Accidental Historian Install

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The Accidental Historian Exhibit will be on display the the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Boulevard Orlando FL) from September 21, 2019 to January 21, 2020. I went in to sketch during the install of the exhibit. I was  intrigued with the fact the eight years of my sketchbooks were stacked like the Tower of Terror inside a glass museum case. The staff tried to just stack the books but it swayed uncontrollably and they had to come up with a plan B. A clear plastic spine was created that supports the high column of books but even with that solution, the tower slumps forward just a bit like an old man reaching for a cane. On top of the tower one sketchbook is open to a sketch of a giant inflatable alligator that was once in front of the History Center thanks to Heather Henson. A laser level stood sentry like a War of the Worlds armored attack vehicle. It stood on spindly legs staring at the sketchbook tower perhaps judging how fragile it looked.

In this exhibition, created at the
History Center, you get to learn how individuals who are absorbed in documenting
the world of today accidentally become some of Central Florida’s finest
historians for the future. You can also catch a glimpse into some of the museums
collections that were created for the now – more than 100 years ago.

The Accidental Historian features both historic and
contemporary work and collections, including drawings by the renowned
artist and teacher Ralph Bagley and Orlando Urban Sketchers , poetry by
Orlando’s inaugural poet laureate Susan Lilley, audiovisual work by food
blogger Ricky Ly, historic images by photographer T.P. Robinson, and of course a some Orlando sketches by myself.

Visitors to the exhibit can create 19th-century “tweets” and step
into a larger-than-life, Instagrammable photo station, along with other
fun features. The exhibit is fully bilingual, presented in both English
and Spanish. Related programs range from preservation workshops to
poetry readings and a historical food-based demonstration.

In my sketch, I focused on the huge open sketchbook in the corner of the room where Orlando Urban Sketchers work was displayed. I am proud that these artists who work together to explore Central Florida with their sketchbooks are now seeing their work exhibited in a museum. Their vision is unique in a time when people tend to shoot homogenized selfies with thoughtless abandon. These artists take the time to truly see the world around them.

History in a Glass Celery Edition

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The History in a Glass series, at the Orange County Regional History Center, (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) featured three local craft bartenders who competed for
bragging rights by creating libations linked to historical themes and
artifacts. The June edition was about the history of celery in Central Florida. Pam Schwartz, the chief curator made herself a crown of celery stalks for the evening. I set up to sketch backstage behind the bartenders looking out over the crowd enjoying the libations. Lite bites for the evening were supplied by Hawkers Asian Street Fare.

Now on to the history behind the drinks… 100 years ago Sanford, Florida was undergoing major economic shifts. Steamboats were being replaced by steam locomotives and the citrus industry experienced a a series of huge freezes, destroying all the crops. The population plummeted as crops were abandoned.  

I.H. Terwilliger stayed after the freezes and is reputed to have planted
the first celery crops grown in Sanford in 1896. More people came to plant
celery and by 1898 Sanford’s celery was known nationwide. Celery
was being grown across more than 6,000 acres in the Central Florida
area, producing 73% of the nation’s celery. Sanford became known as Celery City. There were roughly 553 celery farms in the area in the early 1900s. That
number dwindled down to just 22 by the end of World War II.

Three downtown bartenders mixed libations based on this history of celery. They were instructed to use celery in their concoctions. After tasting each of the drinks the attendees got to vote on their favorite history themed libation. Justin from, The Courtesy Bar, prepared a cocktail influenced by Central Florida’s resurgence after the death of the citrus industry called Phoenix Rising. The tasty drink included peach and orange blossom vodka, the Florida Key lime, and ITALICUS, an Italian liqueur made with rose petals, and it was this cocktail that earned him the title of  Celery King. 

Removing the Pulse banner

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The City of Orlando had local artists submit work for a banner that went on the fence surrounding the Pulse Nightclub after the shooting. A black fabric had covered the fence and people cut holes in that fabric to get a glimpse of the bullet holes in the walls of the club. The new colorful banner was covered in memorial items and signatures from visitors from around the world by the time it was taken down. I went to the site with the staff of the Orange County Regional History Center and helped clean up the dead flowers and wax while they collected items to preserve in the museums collection.

AS they started to roll up the banner, removing it from the fence I went to the furthest spot to sketch it before it was cone. Channel 9 News had showed up to get footage for their broadcast as well. They seemed curious about what I was doing and I answered a few questions as I continued to sketch. The History museum staff had come in their van and a U-Haul to handle the collections process. The club owner Barbara Poma was also there to answer any questions. The reason the banner was being removed and large items taken away was because an interim memorial with landscaping had been designed for the site. In the following weeks construction would begin on that interim memorial.

The City of Orlando offered to buy the Pulse nightclub for $2.5 million but Barbara decided to keep the property and formed the onePULSE Foundation to create a permanent memorial and museum on the site. $10 million was awarded to onePULSE to break ground on the project. The funds were afforded through hotel-tax revenues by the Orange
County Board of County Commissioners. The
funding, which was unanimously approved by the BCC’s members, will be
used to acquire land and create designs for a proposed museum.

Design firms are being vetted and a site chosen for the proposed museum. Six big name design firms were short listed for the design of the memorial and museum. The teams where found after a two-month search that brought in 68 submissions from 19 different countries. No actual Pulse designs were submitted. The firms were chosen based on past projects.

The finalists are:

Coldefy and Associés with RDAI, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, and Professor Laila Farah;

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rene Gonzalez Architect with Raymond Jungles, Inc.;

heneghan peng architects, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, Sven Anderson, and Pentagram;

MASS Design Group, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Sasaki, Sanford Biggers, Richard Blanco, and Porsha Olayiwola;

MVRDV, Grant Associates, GSM Project, and Studio Drift;

Studio Libeskind with Claude Cormier + Associés, Thinc, and Jenny Holzer

According to the onePULSE Foundation,
these teams provided the strongest credentials, relevant experience, and
most compelling statements on how architecture can embody the
organization’s mandate: “We will not let hate win.”

The six firms are working on designs right now and their work will be on display at the Orange County Regional History Center in October 2019. The public will be invited to see their work. At that time the final judging will occur to pick the final design.

Glimpsing the Abyss

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The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL) hosted Karen Osborn a research zoologist and curator as she talked about the small creatures found in the oceans. Her fascination with invertebrate zoology was contagious. She works primarily with deep sea animals. Which means collecting these creatures for study is always an adventure.

These creatures don’t live on the sea floor but in  the mid-water. These creatures come in amazing shapes and forms. They are unusual and unique. It was a glimpse int the weird forms alive in our oceans. All these creatures are refereed to as pelagic which means they spend their lives swimming. Some are single cell organisms resembling amoebas while others resemble armored military vehicles with spikes and hard forms. Many are transparent and gelatinous. Amphipods resemble insects with strange eyes and odd appendages. Many of these creatures ancestors once lived on the sea floor and they gradually moved up into the water column.

Karen is largely interested in the wide diversity of life to be found floating in the ocean’s water column. Her focus is on Natural History, as in how these creatures are similar and how they are different. She studies biodiversity, taxonomy,  and morphological variations. Most of her research is done in collaboration with the Monterrey Bay Research Institute which has two ships and two remotely operated submersible vehicles. The submersible is tethered to the operating ship at all times and the pilot and scientist sit in a control room in front of a wall of monitors watching what is happening in the deep sea below. The vehicle has 14 different cameras along with collection devices like a suction samples and a detritus sampler. An animal can be collected without it even realizing that it has been collected. There are over 25 years of oceanographic video that has been archived from these missions.

New species are being discovered like a strange and exotic squid worm
that had many legs that propel the creature through the water. These creatures have amazing ways of adapting to their deep sea existence. For instance the need to smell is more important that the sense of sight so highly sensitive noses have developed with thousands of hair like cells extending out into the water column. This allows them to sniff out food from far away. Any science fiction designer could learn so much from studying these amazing creatures of the deep sea. This was a fun opportunity to sketch creatures I had never seen before.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for August 10 and 11, 2019

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Saturday August 10, 2019

10am to 2pm. Free. The History Center’s Fabulous Floridiana Auction. Orange County Regional History Center 65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801. Take Home a Piece of Central Florida’s Past!
As
we get ready for our big upcoming renovations, we’ve found a stash of
treasures in the museum’s hidden corners. From gargantuan gators to
magical mermaids, we got just the right amazing object to bring a true
touch of Florida and fabulous fun to your home or office!

We’re
talking about everything from massive manatees to a compact King
Kong—even the pretend claw of a giant sloth, and it’s pretty scary. In
short, a plethora of one-of-a-kind treasures, ranging in size from 6
inches to more than 6 feet, that spell out the wild, wacky, and
wonderful state we’re in.
The Fabulous Floridiana live auction,
will be led by a professional auctioneer. Proceeds benefit History Center
programs. The museum will offer free admission, and you can examine our
treasures starting at 10 a.m

Please note
that most of these props or models go back to the museum’s opening
almost 20 years ago; they must be sold “as is,” so you’ll want to check
them out before bidding.
Questions? Contact our membership director, Heidi Jordan, at Heidi.Jordan@ocfl.net
or 407-836-8559. Auction conducted by Alan Frenkel Auction and Realty,
License numbers AB3436AU1522. A 15% BP (buyer’s premium) will apply to
all sales.

4pm to 6pm Free. Young Voices. JB Callaman Center 102 North Parramore Ave Orlando FL. Teen Open Mic Every second Saturday of the Month. 

8pm to 10pm $5 Second Saturdays in Sanford. 202 S Sanford Ave, Sanford, FL. Live music event featuring 2 stages, drink specials and more. 

Sunday August 11, 2019

10am to 4pm Free. Lake Eola Farmers Market. Lake Eola Park, 512 E Washington St, Orlando, FL 32801. 

1pm to 5:30pm Free.  Family Day on the Second Sunday. The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803. The
make-and-take craft table is open from noon-2:30 p.m., and docents are
available to give mini-tours of the museum. Then it’s open house in the
galleries until 4:30 p.m.  

2pm to 4pm $5 Film Slam. Enzian Theater, South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL.  FilmSlam will usually be held on the second Sunday of each month at 1PM at Enzian. Q and A with the filmmakers to follow screening.

12 Angry Jurors

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The Central Florida Community Arts production of 12 Angry Jurors is a modern day take on 12 Angry Men which is a courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose which was originally broadcast on Television, was then produced as a play and then made into a movie starring Henry Fonda in 1957. I sat in on a dress rehearsal for the play which is being staged in the historic courtroom inside the Orange County Regional History Center. The play is about 12 jurors deliberating about a homicide case.

This jury rather than just being men, was a fair mix of men and woman with an ethnic blend. It seemed to be an open and shut case; an 18-year old boy on trial for the stabbing and murder of his own father. Twelve Jurors were shoved in a hot, bleak, room in mid-summer New York, and all assumed to be in agreement until the votes rolled in: 11 – guilty, 1 – not guilty. Tempers grew short as the clock ticks and the temperature rises. Can they all agree on one person’s fate?

Seated center stage like Christ in the last supper was Elaitheia Quinn the female dissenting juror who saw holes in the prosecutions case. Her shadow of doubt made some angry and yet her arguments gradually swayed others. The underlying theme was that race played a role in many people assuming the youth on trial was guilty. Terry Olson did a good job as a level headed business man who wanted civility during the deliberations. Chelsey Panisch was a polished ad exec who was primarily concerned about getting back to her job. Rose Ryan Lamarre and Rich Somsky both shone as racists whose views bubbled to the surface as the defendant’s guilt slipped away.

The historic Orange County courtroom had the saying Equal and Exact Justice for ALL Men emblazoned in the upper moldings. The setting was perfect and the drama intense. The sound of rain heightening the tense scenes was so natural, since it rains just about every day her in Orlando in the summer and the juror’s complaints about the heat also seemed well justified.

With a president daily spewing racist rants on twitter, this play
is just as relevant today that as it was back in the 1950s when it was
written.  The country is boiling and a viscous anger underlies every exchange on the capitol. People seem to be in a manic and angry rush at all times.  Orlando seems to exist in a bubble but are we really removed from all the hatred that surrounds us? Shouldn’t the frog jump out of the pot before the water boils?

Brandishing a switchblade in the jury room seemed even more upsetting after the horror Orlando has gone through in 2016 when a maniac brought an assault riffle into an Orlando nightclub killing 49 people. This is going to be an intense show that you really shouldn’t miss. In an ideal world level heads and compassion can perhaps overshadow bigotry and hate.

Tickets for 12 Angry Jurors  are $20 for general admission and $40 for jury box seats.

Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801).

Thursday, August 1 – 7:30pm 

Friday, August 2 – 7:30pm 

Saturday, August 3 – 7:30pm 

Sunday, August 4 – 3:00pm 

Thursday, August 8 – 7:30pm 

Friday, August 9 – 7:30pm 

Saturday, August 10 – 7:30pm 

Sunday, August 11 – 3:00pm

Women Warriors for Democracy

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 The League of Women Voters gave a presentation at the Orange County Regional History Center  (65 E. Central Blvd. Orlando, Florida 32801) as part of the 2019 Brechner Speaker Series about the role of women as “Warriors for Democracy” which is the League’s theme for a
celebration of historic events that begins in 2019 and culminates with
the centennial of the women’s right to vote in 2020.

This program featured a multimedia presentation with five League speakers. These five speakers each dresses in outfits that reflected women’s fashion in the decade that they addresses in turn. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution became law on August 26th, 1920, granting women the right to vote. Florida was not one of the states ratifying the amendment, and in fact it did not do so until 1969. Despite Florida not ratifying the amendment, women began to run for office in Central Florida. Edna Giles Fuller of Orange County, was the first woman elected to the Florida Legislature  in 1929.

 “May of 2019 marked the 80th birthday of the League of Women Voters of Orange County, and August 2020 will be the centennial of women’s right to vote,” noted Gloria Pickar, the local League’s co-president for 2018-2019. “Partnering with the History Center helps us to capture and share the story of the determined women and men who have fought for many years to empower voters and defend democracy in Central Florida and beyond.” The Warriors for Democracy History Book written by Anne Patton was also available at the end of the event.

Accidental Historian

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I was sent to several locations in Orlando to sketch scenes that had been photographed back in the 1920s. In this scene Many trees had been added over the years and the old bandshell was replaced by the now rainbow colored Disney Amphitheater. The original bandshell in the historic photo was designed by Frank Loyd Wright’s secretary, Isabella Roberts who was an architect in her own right.  She also designed several buildings in  the Orlando area. I found it fascinating that many of the same shadows cut across the scene, 100 years later.

This is the Sperry Fountain which is actually the second fountain on this site. Having sketched this from life and comparing it to the original, I can say it is a fairly close replica. The duck on top of the fountain has a slightly different pose in the original sculpture, and today the green patina  had some purple paint stains perhaps from pride day.  The original is now
located in Greenwood Cemetery. The fountain is made of wrought iron and
has a duck base and water flows from the duck’s beaks and an acanthus leaf.

In 1883, wealthy Orlando resident Jacob Summerlin the owner of the Summerlin Hotel,
the first City Council president, and financial lender for the
construction of Orlando’s courthouse in the 1870s—donated a large tract
of land to establish a park in Orlando. In 1883, Summerlin came to a
city council meeting and offered the land around the lake on the
condition that it be beautified and turned into a park. He also required
that the city plant trees and put a “driveway” around the lake. To ensure that the city followed through with the stipulations of the
donation, Summerlin put reverter clauses in the contract to allow his
heirs to reclaim the property if the city failed in its obligations. Several years later, his sons threatened to exercise the reverter
clause if the city did not make good on its promise. Today, the park is
still maintained according to his requirement that it be kept
beautiful.

These sketches were done as part of Accidental Historian at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801). The premise of the show is that any one today might be a historian without even realizing it. That could certainly
true of many bloggers, urban sketchers, photographers, and more. In this
engaging exhibition, created at the History Center, patrons can learn how
individuals who are absorbed in documenting the world of today
accidentally become some of Central Florida’s finest historians for the
future. The show offers a glimpse into some of the museum’s favorite collections that were
created for the now, more than 100 years ago. Put it on your calendar, The Accidental Historian runs from September 21, 2019 to January 19, 2020. Work from Orlando Urban Sketchers will be on display along with historic and contemporary photos and journals.

The Accidental Historian

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The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E. Central Blvd. Orlando, Florida 32801) is creating an exhibit that will run from September 21, 2019 through January 19, 2020 called The Accidental Historian. The premise is that every day citizens could be historians without even realizing it! That’s certainly true of many bloggers, urban sketchers, photographers, and more. In this engaging exhibition, patrons can learn how individuals who are absorbed in documenting the world of today accidentally become some of Central Florida’s finest historians for the future. Catch a glimpse into some of the museum’s favorite collections that were created for the now – more than 100 years ago.

I was  invited to contribute to this exhibit. The above sketch was done in front of the History Center in the exact spot a historical photo was shot back in the 1920s.  It was fascinating to see what has changed and what has not changed. The 55 West building is certainly new but many of the buildings on this street look exactly the way they did 100 years ago. If you go to the History Center web site you will see that this sketch was married to the old photo from the past creating a unique split screen view of this intersection at two separate points on the timeline. A larger than life framed version of this split screen is being created so that people who go to the exhibit can walk inside my sketch for a family photo opportunity. Anyone on the black and white photo side will be shown in black and white and anyone on my sketch side off the scene will be in vibrant color. I cant wait to see how this turn out in practice.

Besides my contributions to the show, other members of Orlando Urban Sketchers will have their work on display since the artists of today will be each leaving behind a unique view of what it is like to live in Orlando. So put September 21, 2019 on your calendar and come to see the history being recorded in unique ways every day right here in Orlando.

Waiting for the Lake Eola July 4th Fireworks

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I experienced the Lake Eola Fireworks with Pam Schwartz and her family visiting from Iowa. July 4th also happens to be Pam’s niece, Destiny’s birthday so she gets to celebrate her birth on the same day as our nation. We all got a strong lesson in Central Florida History before heading down to the lake along with artifacts like a KKK robe and a lynching photo. On the same floor of the Orange Country Regional History Center there is Love Speaks which features art created in answer to the Pulse massacre three years ago. The history Center is just one block from the lake and we hiked to the lake with a picnic blanket, some lawn chairs and a cooler. We got to the lake about four hours before the fireworks were scheduled to go off.

The crowd grew thick as we approached the Disney Bandshell which had live music. Food trucks. TV trucks and various vendors were around the bandshell. A bus was parked at the end of Washington Street adjacent to the park so that no madman could drive into the park to kill pedestrians. As we spread out our blanket I scanned the high rises looking for spots where a gunman might decided to fire on the crown below. Our blanked fit nicely between two other families. Kids played cards and grew squirrely as they lost patience.

I decided to sketch a woman seated next to us who had a piece of luggage which had a convenient shelf that opened up as a portal to a TV screen. She had on head phones and around her neck was another digital device probably for audio. I had been tracking storm clouds using my iPhone radar and predicted about a 50 chance of rain. As I sketched it started to rain. Pam went back to the museum to get some red white and blue umbrellas and also some Geico blue ponchos for the kids.The rain never got heavy enough to keep me from sketching. The opposite was true. The rain settled the crowd down making the scene easier to draw.