A Fringe mural dies.

Posted on by Thor

Last year Scottie Campbell contacted me about doing a mural on the facade of the Fringe offices. The building had been painted black which made it a heat magnet. I had done a sketch of Orlando for a mural that was later painted by drunk patrons of a Downtown Orlando Arts event. Needless to say, that painting didn’t turn out as expected. It hung in the lobby of the hotel for a while and then disappeared. I decided to resurrect that sketch for the Fringe facade.

My plan was to paint the wall white and reproduce the sketch with only the sky as a painted element. That assured that the mural would be as bright as possible reflecting away any heat. The problem was that the Fringe had no budget for the mural. United Arts of Central Florida has a crowd sourced fundraising page called Power2Give which is similar to Kickstarter. The advantage of Power2Give is that funds go to the arts organization even if 100% of the funds are not raised. The disadvantage is that United Arts takes 12% of the funds. A page was set up to raise $5000 for the mural’s creation. I set up a progress chart that showed the funds raised. At the end of the campaign only half the funds had been raised. Then came the nail in the coffin, a developer plans to demolish the Fringe offices, the Thursty Topher and several other buildings to make room for a high rise condo.

George Fringe Wallace, executive director of the Fringe, asked me to hold off on reporting the condo debacle until the deal was public knowledge. About a year from now, all the warehouses along Alden Road will be
demolished to make way for a mixed-use development with 585 apartments
and buildings as tall as nine stories. Developers said that they want to honor the area’s roots by incorporating art
studios, performance space and an industrial feel into its design. Artists in the area however doubt they will find a home in the new development plan.  I am not sure yet where the Fringe offices will relocate after they make way for the wrecking ball.  I’m thankful work never started on the mural because it would be hard to see my work destroyed. Murals are only as permanent as the walls they are painted on. Hopefully the several thousand dollars raised will be used by the Fringe to continue bringing cutting edge and sometimes weird theater to Orlando. At least the Fringe building has been painted white which means a cooler summer as the Fringe searches for a new home. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the mural. My proposed mural depicting sky rises will be replaced by  actual highrises.

The Mills 50 District heralds the Mills 50 Community Market.

Posted on by Thor

Every Tuesday from 5:00 pm until 9:00pm the Mills 50 Community Market (between Will’s Pub and Track Shack) brings together a variety of artisans and local vendors to share food, ideas and community resources. Our vision is to foster weekly community engagement and to provide support for local businesses in the Mills 50 District and all of Central Florida. By providing this open platform, we hope to empower local residents with a more resilient, sustainable and healthy place to live.

I went right after work one night to sketch. On the side wall of Will’s Pub was the controversial mural by Dolla Short. It depicts a drunk satyr floating in a noxious cloud. The detail that a few local residents have an issue with is that the cloud is implied to have come from a fart symbolized by a word balloon and a skull and cross bones. Because of this, the city is trying to come up with a way to censor future murals. They want to create an ordinance that re-defines murals as signage which suffer strict jurisdiction. Murals keep popping up in the neighborhood like mushrooms.

The Market is a small affair with local goods. The closest vendor had meat on a stick and I was offered a sample which was pretty good. Doughn’t Be Cruel was directly across from me. Senior Baker and Artist David McWhertor was at the helm. He pointed out that we had exhibited our work together at the Falcon Bar‘s “Porn” show. David’s painting was of a nude man with a unique way of hanging his jacket. For that show, I did a sketch of 2 actors in an intimate embrace. At the opening, I sketched a guy hitting on a girl for several hours in front of my sketch. David offered me a sample of one of his doughnuts, placing it in a paper bag. The bag sat on my kitchen counter for the night and in the morning it had been engulfed in a grease stain. I couldn’t bring myself to open the bag. Perhaps if bacon was packaged in paper bags, I could give that up as well.

Christie Miga’s Mojo

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Christie Miga let me know she was working on a mural. I of course wanted to sketch her at work. She gave me an address of a building near the Fashion Square Mall. I arrived at a corporate looking brick building. I suddenly realized I didn’t know where to look for Christie. I fired off a Facebook message explaining I was looking for her. I decided to walk around the building thinking she might be outside. As I walked out back, she rounded the corner and waved to me. We walked in a back door. The offices were gutted with new drywall going up in places. Thankfully the air conditioning was on. We walked up to a large 55 foot long wall that was isolated from the rest of the construction with a long floor to ceiling plastic tarp. We stepped inside.

The mural is for a company called Mojo Interactive. Mojo is redefining the way businesses survive, sustain and grow. From day one, the Internet has been their chalkboard and imagination their chalk. The mural, which was more than three quarters complete, was gorgeous. It’s vibrant flat colors reminded me a bit of the fanciful world of “The Yellow Submarine.” It was called “The Wall of Wonder.” It was interactive. Black fish functioned as black boards where employees could write messages in chalk. Large white shapes would be covered with white boards which could also be written on. Purple mushrooms under a tree were three dimensional sticking out from the wall. The moon was going to be covered with Legos so employees could constantly update the shape. Christie was painting the negative shape around an evil looking dragon whose wings morphed into a tree’s leaves. The dragon, which represented negativity or laziness, lunged towards a Mojo Imaginaut who held a ray gun that battled the beast with creativity. A light bulb illuminated the muzzle of the gun which was going to be covered with gears that would rotate when a button was pushed. Christie educated me about the supplies she used for the mural. I learned what I could to help me complete the Mennello Museum mural.