NYC.  I thought that I didn’t see a single performance. As it turned out, I had sketched Jorgen Nicholas Trygveddoing an adaptation of “The Artist is Present” in which he Skyped in silence with people in a neighboring room. Now I know why he sat there so long staring at his computer. This was the performance that most intrigued me when I read the invitation, because I had been in NYC on the final day of Marina Abromovic‘s “The Artist is Present“.

I soaked up the ambiance like a wet sweaty sponge.

As I left, the dance party was pulsing in the back room DJ’d by
Jorgen. Terry wanted me to meet Matt and her at a bar, but my fancy leather loafers were giving me blisters. I think I over dressed and I was spent.

Hyper-Bolic

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Hyper-Bolic, written and performed by Jessica Earley, was staged at the Venue on Virginia Avenue before Fringe.  This show was raw and intensely personal, being all about Jessica’s break up with a boyfriend. Lindsay Smith and Stephanie Lister helped Jessica throughout the production. This performance was for one night only and the Venue was packed. The performance combined puppetry, dance and some forms of performance that defy definition. The show was build around the five stages of grief. I knew Jessica from her paintings which often expose women’s issues. When she spoke of her work in the past, she was always soft spoken yet sincere.

Things began quietly enough with a short shadow puppet show that presented love in it’s ideal form, lasting forever and surmounting mountains and streams. I sketched Jessica as she held a deer puppet as she said, “Oh Dear!” The stage was covered in white blankets and Jessica was covered in a white robe appearing like an ancient shaman. She sang to a small horse puppet that questioned her singing abilities. On this lonely landscape she masturbated with a huge sewing needle and held a conversation with a button which someone later told me was a symbol for the vagina.

Jessica stood on a table and imitated the poses of ideal couples who hugged and expressed love in idealized advertising images. The images flickered by at an increasing pace and she struggles to keep up. She used a cardboard laptop to try and reach out via social media which offered empty meaningless comfort from well meaning friends, leaving her lonelier than before.

A large dream catcher was assembled and Jessica became entwined
in it and struggled to break free as if caught in a spider’s web. Things truly became raw when Jessica called on a few friends to come on stage and join her in a ritual of healing. They each placed their hands on her as she raised her arms and shouted to the sky, “Heal me!” I noticed one of her friends had tears in her eyes as she participated in the ritual. Jack Fields who was seated at my table was called up and he told me later that he didn’t realize he would become part of the act, but having participated he felt even more involved in the act of recovery.

Jessica was able to catch lightning in a bottle. Everyone has experienced the heartbreak of relationships which don’t stand the test of time, and Jessica had found a way to express the torment and agony. I knew that Jessica had started modeling at Full Sail and it made sense that this exposure offered a form of personal acceptance. At the end of the show she stood before the audience naked as her hands laced through words of redemption and recovery.  I truly hope that she expands on the show and hopefully brings it to next years Fringe. She has hit a raw and fragile nerve. I had witnessed a performance that was truly trans-formative. How amazing to see an artist hit fill stride, finding new and creative ways to express herself. I felt honored to have been present.

Tenth Annual Grandma Party Bazaar

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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.

Cardboard Art Festival

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Mark Baratelli of TheDailyCity.com came up with the idea of having a Cardboard Art Festival. The opening night was Friday January 25th at the Orange Studio (1121 N Mills Ave, Orlando). I had to work till 9PM that evening, so I wasn’t even planning to go. Terry sent me a text photo of the new Dog Powered Robot techno beach buggy. She let me know that the event was open past midnight so there would be time to get there and do a sketch.  There was a line of people out the door to get in. I could see strips of Doug Rhodehamel corrugated cardboard bacon hanging from the ceiling. All of the Dog Powered Robots stood, deactivated in a corner.

The opening reception featured music and dancing with DJ Nigel and tons of cardboard sculptures filling up the space created by artists: Jessica Earley, Brendan O’Connor, Evan and Christie Miga, Adriaan Mol, Doug Rhodehamel, Nathan Selikoff. Cardboard dinosaur helmets lined the back wall created by Banjo Bob. They were just the right height where you could stand up and have your photo taken with the helmet on yet still mounted on the wall. Blue Moon beer was being served under the bacon strips and the carpeted dance floor was always full of dancers. After making the rounds with Terry, I settled in to sketch. Blue submarines and ferocious deep sea fish hovered over the dance floor. A rocket garden thrust vertically upward above a collection of mini robots. A tubular instrument resembling a pipe organ could be played by swatting the tube openings with cardboard fly swatters. A ten foot tall tube marionette stood with a tetrahedron head. People could pull chords to make him dance. I got plenty of abuse and by the end of the evening he was lying on the floor, a spent mess.

The opening night was an undeniable blow out success. The place was surreal, the music loud and the dancing furious and care free. It’s not too late to experience the madness in person.


Sunday January 27

  • 10am-11:30am for kids 7 and under
  • 12pm-1:00pm for kids 8 and above
  • Kids Matinee Sponsored and hosted by Kids Fringe and Mennello Museum of American Art $1
    admission. Kids only! Attendees will get to (1) use cardboard to build
    and decorate their very own mask, hat, or wings, (2) meet the famed Dog
    Powered Robot and (3) get a chance to tour the entire exhibit.
  • 7:30pm – 12am
  • Dog Powered Robot + Andy Matchett and the Minks, $5 admission (pay at the door, cash only), wine and beer by donation. Dog Powered Robot is a fantastic group of cardboard robots defending the world against evil via a robot powered by a Pomeranian. Andy Matchett and the Minks is a very popular and fun musical group.

Artists Process

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As part of the Corridor Project‘s first show, Walk on By, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, a UCF art instructor, sat in a thrown outside Urban ReThink starting at 6pm on September 5th accepting trash offerings. That evening artists gathered at ReThink to talk about their art and process.

Wanda was dressed in a tight red corset and had a huge wig of purple hair which was woven and balled up. Red and white jewels glistened in her hair. From the moment I entered, I knew I wanted to get close to her to sketch. Wanda’s regal performance piece had previously been done at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.


She began her discussion by asking the audience what they felt her performance was about. I hadn’t seen her performance, so I kept quiet. Her question rang forth like a challenge. The room was dead silent. A little boy started shrieking and complaining in the corner. With a regal flair Wanda raised her hand and shouted out “Excuse me!” The mom ushered her son out the door. Wanda explained that people often dump their shit on the people closest to them. She said her performance art was about intimacy. In one performance piece she invited people to lie in bed with her. In the quiet moments, some people cried.


Jessica Earley who yarn bombed the front of Urban Rethink discussed her art. She is soft spoken and began her talk by warning us of her shyness. As she discussed her art, she was never at a loss for words. She gazed at the far wall of the room as she spoke. Her thoughts and passions rang true. The projector wouldn’t work but Dina Mack helped her get it running. Jessica showed us some of her more controversial paintings that she had done. One painting she did was actually censored by a costumer in a local restaurant. Her paintings often visualize woman’s issues. Some show a woman’s longings to someday have a child. A painting showing a nude woman and child couldn’t be hung. The woman had some knitting covering her lap and a single strand of yarn lead to a baby who had on a knit cap and diapers. Black crows then flew up from the child’s head towards a flaming blue cell. Jessica has been painting for the past three years and her work is astonishingly intimate and sincere. A common thread through the evenings discussions was that artists love to experiment and explore different mediums. Jessica wants to continue performance art, music, dance, installations and visual art. Self expression can come in many forms.

Yarn Bombing

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Jessica Earley hosted a Craft Society Meeting at Urban ReThink, (625 E Central Blvd, Orlando), where she introduced participants to the elusive craft of Yarn Bombing.  Yarn Bombing is a global urban phenomenon in which crafty people are covering urban blight with colorful knitting. It is a soft comfortable form of colorful creative graffiti. A hardcore group of four or five women and one man showed up to knit or crochet the pieces that would ultimately be used to encase the bike rack outside Urban ReThink. As Jessica said in her invite, “Come get your granny on.”

Each person knitted and/or crocheted individual granny squares, or rectangles and then those pieces would be sewn them all together to make one large collaborative piece to cover the earth with. She had a yarn bombing book which showed entire trees covered in a tight warm cozy. The guy was taught a way of knitting in which he simply looped the yarn around his fingers. The result was a loose knit square. Jessica had strips of fabric which were given to each participant so they knew the correct width for each knitted section.

With my sketch done, I went outside where Jessica was sewing the pieces together around the rack. There was a light drizzle which discouraged me from starting a second sketch. A couple had stopped to ask Jessica about what she was doing. He joked, “It would be hard for anyone to complain about what you are doing. Of course if you were feeding people, then you might get arrested.”  Knitting is a slow process but by the time I decided to leave, at least a quarter of the bike rack had been converted into a colorful piece of urban art. Jessica will continue bombing in preparation for “The Corridor Project” which will be sweeping into various Orlando locations soon. Details to come…

Tisse’s Birthday Bash

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I had to leave after Tod Caviness did his spoken word performance at Urban ReThink. I went to the Mennello Museum to transfer several sketches on to the mural. The work went quickly so I decided to rush back to Tisse’s birthday party. When I re-entered Urban ReThink, I saw a dancer stretching.

There was home made birthday cake so I grabbed a slice. I grabbed a seat at a table with authors Karen Price and John Connelly to see what was next on the Urban ReThink stage. Chaz Yorick came in after having seen all the downtown gallery openings as part of Third Thursdays.

Tisse first met Elise Frost through various mutual friends in the Orlando dance circle and they finally had their first full conversation at Michael Sloan’s going away party.Elise took to the stage wearing a dogs mask and holding an umbrella. Elise moved and spoke in a childlike manner. She reminded me of Totoro. Her monologue had a child’s sincerity with dark undertones. The lantern implied a character lost in the woods. She spoke of her grandmother dying, yet she didn’t like her grandmother. Was this an infants Kabuki? A sinister bedtime story? I remained mystified and bewildered.

Tisse got on stage and started talking about how she gradually discovered Orlando’s arts scene. She moved from Chicago with her parents to Celebration Florida. She hated Celebration’s theme park facade and the clutter and chintz of 192. She missed the big city. She eventually moved downtown where she began to discover the true Orlando scene. The importance of any city is in the people you surround yourself with. Orlando is a small enough city where individuals can really make a difference. The theater scene is small enough where the performers truly appreciate the audience members. The people that stand out in her life are the people who have a passion for what they do and love to help out.

Suddenly she was talking to me, calling me the “Where’s Waldo” of the Orlando arts scene. She praised my work and persistence. I stopped my sketch to listen. It felt like all eyes were turned towards me. My right eye welled up, I’m not used to so much direct praise and adulation. I don’t know how to process it. Chaz was busily taking notes. Later as Tisse praised Jessica Earley she became overwhelmed and choked up, feeling thankful for the people in her life. Chaz took that emotional pause to start singing happy birthday to Tisse. Everyone joined in as she wiped away her tears. When the song was finished and the clapping died down, Tisse said, “Thanks I needed that moment to recover.” The room was filled with love.

Demographics

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Tisse Mallon knows how to celebrate her 30th birthday. She had an amazing all night party at Urban ReThink where she brought together friends from all aspects of Orlando’s arts and culture scene. She invited myself and six other artists to decorate a used U.S. Census Bureau bag. Tisse worked going door to door during the last census. Each field worker was given one of these Census Bags. When the census was over the bags were thrown out. These re-purposed bags are all now works of art. I was one of the first artists to arrive to drop off the bag. I re-purposed the mural I am working on by painting the people standing in line on the bag. Jessica Earley totally ripped apart her bag and created a charming door knob hanger of an owl. It was absolutely charming.

Inside each bag there were orange inter office envelopes. Genevieve Bernard used those envelopes to create cut out Census Monsters and Jessica used them to create a charming pine tree. She also used the envelopes to create the owl’s beak, feet and eyes. It was fun to see, “Name” and “Department” scrawled across the owl’s eyes. Scooter Cleveland sat on a table beside a bag that said, “Why Count?” in bold red letters. The bag was filled with food for the homeless. Scooter had been homeless on the streets of downtown Orlando for 18 months. He was in a car accident and a doctor told him he had to stay off his feet for four months. He was fired from his job. He stayed with family and friends but ultimately ended up on the streets. Now that he is off the streets, he is trying to establish a food share program for those who were left behind. A glass jar sat on the table beside him for donations.

Throughout the evening Tisse acknowledged and praised the artistic people that have touched her life. She pointed to Todd Caviness who helps kept spoken word alive in Orlando. He is a writer who is always willing to lend a hand to keep the arts scene vibrant in Orlando. No one expresses what it is like to be a Floridian better than him. Karen Price also read several of her short stories. One, about a mermaid with two tails was a charming morality tale (pun intended). The other was about a high school bully who later in life was served up a bitter justice of hard knocks in her violent deprived life. She didn’t recognize the female lawyer on her case as the victim of her childhood bullying. Such is fate.

The Censor

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Hannah Miller invited a small group of her friends to a birthday dinner at Little Saigon. The dinner conversations were lively and animated. Then the conversation turned to an unexpected topic, namely art censorship in Orlando. Jessica Earley had a painting of hers on exhibit at Pom Poms Tea house as part of a group show called “The Happy Glitter Show.” It is believed that a costumer at the tea house took it upon themselves to censor Jessica’s painting by placing a round bright yellow sticker on the piece. The painting depicts a group of women and written across the chest of one was, “Do the dishes. Feed the cat. Don’t be a C*nt.” Ironically Jessica had already censored herself by placing an * in place of the vowel. The management of Pom Pom’s was very apologetic and they removed the sticker once it was discovered.

As an artist I find the willingness of people in our community to deface and censor artwork very disturbing. Jessica was soft spoken and sincere as she expressed her concerns, “Someone in the community put the sticker on my painting. And business owners are afraid of what the people in our community might think of provocative or questionable art, so they ask that you don’t hang it in their business. We as a community are censoring ourselves and keeping our minds closed.” Her work deals with and respects woman’s issues. “It really is interesting to me, because there are a lot of artists who will portray women in very objectified ways through their art (pin up style art, etc..), and people most often will find this to be OK, because it has sort of seeped into being the norm. But if I make a painting dealing with some real things that women go through, for example, menstruation, then my painting won’t get hung.”

The options for exhibiting artwork in this town are limited to say the least. Artists must face the risk of exhibiting in bustling, sometimes smoke filled restaurants and bars just to get their work seen. The chances of work being damaged escalates in these crowded insecure settings. Now it seems people feel the need to censor and deface art that they do not understand or appreciate. “This blows my mind because I find my work to be quite innocent and respectful to the female. It’s very frustrating, because the work I do is very personal to me, but I’m not trying to be purposefully shocking in any sort of way. I’ve had a few different instances where I’ve felt cheated or censored.” Jessica said.