Nude Nite

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On Valentines Day, I got to the opening of Nude Nite Orlando at about 10PM, which was a late night out for me. It had been raining all day and it was still drizzling. The event was held at an abandoned warehouse at 639 W. Church St. Orlando, FL. This is several blocks west of the Amway Center in Parramore. Gentrification has pushed its way west but several blocks still had rundown tin roof houses and abandoned properties. I decided it hadn’t been a good idea to park downtown and walk west to the warehouse.

I knew I had arrived when I heard loud music and saw light shining out of cracks in the warehouse foundation. A crude sign outlined in rope was nailed to a tree, it read, “Jesus Saves.” There wasn’t a line to get in. Attendance was surprisingly light. I walked around the perimeter of the warehouse searching for my sketch subject. A nude woman in a gas mask was posing on a pedestal. I considered sketching her but she kept moving in slow motion. She would be a frustrating subject. Wendy Wallenburg and Linda Saracino greeted me. They seemed very excited about a male dancer’s performance.

I started blocking in a second sketch of a woman being body painted near a golden tree. My attention as I sketched however was drawn to a woman seated in a U shaped ottoman in the background. I erased my sketch and moved closer to her to sketch. She was regal, poised and still. Periodically she would raise her arms up to imitate the pose in the photo hung in front of her. I liked when she relaxed, looking off in the distance. The green light gave her an odd glow. When she took a break, a group of girls asked me if it was alright to sit in the ottoman. “I don’t see why not.” was my simple response. They started posing for photos imitating the picture. One girl took her sweater off to pose causing a chorus of giggles and photos.

I heard the performers on the main stage where a crowd of people had gathered. A DJ and his girlfriend introduced themselves. I had just met them at a DRIP Art Night event and I had even sketched the girl as she danced in her polka dot undies. She looked like Halle Berry. Someone else asked me if I was from the Maitland Art Center. Odd question. “I’ve been to the Art Center, but I can’t say they sent me.” I replied. He explained that in past years, there had been artists sketching a model at Nude Nite. I was the only artist he saw creating art.  A woman asked if she could leave her drink next to me as she shot photos. I said, “Sure”. She commented on how small my palette was. I replied, “It’s not how big the palette is, its how you use it.” Of all the art I saw, I made a note of two sketches by artist Ray Richardson from Kissimmee. One was of a nude Cinderella and the other of a nude Snow White munching on a candied apple. Both women were overweight, looking like desperate house wives looking for attention.

I was using a new fountain pen. I discovered a major flaw in its design when I tried to twist the cap off to put the pen away. The twisting motion caused the pen to spit out a huge gush of ink onto the sketch. “Mother F*@$er” I muttered. Just then Kelly Stevens the event organizer walked up. She liked the sketch and I let my frustration and annoyance melt away. The spill was actually a blessing, because I started painting with pure thick pigment which is something I should do more often. As I was getting ready to step back out into the rain, I saw Kelly on a stage posing with patterns of light dancing on her outfit. A computer generated image was being mapped and projected onto her as she posed. Someone held up a mirror so she could see herself. She was laughing and having a great time.

You have one last chance to experience Nude Nite tonight from 6PM to midnight. There is plenty of parking near the warehouse.

Dawn Rosendahl

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In the Orlando Arts Magazine, I learned that there is a resident artist program at the Maitland Arts Center. The work of Dawn Rosendahl was on the cover, so I contacted her to see if I could stop by to learn about her work and do a sketch. Artist and architect J. Andre Smith established the research studio in 1937. The studio acted as a haven for artists of national prominence in the winter months, The tradition continues today with the Artist in Action program.

Dawn’s studio door was slightly ajar, so I knocked lightly and went inside. The room was perhaps ten foot square and one wall had large barn doors which would be helpful if you worked large. Robin pointed out that there was a mural painted on the opposite side of the doors, so they were never used. A skylight offered extra illumination. Dawn was working at a folding table where she was surgically altering a book. She used an xacto knife to carve into the book  at times unearthing illustrations and creating stair stepped forms like rice paddies in China. A series of circular cut pages folded back resembled a clam shell. A large pile of fresh books and encyclopedias sat in the corner of the room next to her. She had a one foot diameter cardboard tube that was about four feet high in the opposite corner. She plans to create book totem poles.

Dawn studies art at the American Academy of Art and the Art Institute in Chicago. She worked as a sculptor at Disney World, doing the scale sculpted studies of the swan and dolphin for those respective hotels. She told me a story about a creative who couldn’t get approval on a project because an executive kept insisting the color used didn’t match a pan tone color swatch. To get the approval, the guy decided to paint over the pan tone swatch. The project was approved.

Artist Robin Pedrero stopped in since she was dropping off a painting. She and Dawn had a discussion about pricing  art work. Robin felt that if a prospective buyer was willing to spend $75 on a painting, then they could just as well afford to pay $200.  I am of the opinion that art work in Orlando is  all to often under priced and under valued. It was nice hanging out in an artists studio and having another artist visit. It made me feel that there is an artist community in Orlando.

Artist Critique Series Led by Josh Garrick

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 I was running late getting to the Art and History Museums of Maitland, (210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland), for the free monthly art critique series hosted by Josh Garrick. The critiques are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Guest Panelists Robin Maria-Pedrero and Terry Hummel joined Josh for at the Germaine Marvel Building. When I got there, the room was packed with people standing behind the back row of folding seats. These critiques seem to be quite popular and gaining momentum. I sat in my artist stool leaning against the wall. Artists of every medium and skill level are encouraged to participate. Josh graciously acknowledged my blog and welcomed me.

Lynn Polley was the artist who was showing her work when I arrived. I quickly blocked her into the sketch but by the time I sketched the work on display on the easels, I had to incorporate other artists pieces. Lynn showed landscapes done in oil. One piece had a very forced perspective. She described the day that she did the plein air painting. She was worried about the angle but then she relaxed and enjoyed the process. Another piece was of the historic Casa Feliz in Winter Park. Another artist, Laura Bates showed a very similar painting of an archway at “The Casa.” Her paintings were filled with warm light. The guy seated in front of me seemed to be the time keeper. He kept waving a sheet of paper that said, one minute to go. All of the critiques were constructive. The point hammered home most often was to keep at it. Some artists had long periods in their life in which they weren’t creating and Josh stressed that they had to work at art even if they weren’t feeling inspired. All the artist’s paintings were on a table against the far wall. I looked at them all to get artists names, but none of the art was signed.

Most of the art shown was representational. The last artist to show her work, Barbara Koepell, had a brown and white painting which she did as she studied the patterns in a tree’s bark. She began to see figures and shapes and she free associated as she worked. Terry Hummel loved the piece as did Maria and Josh. Josh related a story from his time in NYC when he was a teacher as the School of Visual Arts. He was looking at an abstract painting and he didn’t really appreciate it. Silas Rhodes, the founder of SVA, was standing behind him. Silas said, “Why don’t you like abstract art?” Josh was taken aback since he hadn’t voiced his opinion. Silas then told Josh, “Let the painting wash over you like the waves in the ocean.” It was a defining moment for Josh on his road to art appreciation. I attended SVA but never met Silas. Now I wish I had. It’s never too late to change your perspective..

Several times, the importance of using social media to promote art was mentioned. Josh however ran into a case in which he had a cyber stalker. He used to “friend” anyone but now he is more careful. After the Critique was over, Josh walked up to me as I was packing up. He reached out to shake my hand. Without thinking, I reached up to shake his hand. I forgot I had a pencil in my hand and I managed to stab his palm. I shouted out, “Oh my god, I’m sorry, I’m like Edward Scissorhands!”

Artists’ Critique & Conversation

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The Art & History Museums of Maitland presented an exciting new initiative to assist in the professional development of local artists. A new series, titled Artists’ Critique & Conversation, will be held on the 4th Tuesday of every month at 6:00 p.m.
The critiques will be held in the Germaine Marvel Building, (210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland). The Critique is FREE and the public is encouraged to attend. A bar was available with beer, wine, water and soft drinks.

The critiques will be led by artist, arts writer, and instructor Josh Garrick, along with two additional panelists each month. Parker Sketch offered his insights at the first event. After the panel review, all attendees displayed their work and engaged in discussions and peer reviews.

Artists of every medium and skill level are encouraged to participate. Each critique will review up to 9 artists, and all artists MUST sign up in advance. Each artist can only sign up for one of the nine slots every three months.

Garrick, who has spent his career in the arts, discusses the judging and critique of art, “From my years as a teacher at New York City’s School of Visual Arts, it has always been important to me – when ‘judging’ art – to create an environment in which my students and colleagues may expand their abilities, and not to insist on a style, or change an individual’s personal voice,” he says. “Rather, the most important consideration for me, as an aesthetic judge, is to seek out those persons whose work exhibits a unique and personal form of creativity. “Other important considerations include: composition, use of color, technical ability, control of the medium, and use of light and shading. While judgments of aesthetic value may be linked to emotions or cultural conditioning, I’ve found that I have the ability to put those aside and find – when judging – that my initial response to a work is my finest barometer.

“Having ‘judged’ well over 1000 student portfolios and Art Festivals throughout the Eastern US, I put aside my personal ‘interpretations,’ and allow the work to ‘sweep over me,’ as I was taught by Silas Rhodes, founder of the School of Visual Arts. Meanings and symbols mean little to me in the judging process. My senses, emotions, and training – or some combination of these – mean much more.

“When I participate as a juror, I ‘see’ from an artist’s point-of-view, and from a teacher’s point-of-view, and as a person willing to be public with an honest opinion. Jurors must be willing to voice their opinion … and stand by it, with everyone understanding that it is one man’s opinion – no more and no less. When my considered opinion of a student’s work was negative, I would tell that person, ‘It is one man’s opinion. It is an educated opinion, but it is one opinion.’ If there is a constructive lesson to be learned, that point is worth remembering.

“Finally,” Garrick concludes, “it is up to each Artist to maintain his or her own choices and opinions. This is YOUR work, and the most important judgment is how YOU judge your work.”

The next Artist’s Critique is Tuesday July 24th starting at 6PM in the Maitland Art Center’s Germaine Marvel Building, 210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland.

Hindu Cowboys

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On the second Friday of every month there is Culture and Cocktails at the Maitland Art Center. In May, the band was the Hindu Cowboys. I had seen this band once before at a Friends of the Philharmonic, Jeans and Jewels fundraiser. This was my first opportunity to sketch them. Terry planned to join me, but she was late, so I started sketching even as band members set up speakers and equipment. They played an assortment of originals and covers. My wife, Terry Thorspecken, arrived and spread open a blanket on the grass beside me. I was working in one of the larger Stillman & Birn sketchbooks, so it took a bit more time to splash down color washes. I managed to finish by the time the band finished their first set.

Terry wasn’t in the mood to see any art, so I walked into the Maitland Art Center on my own. On display was student work all of which was of cropped in forced perspectives of home exteriors. The work was painterly and bold. Much of it was quite impressive so the teacher must have had a strong and definite premise. I then went across the street to the Mayan courtyard where there was a poetry reading. The lit page illuminated the poets face from below. Folding chairs were arranged in the courtyard and an audience of perhaps 20 people listened intently. The poet read about the irony of being called a “domestic partner”.

The Hindu Cowboys began to play again. Terry was gone. I listened to several songs and then decided to leave.

Aloha Holidays

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The Maitland Art Center hosted an event called Aloha Holidays. The street in front of the arts center was blocked off making way for an assortment of crafts tents and food vendors. I wandered the tents looking at all the tropical delights. My attention was immediately drawn to the music act and a fellow who had to be the real Santa Claus. His beard was real and his Hawaiian print shirt and shorts fit in nicely with the tropical theme. Periodically children of young families would pose with him.
Aloha Productions was the name of the music group and they played non stop. At one point two chairs were placed in front of the musicians and two Polynesians demonstrated how to weave a basket from palm fronds. There was a lively Hula dance demonstration as well. A Polynesian rendition of Over the Rainbow was one of the more memorable numbers. The song is very relaxing and for a moment the rush of the holidays no longer mattered. The producer of the group saw me working and he gave me his cards saying I should sketch at weddings. He said that with the economy going south, that more couples are getting married. I would have thought the opposite would be true but he should know.

Confluence Opening

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Confluence is a show mounted by four women artists who decided to collaborate on a series of large painted panels on which they all worked. The four artists are Brigen Gresh, Vicki Jones, Dina Mack and Anna McCambridge. I followed their progress sketching them on several occasions as they created the works. They were a fun group of artists to observe. Creating the art was a fun playful experience. Laughter was as much a part of their creative process as the long hours of painting.
Anna called the day of the opening and asked me to bring some prints of my sketches that I had done of the project and I was glad to do so. When I arrived the first artist I saw was Dina who was in the outside courtyard with her husband. We hugged and then I went inside to see the show. I placed my signed prints on the table along with a full sketchpad and some business cards and I wandered into the gallery. The first gallery had the artists individual works created before the collaboration. Each artist had a distinct style. In the next gallery, the huge panels lined both walls of a long hallway and the crowd was getting thick. I found Anna who I didn’t recognize at first because she had died her hair red. I congratulated her and continued to explore. I began to realize that I recognized many faces in the room. I had sketched many of these people and going to the opening was a fun way to reconnect with people who had influenced my art and this blog. Strangers approached me and asked if I was the sketch blogger. It was fun meeting new people.
At the end of the hallway there was a video showing the women at work. It was fascinating to watch. The video highlighted much of the playful spirit yet hard work that went into creating this show. In the next room the walls were painted partially grey with white slashed in which hand written messages appeared. Then in the final gallery the artists again showed individual works, this time however the thoughts and processes learned from the collaboration showed in each piece. Each artist had picked up new ways of painting and seeing. It was amazing to see how they had changed and grown as artists, learning from each other.
I returned to the table where I had dropped my signed prints and was amazed to find someone had walked off with them. Thank goodness the sketchbook was still on the table and I quickly tucked it in my bag before it also disappeared. I am far to trusting, or the Orlando art crowd is so naive that they consider art prints a free commodity. Well whoever took the prints, I hope you frame them and give them a good home.
There was to be an after party at the Enzian Theater and I drove over there but the parking lot was packed. Exhausted, I finally decided to give up and I headed home. I had been sketching all day and I needed some rest.

Maitland Art Center

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I went to the Maitland Art Center Sketch Club for the first time attend the figure drawing class. It was early evening and a light drizzle had started. I was one of the first to arrive. I introduced myself to Bill Orr who is the fellow in the Hawaiian shirt in this sketch. Bill told me quite a bit about his past. He once lived in this very room back when it was divided up into small apartments. His room had a small fireplace and the window seen in this sketch. He served in World War II being part of a cavalry regiment. When the war ended all the horses were sold off in Europe rather than returned to the States. As an artist he made his living doing life sized paintings of horses. This preoccupation keeps him busy to this day. A few times during the class I peaked at his drawings and they are really good. I am sure I could learn a thing or two from this master, but the class is just an open drawing session with no instruction. Bill helped save the Maitland Art Center when developers wanted to level the site.

Although the nude model was a beautiful young woman, I unfortunately didn’t look at her very much. I am more interested in the everyday mundane moments of peoples lives rather than a view of the classical figure. I still had to pay the model fee which I think was $15. It seems like a waste since I didn’t glance her way very often.

Maitland Art Center

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The Maitland Art Center held an open house. I was told there would be an opportunity to sketch from a model, so I jumped at the chance. I had not been to a figure drawing class in ages. The drawing workshop was held in this small outdoor courtyard. It was a beautiful day and the mocking birds were chirping up a storm in the trees. In all there were about 10 artists including myself sketching from the model.
I stood by a small green wooden gate just outside the courtyard so I could see everyone. The moderator asked me if I could tell any passers by to pick up a flier if they were curious about the class. Sure enough quite a few people walked up to me to ask about the class and I was happy to talk and give them a flier.
Besides this class there were also many tents set up with artists showing their work. A sculptor was working in wax and the patron who had won the sculpture in an auction was there to see the work in progress. After the sketch workshop was over I wandered the event and wished I had more time to sketch but I had to get to another sketching location.

The Research Studio in the 21st Century

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Friday evening I went to the Maitland Art Center to see the opening of RS21. I knew one of the exhibiting artists namely Kelledy Francis having met her at the Kerouac House. Kelledy exhibited some of her couture dresses from her Four Seasons series. She had planned to hire models and have them standing in a small man made pond out in the Maitland Arts Center court yard. However heavy rains were predicted so she decided on a more fine arts approach to exhibit her dresses. The three dresses seen in this sketch are hung from the ceiling by thin wire. The seasons represented are Spring, Fall and Summer. A woman in a gold dress expressed an excited interest in the dresses and I hope she and Kelledy had a chance to talk.
The three people sitting at the table were there for quite some time. It turns out that the woman typing was transcribing everything the young couple was saying. They were actually part of the exhibit put together by Kim Walz. Kim explained that the transcriptions were being fed wirelessly to a large screen in the exhibition room as were live texts messages. She apparently also had speech recognition software which would then print gallery goers conversations in real time.
The cutting edge exhibit and installations were created in the spirit of the work started at “The Research Studio,” founded by André Smith in the 1930’s. The show runs through July 13th 2009.