Illegal Art in Winter Park

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I went to the The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (445 N Park Ave, Winter Park, Florida 32789) for Spring Friday Nights. The Museum’s annual Rites of Spring Celebration included free
admission, live music, tours, and more.

Of  interest to me was, The Domes of the Yosemite, the largest
existing painting by Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), which was making its
post-conservation debut at the Morse through a special loan from the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum
in Vermont. The monumental 1867 painting, which had not been seen
outside the Athenaeum since its installation there in 1873. The huge painting was created in the context of the Hudson River School. These
loosely affiliated landscape artists produced grand, romantic images of
New York’s countryside. In this genre, no artist’s work was more luminous, theatrical,
or better loved. The painting was commissioned for $25,000.

I settled into a seat and started sketching the monumental painting along with a round Tiffany stained glass window that dominated the gallery. I had finished the line work and was blocking in some color when a guard stopped me. She was concerned for  the wood floors and asked me to stop. I have never spilled a drop of color doing my tiny watercolors, but she must have considered me an anarchist and or a slob. I added a few color notes like, Grey, Ochre, Orange, etc to let me know what my plan had been when I started painting. I then went outside the museum and sat on a bench to block in the colors there. That was an act of civil disobedience since sketching on Park Avenue is illegal in Winter Park. I walked back into the museum one more time to check the color scheme and went out to paint again. Outside it grew dark as the sun set. I grew discouraged and left. I haven’t returned to the museum since.

The Bierstadt is no longer at the Morse. Winter Park has an crazy back woods ordinance that prohibits the creation of art in it’s downtown streets. It seems the Morse also considers sketching, an illegal act. Sketching on the public bench outside the Morse could have been punishable with a $500 fine and or 30 days in jail. Welcome to the Central Florida arts scene.

Tiffany Chapel

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The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, (445 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789) Was open to the public for free on Christmas Eve. Guards in the museum seemed more relaxed. The guard in the Tiffany Chapel expressed how mush she liked seeing me work on the sketch.

In 1893 Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibited the chapel interior at the World’s
Colombian Exposition in Chicago that brought him international acclaim
few American artists enjoyed at the time. The chapel demonstrated the firm’s artistry and craftsmanship in
producing ecclesiastical goods ranging from clerical vestments and
furnishings to mosaics and leaded-glass windows. It so moved visitors at the time, that men removed their hats in
response. The woman seated in front of me kept her bonnet on for the duration.

The ornate chapel is Byzantine in design, built up from simple
classical forms, columns, and arches, which are huge in size relative to
the chapel’s intimate space (1,082 square feet). When the World’s Fair was over, the chapel was brought to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in NYC. It was kept  is a squat basement crypt and was then ignored when the choir was completed upstairs. Unchecked water damage took it’s toll, and in 1916 Tiffany offered to remove the chapel at his own expense. It was reinstalled and restored at Tiffany’s own Lauriston Hall Estate.

Tiffany died on January 17, 1933. In 1957, Tiffany’s abandoned estate was ravaged by fire. Hugh and Jeannette McKean of Winter Park, Florida, were notified by a
Tiffany daughter that some of his most important leaded-glass windows
were still intact. They visited the devastated Laurelton Hall site, and Jeannette
decided they should buy all of the mansion’s then-unwanted windows and
architectural fragments. Two years later the McKeans purchased the
components of the chapel that remained at Laurelton Hall.

A team of architecture, art, and conservation experts were assembled to begin
the more than two-year project of reassembling the chapel. The chapel
opened to the public in April 1999, the first time since it was open at
the 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago. It is a rare gem in the heart of Winter Park.

Catherine Hineman wrote: This year, because Christmas Eve falls on a Monday, we will have a
holiday weekend open house just prior to Christmas Eve. That’s two days
of free admission
to the one and there will be live music on Sunday. This only happens
every seven years or so, but it is always confusing to a few who have
made the December 24 open house a tradition.

Ugly Beauty at the Morse Museum.

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The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, (445 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789) hosted a documentary film series at lunch times once every few weeks about Art. This particular screening was about Ugly Beauty. Art critic Waldemar Januszczak argued that beauty is still to be found in modern art. Modern artist Damien Hurst made headlines and tons of money selling a great white shark in a glass case full of formaldehyde to a wealthy stock broker in the 1980’s. This was considered ugly and tasteless by many. Waldemar pointed out that such art depicting death have occurred throughout art history. In the sketch depicted a still life done by Rembrandt of a cow carcass.

Has beauty disappeared from modern art? Several influential modern
thinkers insist that it has. And this belief has inspired them to
publish a clutch of recent books which claim that modern art is no
longer capable of capturing true beauty: that beauty has gone from art.  Art critic Waldemar Januszczak fiercely disagreed, believing that great art is as interested in beauty as ever.

Beauty in modern art often has to do with the sterile and pristine open spaces where the art is exhibited. The museum itself becomes the source of calming reflection instead of the art. The world today needs beauty more than it has ever needed it, and modern art is one of its few suppliers.

A Funeral for the Arts in Winter Park.

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On December 14, 2015, the City of Winter Park passed an Ordinance that essentially states that it is illegal to do anything creative on Park Avenue, New England Avenue and Hannibal Square. Merchants felt that the presence of artists was a conflict with their commercial interests. Apparently one band set up and used a car battery to power their amplifiers. Rather than write an ordinance to ban amplified music the town simply copied an ordinance from Saint Augustine that bans all art. Of course Winter Park sells itself as a town that has a great museum and a few remaining galleries. They like some art, but they don’t want to see it created in their view.

Paul Felker, affectionately known as the Park Avenue Poet used to sit on a public bench on the commercial side of Park Avenue. He uses a 1938 Remington Deluxe Noiseless typewriter to write poems given any prompt. Since the ordinance was written, police now hassle the poet and tell him that he must go to the “First Amendment Zone” which is Central Park. Of course there is far less traffic in Central Park, so Paul writes fewer poems. Donations Paul relieved for his poems were being used to help put him through college. What some find quaint and endearing, the city finds criminal.

Paul organized a Funeral for the Arts in Central Park on January 29, 2016. Angel Jones from Melborne helped make artists around the state aware of the funeral. The funeral was to take place from 10am to 5pm. I arrived at 10am to find the park empty except for a news crew from Chanel 13. I chatted with news anchor Jerry Hume for a bit, and then we walked the length of the Park to look for black clad mourners. When we didn’t find any, I decided to sketch the peacock fountain, in the rose garden. Winter Park seems to worship this colorful bird. A more appropriate bird now would be a black Raven. As I was finishing up my sketch Jerry let me know the mourners had gathered a block away.

I found a Ian Twitch Reents all in black with his face painted white along with a red nose and aviator goggles. He was standing in his mile high rock and roll boots beside a five foot long black coffin lid. A woman noticed him and asked me to shoot a photo of them together. She might never realize she was posing next to a coffin. Paul had run to Old Navy to get a pair of black pants. He didn’t want to buy the pants in over priced Winter Park. When he got back he painted R.I.P. on the lid. Since there were only two protesters, I decided to meet a former co-worker, from my first job at Zip Mail in Tenafly New Jersey from over 30 years ago. She was seeing a free film at the Morse Museum called “Beauty in Art“.  It seemed a fitting subject since art was now banned on the streets of Winter Park. After the film and lunch, we returned to the protest.

Paul had called the police to let them know that he would be setting up in the forbidden zone to write some poems. TV news crews filmed the walk across the street, but police kept their distance, knowing that issuing a citation on TV wouldn’t look good. The penalty for creating in the Forbidden Zones is 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. After sometime Paul passed back over to the park side of the street. To date no citations have been issued. About six artists had joined the protest. I sketched Paul hard at work at his typewriter for the first time. Angel was dressed in a gorgeous black Victoria dress with a lace veil. Curtis Meyer was improvising  beat box poetry on the fly. I had heard that poets planned to walk up and down Park Avenue reciting poetry into their cell phones. Ray Brazen performed with a guitar that had no strings, allowing him to perform “The Sound of Silence“.

A man walked up to Paul and shouted, “What’s in it for me?” He kept repeating this question like an angry toddler. Paul calmly explained his poetry. Perhaps the man had been drinking to heavily at a Park Avenue cafe, then again, perhaps he was just like the city commissioners and merchants who are always looked for the bottom line in their lust for profit in their small town lives. “What is in it for me?” As if a quest for beauty and understanding is not something that can be comprehended. Was art put on this earth just to annoy this white bread Winter Park Scrooge? How many others are out there whose grey dark matter can’t comprehend color, joy and passion. I feel sorry for his loss.

Music at the Morse

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Free music at the Morse Museum (445 North Park Avenue, Winter Park) has become a holiday sketching tradition for me. On select Fridays through April musicians perform, filling the Museum with music. Of course the last time I tried to sketch in the Morse I was asked to stop sketching since I was sketching on a digital tablet. So this time I didn’t bring the tablet. Last time I couldn’t use my artist stool either but I’m an eternal optimist so I brought it along. When I arrived I asked the woman at the reception desk if there was any way for me to get close to the performers. They were high up in a balcony so I hoped I might stand in a hallway up there. The receptionist remembered me from last time. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. There was “No room up there” she explained.

I would have to settle on a long shot sketch. I sat back against a wall next to the entry door and started blocking in the sketch. After several lines a guard approached. “We need this area clear for foot traffic.” he said. “I’m going to have to ask you to move forward to that part of the gallery.” I negotiated to move forward just about five feet next to a table with museum fliers. This spot turned out to be better since fewer people walked in front of me. Of course people stopped at the table for extended periods filling out membership forms. I sketched around them.

A woman approached me. “Great” I thought, “Here comes the Museum Director to ask me to leave.” It was actually Julie Koran. She is a Facebook friend and participates in a monthly event called Dinner and a Conversation. Jennifer Miller organized this event 20 years ago. It is always fun to meet a Facebook friend in person for the first time. She knew of my work and just wanted to say “Hi.” I relaxed. The sketch was going well. The museum guard took a peak and said he liked what I was doing. Shannon Caine who was one of the flutists came down and spoke with me as I was throwing down the final washes. She was gracious and told me about upcoming performances. The other flutists were Kelli, and Mary. The Music for Three Flutes Only was a custom collection by the staff arranger. As I left, the guard held the door for me and said, “Merry Christmas.” My heart warmed. We weren’t working at crossed purposes. Tonight there is the Sweet Sounds of Jazz Trio (flute, guitar and upright bass) from 4pm to 8pm and admission to the museum is free. A perfect, relaxing way to prepare for the New Year.

The Tiffany Chapel

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In 1893 Louis Comfort Tiffany designed and exhibited this Byzantine inspired chapel at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exhibition. Men would take off there top hats in respect. The chapel was hailed as a virtuoso performance of the arts of mosaic and glass. Hanging from the ceiling is a large cross shaped electrolier which made use of the latest technology of the time, the electric light bulb.
After the Chicago Exhibition the chapel was bought by Mrs Celia Whipple for The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. It was installed in a dark crypt and used as an actual chapel for about 10 years but was then abandoned and left to deteriorate. Tiffany, upset about the condition of the chapel arranged to reacquire the remaining parts and bring them to his Long Island Estate, Laurelton Hall. Tiffany then lovingly restored the chapel and replaced the lost and stolen parts. When Tiffany died in 1933 his estate was scattered to the winds. In 1957 the Laurelton Hall estate burned to the ground. Luckily the chapel was in a separate building but it once again fell into disrepair.
After the fire Jeanette McKean the Morse Museum founder, and her husband Hugh McKean visited the hall and bought all they could to Winter Park Florida. Some callous moving men threw furniture and a used tire on top of the chapel parts assuming they were hauling junk. Once in the Museum the chapel was once again lovingly restored over a three year period. Tiffany viewed the chapel as “a temple of art, not of worship.”
While I sketched the chapel, a woman tried to take a picture with her cell phone. A guard quickly appeared and shouted that no pictures were allowed. As he walked past me he said “Sketches are fine buddy, you have the right idea”.