A Week at Sarsota's Hermitage...or summer camp?

A few weeks ago, I was privileged to be one of eight decorative artists from around the country invited to spend a week at the Hermitage on Manasota Key. The Hermitage is an artist retreat, which was originally started by the Sarasota Arts Council and is now self sustaining, from what I understand. You can read all about it on their website.

For our 'retreat', eight decorative artists from around the country, were invited to spend a week here to paint a mural, which was given to the town of Englewood. Originally, we thought we might collaborate on one large mural, but quickly decided to showcase, in effect, what each of us does on a daily basis. So we each painted a four by eight foot panel.....outside....under a tent....and the stars. It was quite the experience, and THAT is an understatement.

The artists, as I mentioned, came from all parts of the country.....
We had two brothers, Todd and Eric Lindburgh, from Virginia Beach, VA. Shannon Clark, from Hollywood, CA. Tania Seabock from San Francisco. Pat Ganino from somewhere in Connecticut. Elena Ortega from Key Largo, FL. Skip Dyrda (me)....from good old Sarasota and last but not least, Erik Schlake, from Englewood. It was Erik who had the original idea and posed it to Bruce Rodgers, curator at the Hermitage and then to the Englewood Community Redevelopment Authority. Ultimately, the entire project was funded and unanimously approved by the Sarasota County Commissioners.

By sundown on a lazy Sunday, we had all arrived and began to get to know each other. A few had met at various conventions and shows and most of us at least knew about each other but never met. It really didn't take long for all of us to be best of friends. Some credit for that has to go to Debbie Marks and her assistant Jesse, from the CPA. They were sort of our 'camp councilors' I guess.....or house mothers:-) A more appropriate title might be 'amazing' since they treated us like royalty and fed us way too much food. I think much of the food was donated from various Englewood restaurants (I'll get that list later) but Debbie would show up bright and early most mornings with the best baked goods, that she made! That coffee cake was deadly good....wow...

The plan was that we would start painting Monday morning but some of us just couldn't wait to get started and began working on our panels Sunday night. Each panel had it's own, very large easel and they were all set up under a huge tent on the Southern edge of the property. For the first few days we didn't have many lights since no one figured that we would be painting until the wee hours of the mornings. I don't think anyone quit painting before 11pm and most painted well past midnight, even on Monday night after we got slammed by a fairly strong storm. All the panels got wet and one mural basically melted off it's panel. The muggy weather made the donated paint dry way too slow for some of us but by the end of the week, all eight panels were finished and hanging in downtown Englewood. In fact, the contractor was picking up finished panels by Friday noon. That's only four and a half days. Of course, we all worked a minimum of 14 hours a day.......

And it wasn't ALL work. Like I said, we ate well. And this is where the summer camp part comes from......more like summer camp with no adult supervision:-) I'm being facetious, of course....sort of......
For example, Tania, the artist from San Francisco, has been a part of the Burning Man festival with her husband for several years. They perform in a show that involves dancing and fire.....as in torches and ...um....fire breathing. So.....she taught us how to do that....the fire breathing part. It was very interesting. Pretty wild, actually. No people, animals, plant life or structures were harmed during our lessons:-) See the video here.

And then there was "The Red String Incident" Those of you that know about my work know also that I include a red string in all my work. I've done this for about 15 years. One day after painting all morning, I walked up the hill to the main house to have lunch. I hadn't realized that most of the other artists were already there and that Debbie was there making sure everyone had enough to eat. Tuesday was leftovers day so I opted for a slice of pizza. When I went to serve myself, I was instructed to sit at the table and I would be served. OK....fine.
My pizza arrived with a nice piece of red string on top. Cute:-) Thanks, guys. The it took me about ten minutes to realize that everyone had red strings tied around their wrists. Wow....now that was really nice, I thought.
But little did I know that they weren't done with me. That night, after painting for several hours after dinner, most of us had congregated in the main house. Many had their laptops out and others were just talking. I think it might have been between midnight and 1 am when I finally decided to head down to my cabin to call it a night. Early the next morning, I stumbled my way back up to the main house to make a pot of coffee, only to find Erik (the one from Englewood) standing in the kitchen......coffee was already made and he had this huge grin on his face. I asked what he was so happy about and he mumbled something about food and friends and everything going so well. I poured a cup of coffee, walked to the window and looked out to the parking lot to see my white Ford Explorer......completely covered in red string, along with several trees, benches and the fence! Too cool.....I was smiling all day. All week. Still......

And that little story was what this little experiment was all about.....friends. I made friends that week that I'll never forget.....I may never see some of them again. I hope that's not the case. Regardless.....this was an experience I'll treasure forever. We worked hard.......had fun....ate too much and became the best of friends...all of us. And the little town of Englewood received eight kick-ass murals for a fraction of what we would have normally charged any of our clients.....basically for room and board.

Thanks to Erik for the idea and all his hard work to make his dream a reality. To Debbie Marks and her assistant Jesse, for waiting on us hand and foot (and cooking). All the donors of food, wine, easels...everything. Bruce Rodgers for agreeing to host the project and putting up with eight crazy artists. To Sarasota County for funding the project. And most of all, to my new friends......
And oh, yeah.....to my wife.....for allowing me to go to summer camp with no adult supervision:-)

I'll eventually update this page with a link to a website all about our experience as well as a video I'm creating from the photos everyone took. In the meantime, enjoy the photos below....and sorry for the long post....

Skip

Finishing in Stuart....ummmm....nope.

Even though this panel is quite finished, I decided to include it anyway. The reason is that I had to move my monster hydraulic lift around back. It's been parked on Osceola Ave. for I guess about 3 weeks and a few people were becoming umm...antsy. Well....only two, actually. Parking here in Stuart, just like in Sarasota, is a challenge, and I was taking up 3 spaces on what is the main street. One guy, who arrived one evening in a cool little Porsche Boxster, thought he could park UNDER the boom of the lift. Really! So I got to use the nifty little horn on the lift, since I was up in the air painting. The Boxter guy looked at me like I was asking for his car. And all of a sudden his hands were waving around like a windmill, he backed up really fast, and proceeded to find a parking space way down...no...7 spaces away. And it was closer to his destination, the Flagler Grill & Bar. I'm dying to try out that restaurant....maybe just before I leave here...
Anyway, Mr. Boxter jumped out of his cool little car, arms still waving while marching across the street, all the while yelling at me...I couldn't tell what his was saying though, and I didn't think it was nice that he didn't wait for the young lady that accompanied him....I think it was his grand daughter.

So....back to the mural....

The lift you see here has been moved around back to Seminole Ave. and now every one's happy but me. I had to squeeze it into a narrow space right next to a large electric pole. Seems OK, so far. Oh...the murals.....right.

So as I promised in my previous installment, I've added something to the end of our brave fisherman's line.....and of course, it's a Sailfish. Also in that panel is a replica of a letter the Stuart Chamber of Commerce used to send to companies thinking of moving here. The yellow sign, which probably really wasn't yellow, is based on an old Stuart sign and that round think is a replica of the Stuart Sailfish Club's old logo. They've been around here forever and I thought it would be appropriate that they be represented. The postcard the fish is jumping out of is my design....I'll be adding another lamp like the one you see as well as some netting...somewhere.

As for those windows to the right....I'll save those photos for later. I added some interesting characters this time. Oh....regarding those characters. A brief explanation.

The four corners of the building are intended to be the focal point, if you will, and therefore, I've saved those four areas for the historical representations, which are, Chief Osceola, Frances Langford, Sailfishing in Stuart and still to be painted, the dreaded Ashely Gang. The fourteen small windows are sort of secondary and are not intended to have any historical significance. I've used the windows to attract attention by adding figures.....people.....some in action more than others. And it so happens that for most of the windows, I used live models and some happened to be working on the site while I was there. More about the windows in my next installment....soon.

Skip

Stuart, Florida...Part III

Poof! Just like that, I finished the next corner......yeah...right:-) I just haven't been updating the blog as often as I should. In any case, the beautiful blond you see standing on the balcony is none other than Frances Langford, well known local movie star. Developer Mike Ryan thought it would be a good idea to have her on the mural somewhere since the building is directly across from the Lyric Theatre, built in 1925 as a silent movie house and currently used for all kinds of cool events. I missed an Outlaws concert there a few weeks back as well as a Firefall/Poco concert.
Back to Frances......see that bird? It's a peacock and apparently she was found of them or collected them...or both. The image is from a movie she starred in called "The Bamboo Blond" and if you look closely in the detail photo below, you'll see that she's connected to the peacock by my ever present red string. The photos of the last two windows on this side of the building show a silhouette of a lady sitting at her dressing table in the left window and in the right window we find Mackenzie's twin sister, also named Mackenzie. This Mackenzie is somewhat the tomboy, always wearing that baseball hat. That's probably her sister's shirt she's hanging out the window.
Next stop.....the South West corner and the funny fisherman.....stay tuned.

Stuart, Florida...Part II

I finished the NE corner a few weeks ago. So below are the elements not shown in my previous post and one image of the entire NE corner of the building.
On the upper left we see Mackenzie with a fiendish look on her face....for some reason.
On the upper right is the artist painting a self portrait....in silhouette.
















Aha....now we see why Mackenzie was looking so 'pleased with herself'. She just dropped a water balloon and it's heading right for her mom, who's looking out of the window just below. Picasso is wondering what all the fuss is about...and where that other dog came from.
That 'other dog' belongs to Linda, curator of the Geoffrey Smith Gallery in Downtown Stuart. He's playing the parking guard-dog, making sure that everyone parks in their proper places:-)

One for the East Coast

Welcome to Stuart, FL. Just South of St. Lucie and about 45 minutes North of the Palm Beach area...
For me....almost exactly straight across the state from Sarasota.

To the left you see less than one half the blank canvas of my latest project. Called Osceola Place, it's a brand new mixed use building in Old Town Stuart and fronts South West Osceola St. out front and runs clear to the next street out back, SW Seminole Street. I'm not sure of it's exact measurements, but I know that I have seven of those large niches to paint, each measuring about 10 feet square and 14 of those windows, each measuring 3 x 5 feet.


Photo two is the opposite corner on SW Seminole St., which is where I started. They wall is stucco as are those dimensional decorations that define the windows and niches. Since this is a 'percent for art' project, the developer was allowed to choose the artist and the art. The city of Stuart had to approve the designs. I submitted sketches almost a year ago which were approved, although, at that time, I was only expecting to paint the smaller windows.



For this project, I'm using a special organic paint system that bonds with the stucco and will not fade, similar to what I used on the Crisp Building project in downtown Sarasota. Unfortunately, my blank canvas's had a coat of acrylic applied before I arrived and so I have to wire brush each opening and then apply a special primer so that the paint has a chance to bond to the underlying stucco.



Photo three shows the top niche completed. It depicts Chief Osceola standing with his trusty rifle on a Trompe L'oeil balcony. That diagonal black line is a phone or cable wire...there are wires everywhere back there...

Photo three is a montage of various Seminole Indian paraphernalia including a sepia tone portrait photo of the chief, an illustration of another Seminole chief, a photo of a turn of the century Seminole structure and a large rendition of an 1885 'Peace Medal' showing the image of Grover Cleveland, a frequent visitor to the Stuart area.

The basket and small doll on the upper shelf are more contemporary Seminole items.

Wrapup..........

Yeah...I know. I've been a bad boy regarding updating this blog. I think I promised updates about both Homer and Dipsy Doo Dunkeroo. And since the clowns have already had their 'farewell event', at least, the 'public version', I'm going to try to finish this clown stuff off in one blog entry. And then I'll finally return to what I'm supposed to be writing about, which is my mural projects, of which there are several. More about them later...

So here we see four clowns.....from left to right, Homer, Painterskip, PainterMac & Dipsy Doo Dunkeroo. This was taken at the Farewell event at Selby Gardens which appeared to be very well attended.

Each artist got to sign large posters of the clown or clowns they each created, had our group photo taken and we were each given a Sharpie pen with with to sign the 'coffee table' books that were being sold. That was nice but the artists should have had name tags so that the public knew which clowns were artists....or would that be, which artists were clowns? Either way works....

For myself, it's been a sort of emotional roller coaster, what with all the uproar over the clowns and the vandalism. I put a ton of work into the two clowns I worked on, one of which I ended up doing twice since vandals stole his head and basketball and ripped him off his base. I had to track down the head mold from the Resource Factory, purchase new materials (resin, filler powder, epoxy, etc) and created a new head from scratch. And had to replace the basketball. I wish I had taken photos of that 're-process' but didn't....I wasn't in the mood. I hate doing things twice.

The other thing I don't like is going way out of my way to help someone and then having the credit given to someone else. This is what happened with the Cincinnati Reds clown I was asked to 'fix'. We showed up at Sunday's event only to find out that the bronze plaque screwed to Homer listed Jerry Springer as the 'artist' (he did nothing as far as I am aware) and also listed another artist.....but not me. And it was like this all the time Homer was on display at Ed Smith Stadium. So much for paying attention to details. Thanks. At least the Tidewell people made a quick paper label with my name on it on the spot. But after hearing probably ten people exclaim that "Wow! Jerry Springer painted this clown!".....well....enough was enough and I crossed his name out. (see photo) Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield:-)

And last, but not least, I believe that I promised to show the 'little surprise' I added to the Red's clown. I was told, by a few people, that they (the Reds) don't have a sense of humor. They were right:-) Of course, I kinda knew that after I talked with the director of their Sarasota operations and was told to 'not' paint Homer with the fun stuff I used on the Dick Vitale clown, like having his belly show and having Sponge Bob Square Pants undies showing. How boring it must be to live in Ohio, eh? (no....I'm not from Canada)

So in spite of their request, I decided to have a little fun and make a statement. So.....me being from the Philly area and still being a Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, Flyers and Wildcats fan, I decided to add a little tear in Homer's right pants knee. Behind the tear you can see, barely, a band aid. The band aid has a Philadelphia Phillies logo on it:-) So there....take THAT....:-)

Seriously though, it could have been there for any number of reasons. I'll that for the viewer to figure out.

Up next....several small murals and one really big one on the East coast. More on that later.....

Skip

Ouch! That hurt......

Well.......I thought I was done. Clown number two was delivered over a week ago, to the Reds, and I figured I'd be spending my time the next few weeks preparing to paint a large public art mural. But apparently the Spring Break crowd thought I needed more work, as you can see in the photo. Dunkeroo was ummm....beaten up, last weekend, over at the Broken Egg Restaurant on Siesta Key. This is what's left. His head and basketball are gone, he's been ripped from his base and has breaks and cracks everywhere. Thank you, Sarasota.
Can you tell I'm pissed? But I'm not surprised.....

And I should not outright blame the Spring Break crowd for this since I really don't know who was responsible. For all I know, it could have been some little old lady that had it in for Dick. Or clowns. Or basketballs. Or maybe it was one of those unfortunate individuals that spoke out so strongly against using the clown figures in the first place....you remember, don't you? That so-called artist that does portraits and thinks way too highly of himself....or...or....that interior designer that hates clowns but paints everything an ugly lime green....or..or...the former psychotherapist that thought.....well...nevermind. Who cares what she thinks? Right? So I take it all back.....I shouldn't lower myself to their level. Certainly, everyone is entitled to their opinions....including me. So there.....I take it back......kinda.....sorta.

On a more positive note, I've gathered all the king's horses and all the king's men and we're planning on putting Dunkeroo back together again. Um.....that little bit of prose is aimed squarely at my sister, Cindy. She knows why. Sick sense of humor. Who knew?

Anyway, the king's men delivered the pieces to me this morning. The horses took me to The Resource Factory, where Matt (I think it was Matt) allowed me to borrow the original mold for a new head and then it was on to Fiberglass Services, Inc for Dunkeroo's brains (casting resin). Whew....

This will be more of a job than I thought.....he should be in a body cast for months considering all his breaks. But I only have a week or so.....stay tuned.

And here's hoping that Dunkeroo's enemies ultimately suffer the same fate as he.....not that I wish ill will on anyone....or anything like that:-)

And then there were none.......

So that's it....the last clown is finished. Contrary to what you may have read in the Sarasota Herald Trib, THIS GUY....none other than "Homer", is the last clown to be completed. He was 'removed' from my studio this morning by the clown crew and is on his way to the body shop to get his protective coat. And then it's on to Ed Smith Stadium. Finally....
To be fair, this guy had already been completed (by someone else) and well...not quite acceptable to the Reds high standards. Therefore.....he kept me company for awhile.


So here for your viewing pleasure are the first photos of the completed "Homer". I'm saving a few 'detail shots' until after he arrives at Ed Smith Stadium. Me, being from near Philadelphia and all, and being a very loyal guy at heart, ummm.....well...you'll have to check back later.....

Bye, Homer!

Here we go again.......

Once again I'm presented with the opportunity to do a little 'clowning around'.

This time, meet "Homer", Tidewell Hospice's latest addition to their "Clowning Around Town" program to benefit their children's services program. Homer is sponsored by the Cincinnati Reds and will be on display at Ed Smith Stadium, home of the Sarasota Reds.

This particular clown also has what they call a 'celebrity artist'.....nope....not me:-) This one happens to be the one and only Jerry Springer, TV personality and Sarasota resident.


So as you might notice from the first image, Homer needed minor surgery, much like my first clown Dipsy Doo Dunkeroo required. This time it was not as extensive.....

In the bottom photo, Homer is back inside and has received his new bones and is anxiously awaiting his muscles. After that, he'll get some 'skin' and a fresh coat of paint...

Stay tuned to this channel for further developments....