Orlando Soup helps fund creative ideas in Orlando.

Posted on by Thor

Orlando SOUP was modeled after the successful Detroit
SOUP, a micro-granting dinner celebrating and supporting creative
projects in Orlando. For a donation of $10, attendees receive soup (made
by Edible Orlando using fresh, local ingredients), salad and bread.
Before dinner is served, attendees will listen to four short community
project proposals covering a range of topics such as art, urban
agriculture, social justice, social entrepreneurship, education,
technology, and more. During dinner, attendees cast a vote for their
favorite project and, at the end of the night, the project that receives
the most votes is funded by $7 from each attendees’ donation. Winners
appear at future SOUP dinners to report their project’s progress.

I went to the Soup crowd funding event on August 13th 2014at East End Market. (3201 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL). The walls were still covered with my framed sketches. It was great to see so many people in the community room sharing creative ideas. The room buzzed with excitement. I had been asked to work on a mural to cover the front facade of the Fringe offices in the Ivanhoe Village district. Scottie Campbell set up an online crowd source page to try and raise the money to pay me for the project. About $2000 had been raised for the proposed project, but that was less than half of what was needed. Scottie decided to pitch the idea at the Orlando Soup event to make more people aware of the project and raise more funds. His pitch was eloquent and exciting and it helped that my work was visible on every wall. Oddly, though I was in the room sketching, I was never called up to the mic since Scottie covered every base.

Another presentation this evening was by Cole Nesmith who was raising money for The Creative City Project which featured live performances throughout downtown Orlando by local and international arts groups. Cole wants to pay the artists involved but raising the funds needed is a full time job. I wanted to do life sized interactive portraits on the street as my contribution. Unfortunately I was in Australia when the Creative City Project became a reality, so I didn’t get a chance to experience or sketch any aspect of it.  For this Orlando Soup presentation, Cole made a tactical error when he gave everyone in the room a tiny battery and light. The audience became so involved in trying to get the light to work, that they must have missed Cole’s underlying message that it takes everyone’s involvement to light up Orlando with creativity.

Pat Greene gave a presentation about his Transit Interpretation Project (TrIP) and exhibition. He had photographers ride the new Sun Rail trains to take photos of fellow commuters. He needed funds to help hang the exhibit which was at the Gallery at Avalon Island  (39 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando, FL). This show happened while I was away as well. Patrick got the most votes to help fund the TrIP Project show.

Mark your calendar. The next Orlando Soup is January 20, 2015 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at East End Market. (3201 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL). The community room is upstairs. It is a great way to see what creative projects are brewing in Orlando.

The Orlando Amtrack Station

Posted on by Thor

Patrick Greene has been having photographers ride the Sun Rail Trains to take photos of passengers. He arranged for a group to meet and then take the train to the Orlando Amtrak Station near the Florida Hospital South of Downtown. I was running late but wanted to catch the photographers at work, so I went to the final destination. I sketched the station while waiting for the train to arrive. Several trains came and went. Taxis picked up passengers and drove off.

Photos were gathered together for an exhibit at Avalon Gallery as part of the Transit Interpretation Project (TRiP). TRiP is an ongoing project where artists, writers and photographers ride the Orlando transit system and then write blog posts about the experience. I took the Lynx bus downtown from my suburban studio to Avalon for a literary evening based on writers experiences. I didn’t notice my work on the TRiP site, but then a gain I don’t check the site that often.

With the sketch done I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed any photographers around the station. I finally left, a little disappointed that I had missed the creative filed trip. Later Patrick let me know that he wasn’t able to get tickets to the destination I sketched. The group ended up going south away from the Amtrak Station. When I first began Urban Sketching in NYC, it was for a class assignment where I returned to Grand Central Station again and again, doing a sketch each time to document life in the historic station. Train stations therefor are always have a warm place in my heart a great place to sketch.

There Will Be TrIP

Posted on by Thor

On January 14th, there was a reading by five different artists who had taken part in the Transit Interpretation Project (TrIP). TrIP asks artists to travel to destinations using the Lynx bus system. The poems, narratives, and images make there way to “The Corridor Project” TrIP site. Julian Chambliss, Patrick Greene, Dina Mack and Moriah Lorraine Russo read their stories. They posed for a photo with Lynx CEO John Lewis.

I sketched Patrick as he read about his bus TrIP. He romanticized the travels of the beat generation like Kerouac knowing full well he would be home that evening to a home cooked dinner from his mom. The most fascinating write up came from Julian who gave a brief history of public transportation in the south. It seems northern cities developed their public transport systems before the advent of the automobile so the systems they designed had to be robust and efficient. Southern cities urban sprawl came about after the advent of the automobile so public transit came just as an afterthought. He also spoke about the history of Eatonville Florida the first entirely African American community. Although it might have seemed like voluntary segregation, it also demonstrated that this community could not only survive but thrive.

Jesse Bradley was the host for the evening. Amazingly he has been taking the Lynx buses every day for 17 years. He tried to drive a car and he even tried a moped with apparently tragic consequences. The angry mobs on the Florida roads are intimidating. I always drive with the notion that no one else on the road is thinking and that they could do anything with no reason or thought of consequence. Even so, it is seems many drivers want to drive through the traffic in front of them. With people texting and talking on cell phones the incidences of full speed rear end crashes are escalating. This weekend I saw a car waiting at a red light get hit at full speed from behind. It is crazy out there people. A bus is a huge battering ram but there must be a high incidence of accidents from impatient, insane car drivers drying to swerve around the bus as it pulls up to each stop.

Chapbooks of the stories read are being made available for $8. There are 39 copies available as of this writing. As I left the reading I grew anxious knowing I would have to take the bus back home. I walked under I-4 into Parramore to the closest 21 bus stop.