St. Louis Arch

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Chief Curator Pam Schwartz and her team from the Orange County Regional History Center went to St. Louis to collect awards their institution had garnered. While they were in the museum conference, I wandered the city of St. Louis for a day-long sketch crawl. My first stop was to sketch the Gateway Arch.

The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot monument, clad in stainless steel. It is the world’s tallest arch, the tallest
man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere, and Missouri’s tallest
accessible building. The arch honors the Louisiana Purchase and Saint Louis in it’s role in the westward expansion of the United States. It is considered by many to be the Gateway to the West. The arch has just undergone a 380 million dollar renovation making it and the park more accessible. As I sketched, the park next to me was fenced off and being re-landscaped.

The Old St. Louis County Courthouse (11 N 4th St, St. Louis, MO 63102) was built as a combination federal and state courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri. It was Missouri’s tallest habitable building from 1864 to 1894, and is now part of the Gateway Arch National Park and operated by the National Park Service for historical exhibits and events.

In 1872 Virginia Minor attempted to vote in a St. Louis election and was arrested. Her trials, including the deliberations before the Missouri Supreme Court, were held in this building. The United States Supreme Court in Minor v. Happersett (1875) upheld the male-only voting rules, as the Constitution did not address voting rules, which were set by the states. The Minor v. Happersett ruling was based on an interpretation of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Supreme Court readily accepted that Minor was a citizen of the
United States, but it held that the constitutionally protected
privileges of citizenship did not include the right to vote.

The First of 10 Orlando Urban Sketching Workshops.

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The first of 10 X 10 Orlando Urban Sketching Workshops was held at the Orlando Public Library (101 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) in the Magnolia Room. The brutalist style architecture of the building makes it feel like it belongs in a futuristic non-Utopian society as in George Orwell’s 1984. Classical music is pumped into the lobby and when the automatic doors open, you can feel a rush of inviting cold air hit you as you walk by.

Urban Sketchers is celebrating 10 years by inviting sketchers from
around the world to attend ten on location workshops with an Urban
Sketching official instructor! The 10 workshops will cover three themes:

1. Little Stories.

2. Medium Stories.

3. Great Stories.

The Goals of the progressive workshops are to:
1. Show stories from Orlando, one drawing at a time

2. Improve drawing skills

3. Learn how to select, frame and design visual stories on a page

4. Learn how writing and drawing can work together to communicate more to your audience

5. Experience the advantages of group learning and seeing the many paths to success

For the first workshop I started with simple shapes like squares, circles, and triangles. We sketched the simple shapes and then sketched them as dimensional objects on the page. The most important building block to understand for me is the cube and we sketched it from all different angles as if it were dice on a roulette table. We then softened the edges of the cube and stretched, bent and twisted the shapes on the page. Being able to sketch that form from any angle is critical.

We then focused on contour drawing by doing blind contours before more controlled contour drawing of Abe Lincoln statues and buffalo statues. We then focused on producing a more finished still life of our art supplies. We used watercolor for the first time and I offered sketch suggestions to each student as their work was in progress.

 The library sketch with all the computers shown above was broken down into simple shapes. We left the classroom and found small intimate things to sketch throughout the library. The goal of each sketch was that the object chosen should have a story. As part of the workshop each student is encouraged to write about their experience and post those articles on the Urban Sketch Workshop Group page on Facebook. I am excited about the line up of venues that is coming up. We will be sketching exhibits and historic building models at the Orange County Regional History Center, the Ticonderoga Museum which is devoted to the humble pencil, a Celebrity Impersonators Convention, Zombietoberfest, the Creative City Project and Skeletons at The Museum of Osteology. By the end of the 10 workshops, I hope to have helped inspire some new Urban Sketch Correspondents.

The One Orlando De-install

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On June 12th The Orange County Regional History Center mounted an exhibit that showcased items left behind one year ago at the various memorial sites that appeared in the aftermath of the horrific Pulse Nightclub shooting that took 49 lives and left Orlando with open scars that could take a lifetime to heal. Museum curator Pam Schwartz asked me to share some of the sketches I have done in the last year that document Orlando’s attempts to recover. I sketched at as many vigils and fundraisers as possible so that I could come to terms with reality utilizing the only tool I had which was sketching.

The exhibition was assembled from the items collected by the History Center in the weeks and months after the tragedy. For 37 days, museum staff sweated in the hot Florida sun collecting for the museum and scraping up melted wax so that people wouldn’t slip and fall at memorial site. Items left at memorial sites had to be conserved and documented for posterity’s sake. When you go to a memorial, you don’t read every condolence card, but that was their job. It is an emotionally taxing responsibility to record history in the face of tragedy.  One hundred years from now these relics will be a hint at how we as a community came together to heal.

Instead of one set of rosary beads, there was a whole case full. One case was layered full of rubber bracelets. Instead of exhibiting one t-shirt design, a whole wall was covered. Instead of exhibiting one sketch by an illustrative journalist, an entire wall was covered. 49 wooden crosses were crowded into the far corner of the exhibition space. A sign warned that some items might be emotionally challenging to view.

Shortly after the shooting, Pam, the chief curator, realized that an exhibit space needed to be booked for an exhibit one year after the tragedy. She reserved the room but it was only available for one week because a wedding was also slated to go in the same room on the following week. This was the largest exhibit ever created in house by the museum staff using items from the museum’s own collection. The staff rose to the challenge. The amount of work needed to create the exhibit was staggering but it got done. On the opening night victim’s families and survivors were given a private preview. On that night over 450 people showed up. More than 3,000 people viewed the collection in the one week it was open.

I stopped in on the final day as the staff took everything off the walls. In one day the walls were once again bare to be spackled and painted for the wedding reception. The 49 portraits created by local artists were mounted behind Plexiglas, so they came down in three large sections and would later be stored away in a portfolio in the archives. Display cases were left for the next week when the items would be stored away in acid free museum boxes in the archives. Within two days the room would once again be barren. This was without a doubt the most well attended exhibit in years, but it
was only available to be seen for one week. The history was swept aside
because catering was considered a priority. This gorgeous old courthouse can’t decide if it is an accredited history museum or an events hall.

Orlando One Year Later

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The Orange County Regional History Center has mounted an exhibit entitled “One Year Later” that showcases a fraction of the items collected from the various memorial sites around Orlando in the aftermath of the Pulse Nightclub shooting tragedy that took 49 lives. The exhibition commemorates one year of pain, grief, loss, love, fear, resilience, coping and community. The exhibit recalls the heroes in our community who banded together in defiance of hate, who support all those who continue to live through the nightmare, remembering those murdered and holding the victims families in our hearts.

I sketched on the final day of the exhibition install. Museum staff were putting up the final vinyl lettering on the walls and making sure everything was in its place. Over 5000 items were collected from memorial sites. This exhibit encapsulated the shear volume of what was left. Rather than showing just one rosary, there are twenty, instead of one t-shirt there is an entire wall. One wall is covered with a sampling of the hundreds of paintings i have done at vigils and fundraisers since that fateful day last June 12th. Also on display are the original paintings and sketches done by local artists in one evening of the 49 victims of the attack. I hosted the evening and felt it was important to do the work in one evening since all 49 lives were taken in one night of terror.

Above the Angel Action Wings, built from PVC and white fabric, there was a quote… “I don’t have money to give, but I can spread love and I can spread hope. I was waiting for the opportunity to use the one thing I do have, which is the skill to sew, I can sew like the wind.” Jeannie Haskett, a theater seamstress and Angel Action Wings volunteer, to the Miami Herald.

I made my way through the exhibit reading every panel, circling the huge room counter clockwise. At the entrance there was a long platform with artificial grass covered in candles, rainbow pinwheels and flowers. The pinwheels spun in the breeze, recreating in a a memorial site in a ghostly way. The room is organized into sections, each honoring members of the Orlando community. There was a wall for first responders, a wall showed the worldwide response and outpouring of love after the tragedy. There were lines of prayer flags, and a floating wall of stars decorated with rainbows and messages of hope. An Ikea couch was covered in messages as well as the water cooler that was filled daily by church volunteers for people who were visiting the Pulse memorial site. In the corner of the room was a gorgeous dress made from a rainbow of hearts. In a secluded alcove, were the 49 crosses that were left at the Orlando Regional Medical Center. All the crosses grouped together in the tight space, left me feeling overwhelmed by the loss.

There was an opening for the families of victims and survivors. It was incredibly well attended. Probably over 500 people attended the opening night. This was an opportunity for families to get out and see items left in honor of their loved ones for the first time. There were 20 therapist at the opening wearing bright yellow shirts that said, Feeling sad? Lets talk. With so many therapists, it must have been difficult to grieve in peace, let alone move around the exhibit. One therapist handed out stress balls any time there were tears. There were also 11 therapy dogs on hand who performed their jobs with honor.

In my sketch, Whitney Broadaway is putting up vinyl lettering that encourages viewers to use #OrlandoOneCollection when posting information about the show online. Her baby bump proves that new life begins as tragedy ends, just as baby Cory Connell was named for his heroic uncle who died at Pulse. A large interactive area encourages people to write notes on a six foot square sheet of paper with permanent markers. Messages of hope and condolences are added every day. The exhibit runs from June 12th to June 17th when it has to come down for a wedding ceremony. This is an incredible, moving and inspiring exhibit, and I encourage anyone who feels they are a part of the Orlando community to get down there to experience it. The museum is open from 10AM to 7PM each day and admission is free.

F.C. Belt in Blue Box 16.

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There are 27 blue boxes painted on the sidewalks of downtown Orlando. These are the only places where panhandling or busking is allowed. Some performers have been told that they must use the blue boxes, thus being a performer equals being a beggar in the City Beautiful. According to this statute, I could be considered a performer. To test these blue boxes, I am sketching 27 separate performances in each of the blue boxes. The performers should be legally protected, but I might be breaking the law by sketching as the audience. Being outside the box in Orlando could have repercussions.

F. C. Belt performed acoustic guitar in the blue box right next to the Orlando Library‘s downtown branch, and across the street from the Orlando Regional History Center. He arrived right on time, set up his chair, music stand, a tiny foot stool and opened his guitar case. The case remained open in case anyone wanted to add tips.

It was a lyrical concert, unexpected for the few people who frequent the park across the street. On man was transfixed. He asked detailed questions about the guitar which is quite rare from what I overheard. The man stood and listened for the longest time. Then he moved to the planter retaining wall and sat for the entirety of the performance.

I was seated in a tiny grass median that separated a bus lane from the main road. Luckily a bus never roared by. It was perfect day for a pop up concert and the gentle music added culture to the otherwise drab bus stop in the intersection, and the park across the street.

A large group of school children were laughing and playing in the park after getting out of the History Center where they must have been on a field trip. The children didn’t notice the music, they were too busily screaming and laughing.

Belts guitar case never collected a bill. This corner of the city is surprisingly unoccupied on a work day. Everyone is in their offices removed from the clutter on the streets.

I probably sketched for an hour and a half which is longer that most musical solo sets. F. C. Belt went back to the beginning of his play set towards the end of the performance. I must say, that if such classical performances were a regular occurrence in Orlando the city would be a much more civilized place to live.

Pride, Prejudice & Protest: GLBT History in Greater Orlando.

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October 1, 2016  through January 26, 2017 the Orlando Region History Center presents an exhibit called Pride, Prejudice and Protest: GLBT History in Central Florida. Admission is free on October 8th, the day of the Orlando Come Out with Pride Parade. In the second floor gallery. The history of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) community has been defined by periods of pride, prejudice, and protest. This exhibit from the nonprofit GLBT History Museum of Central Florida shares the progress and setbacks of the Central Florida GLBT community over the past five decades of change.

A rainbow flag circles the room’s walls. The stripes are divided into three sections. The bottom section covers the history of blatant prejudice in Orlando’s laws and actions. The central two stripes cover moments of protest in the GLBT communities attempts to be accepted with equal rights. The top two stripes cover moments of pride, the victories in the ongoing struggle.

Pamela Schwartz was on a ladder putting up rainbow lettering that said, Central Florida GLBT. The second line got tricky as s tried to figure out the correct spacing. Vinyl letters were on sheets of transfer paper. In theory when the paper w rubbed the letters would transfer to the wall. However the job wasn’t as ease as is sounds.

I read one panel which hadn’t been mounted on the wall yet. In 1989 Orlando County Sheriff, Walt Gallagher was fired after an investigation found that he was bisexual. Michael Wanzie decided to stage a Rally against Homophobia at the Constitutional Green in downtown Orlando. The Ku Klux Klan staged a counter protest. It took three years of lawsuits for Walt to eventually get his job back. You would be amazed at how many laws existed that limit who you can love.

There is a secton of the exhibit devoted to Pulse memorial items collected from around the city. Photos of each of the 49 victims are mounted behind candles. The museum staff will keep the candles burning for the duration of the exhibit. The flickering lights will illuminate the faces in a warm glow. Colorful scraps of paper each hold messages of love and remembrance. Many letters and notes left at the memorials were never opened or read until they were collected and preserved.

This is an excerpt from one such letter: “None of you know me, but I know you. I know you as one of the 49 people who were killed in the worst mass shooting in US history. Now all I can do is visit this memorial, pray, and write you this letter. A letter no one, but me will ever read, and I can only hope you feel. You were loved. And you didn’t deserve this. You deserved to live. To fall in love…   I am continuously reminded each day that the world doesn’t stop turning. That everyone is still expected to go about their lives. But I can’t. I feel so hopeless and helpless just thinking about how hopeless and helpless you must have felt… I feel like a fraud. Like I’m taking away someone who actually knew your grief. But I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you… I’m so sorry we live in a world that let this happen to you. Forgive us. The weather is beautiful. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping and you are here. You are with us all.

All my love, Bri”

A City Beautiful Christmas

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I got an invitation from choreographer Holly Harris to see a City Beautiful Christmas at the History Center downtown. A City Beautiful is a recently formed church that doesn’t have a permanent brick and mortar home yet. I witnessed a fabulous celebration at the Lake Eola band shell. Cole Nesmith welcomed me when I arrived at the History Center. Much of the service would be happening inside the Orlando Regional History Center. Then the congregation would walk out into the park for an arts performance. The performance is what I planned to sketch, so I leaned against one of the tall pine trees and started blocking in the stage. There was an hour to show time.

White gossamer fabric hung from pine boughs.  The fabric glowed yellow in the street lamp light. Two sculptures of alligators are permanent residents of the park and they overlooked the proceedings. A grey bearded man with a sleeping bag slung over his shoulder was talking to Holly for the longest time. He was invited inside but he preferred the outdoor air like me. He was to thin to be Santa Claus. He stood a short distance from me and watched me intently. He struck up a conversation, letting me know he was from Ohio. Distracted and lost in the sketch, I answered his questions but kept my hand and eyes busy. I’m a bit rude when working, and he soon wandered off.

A box sat at the center of the staging area. A tech tested it out. With the lid off, it erupted, sending up a large plum of fake snow lit from below. Dancers all dressed in black began to form themselves on the grid of the stage. They all held candles. White paper bags with candles inside illuminated the path from the History Center leading people to the staging area. I had assumed everyone would sit on the grass to watch the show. I had guessed wrong. Everyone stood, and I lost my view. I had only sketched half the dancers. I could see one or two dancers between peoples heads. A fellow in front of me apologized, I told him not to worry. I’ve learned to accept any staging difficulty. I decided to relax and start painting. Catching the magical candle light at night would be a challenge.

Music was playing that sounded like Danny Elfman‘s sound track to Edward Scissorhands. Since I couldn’t see the dancers, I imagined ice sculptures forming with the chips floating in the air like snow. The luminescent pillar of snow blew skyward up above the wall of backs. For a magical moment, it was snowing in Central Florida. Air and Cole spoke messages of love, acceptance and Christmas joy, as I presume the dancers performed. Everyone in the audience was issued a candle. One single flickering flame became two, then four then a sea of light. Everyone’s voice was raised in song. There would be a second performance, so  the lights were extinguished as the crowd dispersed, I continued to sketch. The sketch felt complete even without the full cast. The gator looked hungry enough. With another hour till the second performance, I decided to pack up and head home.

Sidewalk Art

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Heritage Park Square in front of the Orlando County Regional History Center was the site of a daylong sidewalk chalk artist festival. I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired this day, but I had to push past that and just get lost in the work. The park in front of the History Center had a large circular sidewalk and artists were assigned designated areas where they could create their sidewalk creations. I found a spot under a shady pine tree and settled in to get a quick sketch done. The artists I was sketching seemed to all be from the same high school. I believe the art teacher was to my right since once in a while a student would walk up to him and ask a question about their project. The kids were in constant motion wandering back and forth comparing chalk creations before settling in and putting some chalk on their own work. The piece right in front of me was rather nice, being a sketch of a girl half veiled with a colorful shawl.
When my sketch was finished I wandered around the rest of the park and ran into Bob Kodzis, Anna McCambridge and her mom Vicki. Anna was working on a bunny rabbit, while her mom had a human figure with rather intriguing firework type effects. Bob went with a crowd-pleasing black and white dog that looked like the dog from “The Little Rascals.”
After this event I walked down the street to the library to participate in Brian Feldman’s 67 Books project.

Dr. G at the History Center

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Doctor G has a reality TV show on the Discovery Channel in which she talks about her job as the Orlando Medical Examiner in FLorida’s District nine. I have never seen the show start to finish but I was still curious as to what she would have to say. She was a very entertaining speaker and she outlined how she eventually went on to become a reality TV star. She explained that her first boss was a bit of a male chauvinist so he seldom spoke to her. She also said she would return home each night and talk about her work with her husband but he would interrupt her saying “I know how this ends, they die right?” So she was left with no one to talk to about what she considered a fascinating job. The Discovery Channel called her and said they wanted to do a single program about her work. Suddenly she had an audience. That single program blossomed into a series. The TV program never shows the bodies instead focusing on the dialogue as Dr. G finds the cause of death. Families of the deceased began writing the doctor explaining that they only understood the cause of death of their loved one after watching the TV program. So the program was doing some good. A new medical building is under construction and Sr. G is looking forward to working in the new space.
While I was sketching, Bob Kealing local TV reporter for channel 6 came over to say hello. I have spoken to him before at the Kerouac House and he has written a book about Kerouac’s life in Florida. After he had finished interviewing Dr. G , he brought her over to where I was still sketching and introduced us. In my usual tactless fashion, I immediately asked her if there would ever be a chance for me to sketch in the Medical Examiners office. She simply and without hesitation said “No”. She probably assumed I have a morbid fascination with dead bodies, but all I am hoping for is the next great sketching opportunity.

Annual Meeting – History Center

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The Annual Meeting was held in Courtroom B on the third floor of the historic Orlando Regional History Center. This meeting was short and to the point. As a matter of fact the meeting was over before I had a chance to finish the sketch so I had to rush. Johanna Clark called the meeting to order and introduced the gusts who were the family of James K. Rush.

The 2008 minutes were approved and then old business was discussed. The treasurers report probably took the most time and the bottom line is that the History Center is operating in the green with assets of just over a million dollars. Several motions were put to the floor and the members all sheepishly approved each item. All board members, the executive committee and the treasurer were all approved back into position. There was no items that required discussion and no dissent. One small tidbit of trivia intrigued me when the Executive Director pointed out that the first film ever shot in Orlando was called “Moon over Orlando”. She hasn’t been able to find a print of that film and I wonder if it will ever pop up.

I was still splashing watercolors on the sketch when the meeting adjourned and people made their way out. Sara asked if I would be much longer and I said I would be finished in 5 minutes. She said I could always come back to finish up.