World Cup at Hollerbach’s

Posted on by Thor

On June 17th, I went up to Sanford to visit Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Deli to watch the World Cup. Hollerbach’s is a traditional German restaurant with the goal of providing you with a memorable meal and to experience German Gemuetlichkeit, which is a sense of
well-being and happiness that comes from enjoying the company of friends
and family while savoring good food and drink. Claudia Mundlos who runs a blog called Sanford 365 gave me a tip that the restaurant is a popular meeting place to watch World Cup Soccer. Apparently the place goes crazy when the German team is playing. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to Hollerbach’s on the day Germany was playing. 

Brazil was playing Mexico and the game resulted in not a single goal being scored. I’m used to watching basketball where hundreds of points are scores. In comparison, soccer seems slow but I’ve played and know it is damn fun when you are on the field. Hollerbach’s was only mildly full. Most patrons didn’t even notice the game. They focused on good food instead. I ordered some schnitzel and it was an amazing meal washed down with a cold beer.

John Rife and his wife Kamrin were in the crowd. He stopped over to say hello. They were on a date night and they stopped at Hollerbach’s as a rest stop. Such a small world. My work was on display at John’s, East End Market for many months. I just took down the show yesterday. The proprietor of the restaurant recognized my style because an illustration I did for Orlando Life, has been hanging on the wall near the restrooms for several years. The waitress in traditional garb also stopped by several times to check on my progress. I found out that there is one of those drink and paint events at Hollerbach’s once a week. For the price of admission people get a canvas and paint and they are walked through every step of creating a painting. I might return to sketch that someday. Even better are the German musicians who rock the place with German music. Check the restaurant’s calendar and get out to experience Glemuchlichkeit  for yourself.

East End Art

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On Wednesday May 14th many of the pieces from my retrospective show were moved to East End Market (3201 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL.) I was on hand to make sure all the labels were with the right sketches. Most of the hanging was done by volunteers, Halee Sommer, Livia Morgane, and Emily Jourdan.

It started to rain heavily just as we all removed the art from Patrick Kahn‘s SUV. We all made a mad dash to the stairwell and found cover just before the deluge. The artwork made it inside without getting wet.

 22 original sketches were hung upstairs in the Community room.  Each was leaned up against the wall where it would be hung. Someone didn’t lean one of the frames back enough, and it crashed forward to the floor. The glass didn’t break, so no harm done. Some sort of morning Brunch had just ended so all the tables were set up. We decided to hang one piece over each stud in a sort of rural woodwork that covers the lower half of the wall. This resulted in even spacing between each piece and an airy well curated look to the whole room. Halee and Emily worked closely together to get all the measurements right. Emily held the hammer choked up by the hammer head.  Part of me wanted to coach her on how to hold the hammer right, but she got the job done so I let it go.  Every measurement was accurate and level. Even when mathematically accurate, each piece was checked by eye to be sure it looked level. The show was hung incredibly fast.

John Rife, East End’s owner showed us how to aim the spot lights onto the art, and then Halee took on the fearless task of sitting on top of the ladder and aiming each light. I wanted to sketch her high wire act, but aiming each light took only a few minutes. Instead I sketched downstairs in a narrow hallway where the 30 by 24 inch prints were hung. There was constant foot traffic so it was hard to find a spot where I wouldn’t block traffic. I sat near a water fountain across from the woman’s room to get the sketch.

Patrick  offered us all lunch on him. Livia speaks French, so we all ordered Parisian sandwiches. There was only one Parisian left, so I ordered a Tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. These three simple ingredients with a light touch of olive oil makes an absolutely sumptuous meal. Livia is going west on a road trip soon, so the lunch conversation turned to travel. Emily is a photographer, so we discussed the challenges of travel when you want to pause and take in the scene while the tours rush on by.  I related the details of my cross country road trip that I took from Colorado to Florida on the day after 9-11. Amazingly everyone knows where they were on that day. Livia in Europe remembered first hearing the news and Emily had just finished an exam in school when the school intercom told the teachers to turn on the TV. Her instructor disregarded the announcement at first but was eventually swayed. A strange day that few ever forget.

Stop by the East End market to see my art on display. Check out the many events held upstairs in the community room to see 22 of my originals on display.

Winter Park Harvest Festival

Posted on by Thor

 On November 17th, the day after the ice skating rink opened, The Annual Winter Park Harvest Festival was held on the West Lawn of Central Park. The white tent in my sketch is where the ice rink is housed.The festival is the brain child of John Rife who wants to help educate people to the benefits of eating locally grown produce. A community garden demonstrated what plants did well in Florida.

Since the festival was held right before Thanksgiving, people could consider getting some locally grown, whole hearted goodness on the dinner table for the holiday After walking around and inspecting the fifty or so market tents, I was drawn to the sound of music. Several bays of hay and some speakers were piled onto the back of a truck trailer that served as the stage. A bare scrawny tree offered no shade for the performers and it was hot in the sun. I walked around the staging area several times searching for a shady spot with a good view. I finally leaned against a tree quite far from the stage. Austin Miller was performing. People sat on hay bales and families picnicked on the grass as they listened. “Hey, are you a registered voter?” I was asked. “Yes.” I said. “Well then would you like to sign a petition to help preserve our natural resources?” I had already signed that petition downtown. I heard his pitch again and again. The music was just background noise for the fervor. I didn’t care. It was a beautiful day.

Gailanne Amundsen, of Jubal’s Kin stopped to say hello. Her brother Roger Amundsen had started a locally grown business and he had a tent. Unfortunately, Jubal’s Kin wasn’t scheduled to play. There is a deep rooted Appalachian honesty to their songs that I love. I also bumped into Mark Baratelli and Julie Norris with her daughter Maya. Anna McCambridge Thomas offered me several fried crab cakes from the Big Wheel Food Truck. Boy were they good. Several people I hadn’t met before stopped to tell me they follow my work online. One artist insisted I have to get involved in the annual Winter Park Paint Out. I’ve wanted to sketch that event for the past two years but there was always a scheduling conflict. After my sketch was done, I went to the Big Wheel Food Truck and ordered a stuffed Avocado. I relaxed in the shade and soaked in the music.

ReThinking the City

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At Urban ReThink, several local activists and organizers were invited to give presentations about how they are helping reshape the city. Each was allowed to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each. John Rife spoke about organic food growers in Orlando. A few years ago there were just 12 organic growers in the organization, at the last meeting there were 150 people. They arranged to sell organic food boxes in Orlando and 400 have been sold to date. Their catch phrase is, “local is lovely”. They are helping bring sustainable food products to Central Florida. A public garden is being planned in an empty lot on the corner of Eola and Robinson. On November 19-20 John is hosting the first Harvest Festival in Winter Park. The two day event will focus on celebrating local food and the farmers, chefs, entrepreneurs and non-profits that bring that harvest of their fields to our plates.

After the local presentations, Dawn Silensky was Skyped in from Pittsburgh. She told us about the storefront project. Together with Jon Rubin, Dawn turned an abandoned store into a waffle shop and a mini talk show TV studio. The shop was between two night clubs and they wanted to attract the club kids as costumers. Locals that frequented the waffle shop were interviewed. Dawn is an artist and she said, “conversations are my process and people are my medium.” The sales of waffles keep the conversation alive. She feels that culture is a personal thing. An intercontinental dinner party was held where skype projected on a large screen was used to make it seem like Iranians were seated at the same table as the American diners.

A portion of the building seemed to go unused and it was converted into the Conflict Kitchen, which is a walk up restaurant where you order food from countries America is at war with. This walk up window is reinvented every six months featuring another countries cuisine. The food wrappers have commentary about the countries culture, helping start discussion and debate. Each meal is a cultural exchange. Dawn feels art needs to move outside the studio and out into the streets. Food helps facilitate that. Food is something comfortable, something everyone needs. The point that Dawn and all the presenters made clear is that we all can help bring culture home. When you have a vision, just go out and do it. Start small and let the idea grow. Don’t over think. Each of us can make a difference.