Ghosts of Brutality

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On February 11th, artist John Hitchcock gave a talk about his artistic process at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum (1000 Holt Avenue, Winter Park, Fl). A whole room in the Cornell is filled with an installation he did called “Ghosts of Brutality“. Cut out screen prints on paper and felt created a complex mosaic on the walls and floor. Military helicopters dropped bombs while tanks roamed the base boards. Severed heads of bison, deer and donkeys floated in space among the bombs. John isn’t strict about the placement of each print in the installation. Students and staff helped with the installation so they were very much a part of the artistic process.

Before John’s talk, a movie clip played of Indians dancing in their full regalia.  John grew up in Western Oklahoma in a Comanche reservation across from a US Military base. As a child he grew up with artillery training always in the background. His first drawings were to help his grandmother prepare intricate bead work. He did a series of circular prints that showed bison with a target symbol. He was very proud that one of these later sported a bullet hole.

John prints a massive amount of work for his installations, often recruiting students to help in the process. On a trip to Venice, he left a print at every historic place he went. The prints left behind were like bread crumbs of his travels. John’s work addresses war, assimilation and imperialism.

A doctor found a large malignant growth that threatened John’s life. At this time, when faced with death, John began to sketch obsessively every day. He would post each days sketch on his Facebook page. I wholeheartedly identify with his obsession. He also began to incorporate more color in his work.  The threat of death caused him to bloom.

Mark your calendar! Ghosts of Brutality is up through April 13th. Admission to the museum is now free, thanks to the Bressemer trust, so you have no excuse not to go.

Choral Concert

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On October 30th I went to a choral concert at Rollins College, Tiedtke Concert Hall. The evening featured the Women’s Choir, the Small Vocal Ensemble and the Rolling Singers. The concert hall was half full and it was easy for me to get a front row seat. Sarah Joseph was the student accompanist and George Atwell turned the sheet music when needed. The second group had additional musicians including a bass player that I included in the sketch.

The house must have been full of adoring parents and supportive College friends because when performers walked on stage the audience went wild. You’d think you were at a rock concert rather than a classical recital.

My favorite choral piece was Hallelujah Arranged by Jens Johansen and Jamey Ray William Mitchell. The last piece was a rather humerus rendition of The Barber of Seville. Choral members mimicked instruments in an orchestra using their voices. The recital was a free fast paced sketching opportunity. I had just enough time to finish the sketch when the performers took their final bow.

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Ethos Vegan Kitchen

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On October 22nd, I planned to go to Rollins College to sketch a concert. I got to Winter Park several hours early and decided to get dinner at Ethos Vegan Kitchen (601 S New York Ave, Winter Park, FL). I hadn’t eaten at Ethos since it moved from it’s previous location in Ivanhoe Village. The new restaurant location is cavernous with a long bar set up against one wall. The interior easily had to be more than twice as large.

I sat at a table for one and asked advice on ordering a drink with caffeine.  The waitress suggested a sweet, organic iced tea which was quite good. I ordered a lasagna which was just as good as any meat filled lasagna I’ve ever had. If vegan food is this good, then I can seriously consider changing my diet.

I really didn’t have time to sketch if I was going to get to the concert on time, but I couldn’t resist drawing the bar which vaguely reminded me of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” painting. The people at the bar were Ethos employees who were eating dinner before starting their shift for the night. My waitress checked up on me periodically. I don’t think she was used to having someone linger as long as I did. Pumpkin pie was written on the chalk board and I couldn’t resist kicking off the fall season with a slice. I deserve a small treat.

Sure enough, as I finished up the sketch, I realized that I was late to the concert. I decided to bag the concert and I walked back to my car instead. Sometimes my sketch plans change on a whim. I need to pay attention to that inner voice, especially when it whispers “pumpkin pie…”

Pisa Pizza

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I had intended to do a sketch of a film maker’s panel discussion as part of the Global Peace Film Festival at the Cornell Fine Art Museum on Rollins College. When I entered the museum however, the receptionist didn’t know anything about a panel discussion. She said that a film would be shown and she directed me towards a table behind me. On the table was an admission price of $8 which I didn’t know about. The receptionist then shouted at me, “I don’t think you are allowed in with that artists stool!” She started to call security and I just turned to her and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going in.” I didn’t feel like fighting to get the sketch.

On the drive home, I decided to stop at Pisa Pizza (7058 West Colonial Drive, Orlando). For me this hole in the wall establishment is where I go when I’m craving the comfort of a steaming hot slice of cheese pizza. There was only two other people in the joint, seated over by the Push Bus Plush Toy Claw Machine.  Periodically the claw would drop and the machine would let out a loud mechanical wheeze. Talking heads on the TV discussed politics. A circular mirror distorted the room.

Half way into the sketch, The Lion King started up on the TV behind me. My heart still swells with pride during the opening sequence. When Simba tucked his head under his dead fathers paw, I wanted to shout out, “I worked on that scene.” The guy that was flipping pizza dough when I walked in, was now lounging in the seat behind me, chuckling as he watched the film. My sketch formed as I listened to a very dear and familiar story. Someday I’ll find my way on the path unwinding.

Jane Goodall

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Anthropologist Jane Goodall gave a talk at Rollins College about her research into the behavior of chimpanzees. The talk took place in the Alfond Sports Center. I arrived an hour or so early. There already was a huge line of people waiting outside to get in. Lauren Bradley, the PR Director at Rollins met me at a side door and she was gracious enough to help me find a seat with a good line of sight. The first two rows of the bleachers I decided to sketch from were reserved for the ushers and staff, so I sat in the third row and got to work.

Ushers were dressed in black and they had a meeting with the Fire Marshall before the doors opened. He wanted to be sure that everyone remained seated once they got inside. Student seating was in the bleachers across from me and of course VIP seating was up front on the floor of the basketball court. The doors opened and the crowd rushed in. Just about every seat in the cavernous room was filled. Footage of baby chimpanzees flashed on the screens.

Jane was announced and she stood at the podium with quiet dignity. She spoke with a sweet British accent as she recalled how she ended up pursuing her life’s dream. Jane read, “Tarzan” as a child and she imagined herself in the exotic jungle setting. When she was even younger, she wondered how a chicken could lay an egg. There was no hole big enough! She sneaked into the hen house and waited there for about 14 hours. Her mom didn’t know where Jane went, so she was sick with worry. Finally a hen layed an egg and Jane rushed to her mother to share the experience with her. To her mom’s credit, she didn’t chastise her daughter. When she saw the look of excitement and wonder in Jane’s eyes, she put aside her worry and listened. When Jane first went to Gambe in what is now Tanzania, her mother joined her, and encouraged her, since it was close to impossible to find or get close to the primates in the beginning. Sadly her mother left right before the moment an alpha male chimpanzee accepted Jane. The rest of the chimps then decided that, if he accepted her, then she must not be a threat.

Jane encouraged everyone to go to see “Chimpanzee“, a Disney nature documentary that opened in theaters April 20th. If you see “Chimpanzee” the week it opens—April 20-26, then for that one week only, Disney Nature will contribute 20 cents per ticket to the Jane Goodall Institute to protect wild chimpanzees. The funds will help, protect their home—the tropical forest, educate the next generation and Care for orphaned chimpanzees.

Jane spoke about how similar chimpanzee’s are to humans. It was assumed, back when she began her research, than only humans used tools. She found that chimpanzees not only used tools, they created tools. Both chimps and humans display sorrow, grief, joy and paternal love. She was shocked to discover that, like humans, chimps have a dark side. Humans are better at spoken communication and yet they are destroying their own resources. The environment is being destroyed for the next generations. Jane began a program called Roots and Shoots, which encourages children and young adults that they can take steps to help make the world a better and more sustainable place to live.

Urbanized

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Urban ReThink hosted a collaborative event between Rollins College Urban Planning Department and the Congress of New Urbanism. The room was packed full of scholars, students and urban planners. The evening began with a screening of “Urbanized” a documentary about urban planning. The film highlighted the pit falls and triumphs of how people use urban spaces. The success of bicycle transportation in cities that plan for and support such an efficient mode of transportation was highlighted. I remember reading once that Orlando is one of the most dangerous places to bike in America, but now bike racks are appearing here and there. I believe there is even a “bike to work day” once a year.

New York City was horribly designed because developers literally cut off access to the waterfront on all sides of the island. A rusty old elevated rail line on the lower west side was slated for demolition. Citizens banded together and the idea was proposed to turn the Highline into a park in the sky. The citizens won and an amazing vibrant green elevated park is the result. In contrast the film showed how a developer wanted to redevelop a rail yard in Stuttgart Germany. This project known as 21, involved building a modern terminus in which the rails would be underground. The problem was, the development would involve cutting down several hundred very old trees in an adjacent park. The city had suffered devastating destruction from bombings in World War ll. Fuel shortages meant people had to scavenge for anything that would burn to stay warm in the winter. No one even considered cutting down those ancient trees. With the trees threatened by the 21 Project, people demonstrated in force. The protests turned bloody when the first trees were cut down. The project was approved and financed. Citizens had mobilized to late.

As an art project, an artist printed name tag labels that said, “I wish this was.” She posted these name tags on abandoned buildings along with a sharpie to get feedback on what people thought of the blight. In a talk back after the film a local suburban planner pointed out that the labels had little hope of affecting change since the buildings were abandoned. He pointed out that such feedback is actually beneficial when development is proposed. I was intrigued by the premise that the American dream of owning a suburban home on a 1/4 acre plot was actually a way to sell more cars. Rather than give up on the suburban dream, cars are simply being redesigned to be more fuel efficient. I need to bring my bicycle to the repair shop.

Dr. Martin Luther King Candle Light Vigil

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On Martin Luther King day I went to Knowles Memorial Chapel on the Rollins Collage Campus in the evening for a candle light vigil. I found a spot on an upper level baloney with it’s wrought iron railing. I sketched the space feverishly as people filed in. “Bridge over Troubled Water” was echoing through the church organ pipes. The Keynote speaker was Fairolyn Livingston who is active in collection and preservation of the community’s history and is a founding member of the Hannibal Square Heritage Center Picture Collection Team. She was born in Hannible Square a segregated community for blacks. She is active in collection and preservation of the community’s history and is a founding member of the Hannibal Square Heritage Center Picture Collection Team. Thanks to the groundbreaking efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, she was able to attend Rollins College to earn her B.A. degree.

A moment of silence was asked for in Dr. Kings memory. The church bell tolled fifteen times. There was something eerie in the sound as it filled the night then faded. The Chapel was packed. Everyone stood to sing “The Black National Anthem.” Students got up and spoke about how Dr. Kings words changed their lives.”Hate can not conquer hate, only love can conquer hate.” Four female singers rose and sang “I Give Myself Away.” Finally everyone in the church lit their electronic candles. Perhaps the image wasn’t as moving as a raw flame, but the room was alive with light as everyone sang out, “Let there be LIGHT!” Everyone filed out of the church, cradling their candles, as I rushed to finish my light filled sketch.

Gospel for Teens Choir

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The last stop on the SketchCrawl was the Alfond Sports Complex where there was a free concert of the Gospel for Teens Choir. After a lunch of Pita and hummus, Terry joined me as I hunted for the sports complex. It wasn’t where I thought it would be so we got lost. We asked students for directions but the campus paths kept twisting and winding. We realized we must be getting close when we saw tennis courts and then I spotted the Choir’s van. We still had to ask directions from a tennis player to get to the building. It turns out we had been just a short walk from the destination, but we took a long twisting loop around the campus to find it. Terry decided to go shopping while I sketched.

Two small platforms were set up on a basketball court. The bleachers were crowded with people. I found a spot on the second level when I could stand and sketch. Young women were doing a dance and I thought I might be at the wrong place still. I walked around the building some more searching for a concert hall. There was just an exercise room and empty classes. I returned. Vi Higgenson, the executive director of Gospel for Teens took to the stage. She explained that she formed the Choir to pass Gospel music from one generation to the next. Teens in the choir experience an uplifting sense of porous and pride. They come from a wide range of neighborhoods, like Harlem, Brooklyn, and even Hackensack New Jersey which is close to where I grew up.

These kids blew the roof off! To say they sang with enthusiasm and spirit would be an understatement. The audience rose to their feet, Clapping to the beat and dancing in the isles. The aluminum bleaches swayed, the whole room in motion. The choral master danced the whole time with gymnastic enthusiasm. I had to dance as well as I sketched. There is such joy in unrestrained self expression and power in faith shouted to the rafters. Let your light shine!

Knowles Memorial Chapel

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The second stop on the 34th Worldwide Sketch Crawl was Knowles Memorial Chapel on Rollins College in Winter Park. I did not see any artists at the 5.2k run but I knew it might be hard to spot artists in that crowd. I had resigned myself to a solo crawl. When I got to the chapel, I walked all around the building searching for the best sketch angle and keeping my eyes open for anyone holding a sketchbook. I decided to sit on a nice iron bench and I got to work. I don’t sketch buildings very often, mostly because it is so hot in Orlando. It was a beautiful clear cool crisp day and I relaxed into the sketch.

Young students jogged by and a truck full of Lacrosse players rumbled down the hill towards the lake and playing fields. A player shouted out, “Do a drawing for me!” His buddy’s laughed. A woman approached from the street talking on her cell phone. I heard her say something about sketching the chapel. She put the phone away and I asked, “Are you here for the Crawl?” She didn’t understand, so I gave her a flier and explained what a Worldwide Sketch Crawl was. It turned out Claire Wiley was indeed meeting people to sketch, but they were a separate group of sketchers unrelated to the Crawl. Isaac Warshow walked up and Claire shouted out, “Come meet my new friend!” Isaac absolutely loved my work so, I shared a sketchbook with him and we chatted, then sketched together. Claire wandered across the street, set up her portable artist’s stool and began sketching the front facade. Brad and Wendy Ringhausen, a married couple introduced themselves then set up outside a chapel courtyard. Brad told me he planned to finish a sketch he had started a year and a half ago. Brad showed Claire his sketch and they talked for a while before he walked off to finish it.

A large van parked right in front of me blocking the lower half of my view of the chapel. The van was for the Gospel for Teens Choir. They piled out and went inside the chapel to rehearse. An hour later, the van drove off and I focused on the areas that had been blocked. Isaac had to leave to get his hair done. He had done a bold study of the Chapel tower in ink using Rapidograph pens. He used watercolor pencils to add some color. He asked for my advice, so I suggested he darken the shadow side of the building.

Terry was coming to meet me for lunch. When I started packing up my supplies, I noticed Claire across the street had finished as well. I walked over to compare sketches and chat. Her sketchbook was full of small intimate studies of architecture, trees and delicate watercolor studies of clouds. The clouds floated and filled the pages with no horizon to ground them. Because of that, they were painted more boldly and had a degree of abstraction. They made me want to look up. Wispy clouds had blown in and enveloped the sky.

She works as an interior designer at Disney and her husband does the same for Universal. She is a sketch addict. When Terry walked up and I introduced her, Claire asked, “Is it a problem for you that Thor is always out sketching?” That was a loaded question that caused me to laugh out loud. Terry responded, “It is important for couples to make time to be together.” It turns out Claire sketches even when she and her husband are out to dinner. She has to negotiate for the time to finish. For some reason it makes me happy that there are other couples who share the same negotiations.

Brad and Wendy sat in the courtyard together. He used a brown brush pen to delineate all the roof tiles and the rest of the sketch was done in muted neutral tones. Wendy was working on an interior study of a room using a photo for reference. She liked the multiple textures and experimented with ways to reproduce them in her sketch. I invited everyone to join me for the rest of the crawl, but one sketch was enough for them. Terry and I said goodbye and we walked up Park Avenue to find lunch.

Little Shop of Horrors

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Director John DiDonna staged a lively production of Little Shop of Horrors at the Annie Russell Theater in Rollins College. I love the Annie Russell’s fabulous Baroque architectural touches. As the audience filled in, several bums lounged on the stage, occasionally shifting positions to get comfortable. I’ve always loved the music from this play. I used to blast it while I painted in NYC. I always hoped that someday I’d live somewhere that’s green.

Audrey, the plant, was four different sized in the production. I ended up drawing the third largest version. When Audrey was at his largest, he filled the little shop. John took me back stage after the show to see the inner workings of the puppets. A puppeteer had to get inside the plant and bend at the waist to get the plant to talk. I must have been physically exhausting.

On stage right a chair was draped and hidden with fabric. It turned out this was the dentists chair. Today I went to the dentist and discovered I needed four wisdom teeth pulled. I was given Nitrous gas and told to relax. Old x-rays from eight years ago turned out to be from another patient mixed in with my own. As new x-rays were taken the tech told me they were short staffed. An assistant disappeared because of a family emergency. As the dentist worked on my teeth, he kept coaching the assistant so she wasn’t in his way as he worked. It seemed like this was her first time applying suction. I suspect she was usually in the reception area but she was excited to learn.

The bright light in my eyes, I saw a large needle and felt a sharp burning sensation in my gums and in my cheeks. I flinched and the doc apologized. He kept the needle in and kept vibrating it pushing hard. He repeated the process on all four quadrants of my gums. The worst pain happened when he stabbed the roof of my mouth. I was fitted with a bright orange clowns nose with two hoses for the gas. My head swam and my legs relaxed. Some sort of wedge was inserted inside my mouth to keep it open.

Before he began, he advised me to take an extra deep inhale of the nitrous. I heard his stomach gurgle. The dentist started prying at my back wisdom tooth and he pushed hard under the roots. I heard a crunching noise, like a tree branch breaking and I felt the tooth give way. For an eternity he continued to pry. There was cracking and crunching as he broke the teeth free. Giant hands and tools invaded my field of vision. “I should be sketching” I thought. When he was done he patted me on the shoulder and said, “Time flies when you’re having fun, kind of makes you wish you could have them all out.” He loved his work.

I was left reclined in the seat to recover. My whole mouth was numb and I realized I couldn’t swallow. My throat felt like it was constricting. I started to panic. I heard shoes ringing on the tile as assistants and dentists rushed from station to station. Would they notice if I stopped breathing? I gasped for air through my mouth and struggled to relax. When I was finally seated upright and the orange nose removed, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. A simple trip to the dentist for a deep cleaning turned into an unexpected horror.