A GARDEN OF GARDENS

They say it’s like “old Florida” amid nearly 50 acres of gardens surrounding the Leu House Museum, and it is. Harry P. Leu Gardens is a perfect rendezvous with nature in the tropics, famous for its collection of camellias and formal rose garden, the largest of its kind in Florida.

Originally built as a five-room farmhouse in 1888, the Leu House was remodeled to its present state in 1936 when Harry and Mary Jane Leu became the owners. During their travels they collected many seeds to plant in the gardens that were eventually deeded to the city of Orlando in 1961, and in 1978 the house was fully restored in preparation for organized tours.

Visitors are free to wander through 10 multi-themed areas called The Camellia Collection, Tropical Stream Garden, Formal Rose Garden, Butterfly Garden, Herb Garden, Vegetable Garden, Annual Garden, Native Wetland Garden, Arid Garden and Palms, Cycads and Bamboos.

The tour offers a rare glimpse at the sources of some of the exotic fruits we eat, such as papaya, passion fruit, star fruit, mango, guava and lychee. Aquatic plants, bromeliads, orchids, century-old oaks, thousands of camellias, 13 palm varieties, 30 different grasses and 55 types of bamboo all flourish at this “garden of gardens.” 
www.leugardens.org

THE WONDERS OF WINTER PARK

Once a quiet retreat for winter-weary Northerners, visitors to Winter Park will now discover a haven for visual arts including the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens and the Crealde School of Art.

Founder Jeannette McKean, named the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art to honor her grandfather, and together with her husband, Hugh McKean, assembled the most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Tiffany’s leaded glass windows, lamps, jewelry, pottery and paintings are impressive, but the masterpiece is the chapel interior he displayed at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The 800-square-foot Tiffany Chapel is as fascinating as it is beautiful with six lavishly decorated plaster arches, 16 mosaic columns, a 10-foot-high emerald glass electrolier (electrified chandelier), a marble and white glass mosaic altar, an ivory glass mosaic baptismal font and six stained-glass windows. (Please see the Out of This World section for “The Chapel that took Chicago by Storm”)

Besides the famous Tiffany creations, the Park Avenue museum exhibits include a major collection of American Art Pottery and significant collections of late 19^th century and early 20^th century American paintings, graphics and the decorative arts.
www.morsemuseum.org

A few blocks away is an amazing showplace of art named after Albin Polasek, the great Czech-American sculptor whose works explored the medium of bronze, fiberglass, terracotta, concrete, aluminum, limestone, marble and wood. The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, located at the home and studio he built on Lake Osceola in 1950, feature 200 sculptures and paintings, approximately half of his entire portfolio, as well as some pieces by Ruth Sherwood, his first wife who died in 1952.

Polasek’s monumental sculptures echoed his passion for his work and his unfaltering patriotism. The Sower, Man Carving His Own Destiny and Vesna, Svantovit, Perun, Rugiewit Triglav, all Slavonic Gods, are classic Polasek. By age 72 a stroke confined him to a wheelchair, but the unstoppable sculptor kept working, and by age 80 he had produced 16 more pieces with the help of Emily, his second wife.

Eternal Moment, Mermaid/Mama Mermaid and Forest Idyll show us the lighter side of Polasek, and even a unique streak in his Emily Fountain where she plays the harp in the patio pool and the “strings” are actually water spouts.
www.polasek.org

Inspired by Tiffany and Polasek, everyone’s creative juices are flowing by the time we arrive at Crealde School of Art, our final stop in the Winter Park arts district. Adults and children can register for more than 70 visual art classes or workshops, covering ceramics, sculpture, photography, painting and drawing. Our project was to design and make a decorative mask from clay. Each one of us was assigned a portion of red clay that we flattened, pinched, nipped and tucked into place to produce masterpieces.

Visitors can tour two galleries that schedule temporary exhibitions by artists from all parts of America, while the outdoors feature one of Florida’s largest contemporary sculpture gardens created by regional and international artists.                    

There is a also a Biennial Juried Competition in Contemporary Southeastern Photography that invites entries from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana (the next one is in 2005.)
www.crealde.org

ONCE UPON CENTRAL FLORIDA

Unlocking the doors to Central Florida’s historic past at the downtown Orange Country Courthouse is the Orange County Regional History Center’s focus from 12,000 years ago. We bypass centuries through interactive displays to see the First Peoples (Paleo Indians), the Seminoles, pioneer Cracker families and the dawn of the railway, cars, fighter jets and space shuttles. And by the way, fashion comes and goes. Tattoos were also popular, albeit using very different methods “by cutting their skin and rubbing soot or dye into the wounds, and when healed the cuts became blue, red and black lines.”
www.thehistorycenter.org

SCULPTURE IN THE CITY

During my visit the Downtown Sculpture Program was in full swing and it was just another way to explore the cultural corridor. Colorful and zany, made of metal, wood, fiberglass, metal, steel, iron, bronze, terracotta mosaic, ceramic and tile on cement, 40 sculptures worth over $400,000 were showcased. My favorites were The Lone Flop, Joy of Life, Miranda the Martini Girl, Rolling Horse Kool Cat, The Dance of Life, Spilling Over and the Keeper. www.cityoforlando.net/arts

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLECTION

Their footsteps are echoes of the past, but today there are solid reminders of the vibrant African Americans who shaped parts of Orlando from the 1920’s onwards.

The Wells’Built Museum of African American History occupies the hotel originally opened in the Parramore District for patrons and performers of the popular South Street Casino, both owned by Orlando’s first African American physician, Dr. William Monroe Wells. The hotel’s guest list once included Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington, Lionel Hampton, Bo Diddley, B.B. King and Ray Charles. Framed handwritten ledger sheets detail performance dates and amounts paid to these renowned musicians (e.g. July 6, 1954 - B.B. King $1,272.25; Sept. 23, 1956 - Ray Charles - $658.50; Feb, 27, 1953 - Lionel Hampton $1,250.)

A self-confessed collector, I was in “doll heaven” seeing cloth babies, black-faced dolls, Barbie look-alikes and memorabilia such as “Geraldine” (Flip Wilson) and Cassius Clay (Mohamed Ali.) Stamps (first day covers) and coins commemorating Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, early postcards with stereotypical images of African Americans used to promote products, slave records, an original Negro League baseball jersey, photographs and books are among the fascinating items on display.
Tel: 407-245-7535

EATONVILLE AND HER FAMOUS DAUGHTER

Ten miles northeast of Orlando is Eatonville, the first African American municipality to be incorporated in the United States. It’s also the hometown of Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), the celebrated writer, anthropologist and folklorist whose life and work was so admired by Pulitzer Prize author, Alice Walker, she published a book entitled “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston.” Through P.E.C. (Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community) Eatonville has developed into a distinct heritage community and in February 1998 the historic district was recognized with a listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

Visitors are welcome to enjoy the self-guided walking tour of Eatonville from sunrise to sunset. An afternoon visit was all too brief, but there was time to browse through the photo exhibit at the Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts and listen to a reading from the author’s “Folk Tales” at the St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. There are eight one-of-a-kind murals by Andre Smith, a friend of Zora’s, depicting local life in the early 1900’s. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed, therefore you need to visit in person, perhaps in January for the annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival.
www.noranealehurstonfestival.com

A MIX OF ART AND SCIENCE

What’s special about Loch Haven Park? It has a fascinating trio - The Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Museum of Art and The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art.

I discovered that “learning science can be fun” at the Orlando Science Center. Do you know that balding is a sex influenced trait? Both men and women carry the gene for baldness, but the gene needs male sex hormones to be expressed. There are 10 specially themed halls, but make sure you see the dinosaur fossils at the paleontological excavation site that is part of the exhibit called DinoDigs.
www.osc.org

Treasures, ancient and modern, grace the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), one of the first museums to be nationally accredited by the American Association of Museums. It is quite a mesmerizing sight to stand before artifacts crafted between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1521 that is now titled Art of the Ancient Americas Collection (from the south-western United States, Mexico, Central and South America.) Eighteenth century paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculptures, together with recent acquisitions render the American Collection priceless. The African Collection completes the permanent collections, and is perhaps the most colorful of all, originating from Southern Africans (Zulu, Ndbele, Himba and Thembu) and the Benin and Yoruba people of West Africa.
www.omart.org

If you’re planning a pre-Christmas visit, try to fit in the Annual Festival of Trees, a nine-day fund-raising event held in conjunction with “Holidays Through the Ages.” The trees are decorated by well-known Orlando citizens and are sold as fundraisers for charitable organizations. It certainly is one of the best spots to begin your holiday gift shopping, especially if you prefer one-of-a-kind items. Don’t miss the Playhouse Village and garden where six mini-houses are created to delight the children, but we can all enjoy the delightful designs.

Another great area to explore is the North Orange Avenue Antiques & Design District where the annual Evening on the Avenue features live entertainment, refreshments and special sales. Flo’s Attic, Annie’s Antiques, Golden Phoenix Antiques and Antique Showcase are great for treasure hunters. Fun shops include De’Ja’Vu and Rogers Studio, the place for nostalgic “Boom-Art” by Glenn and Sandy Rogers.
 www.festivaloftreesorlando.com

The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art is the first of its kind in Florida to focus entirely on the works created by self-styled artists, most notably Earl Cunningham’s paintings. The $8 million Cunningham collection donated by Michael and Marilyn Mennello to the city of Orlando was the answer to Cunningham’s dream of having his pieces exhibited together at one museum, and today it forms the nucleus of the permanent collection visitors have come to enjoy since its opening in 1998.

Earl Cunningham (1899-1977) has become an icon of American 20^th century folk artists, recognized by his trademark of “bold” colors and “fantasy” scenes (Red Sky Over Folly Beach,The Twenty-One, Approaching Squall at Boothbay and Sunrise at Lighthouse.) His vivid portrayals of bridges and lighthouses are stunning, but his favorite subjects were early 20^th century schooners and Indian villages.

Located near picturesque Lake Formosa, the museum’s permanent collection also includes sculptures by Paul Marco and John Gerdes (in wood.) These number among the more than 150 paintings and objects always on display at the museum, and there can be as many as four exhibitions staged annually.
www.mennellomuseum.com

A WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT

Orlando is an entertaining city by day and night. There are over 20 venues for the performing arts that encompass music, ballet, opera, comedy and live theatre.

Orlando Ballet (formerly Southern Ballet Theatre) was established in 1974 and today enjoys prestigious status among world class performers. The ballet company’s 27 professional dancers train and star under the watchful eyes of their Cuban-born director, the renowned Fernando Bujones.
www.orlandoballet.org

Since 1963 the Orlando Opera has successfully performed some of the most famous operas, and Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” was no exception. A unique idea and bonus for patrons is a 35-minute background session on the opera covering its history, the composer and the components of style, 90-minutes before show time.
www.orlandoopera.org

The Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre is not only home to Orlando’s ballet and opera companies, but also to the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Sun Trust Broadway in Orlando (touring productions from the Big Apple.)
www.orlandophil.org
www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com

Orlando’s theatre scene is a lively one. Although People’s Theatre is a newcomer to the stage, founder Canara Price is finding success by spotlighting the rich diversity of Orlando’s people and their talents. Mad Cow Theatre, despite its quirky name, has a loyal following for contemporary and classic plays performed in “intimate settings.” The Sak Comedy Lab is a hilarious mix of comedy, improvisation and storytelling. If you don’t mind getting into the act check out the “Best Place to Experience Live Comedy in the State of Florida.”
www.peoplestheatre.org
www.madcowtheatre.com
www.sak.com

Just remember, Orlando is full of surprises and these are some of the best on our list!