Art comes alive in Winter Park's Central Park

On Sundays, Park Avenue is bustling with brunch-filled pedestrians, energetic children, and friends coming together to relax before the week ahead of them. Adults sip mimosas and browse the brick-lane streets’ eclectic shops, while kids eagerly steer their parents by hand with their sights set on Central Park.

In the park, just north of New England Avenue and adjacent to the rose garden, visitors of all ages converge. A microcosm of quirky artists of all mediums congregate in Memorial Plaza, bringing a pop of extra culture to the Avenue area and drawing a crowd.

Around 1 p.m. every Sunday, three men come to the plaza with their equipment and set up on park benches for the rest of the afternoon until sunset. The rag-tag team is made up of a guitarist, a balloon twister and a portrait artist. Their artistries mix to make up what they like to call, the Cultural Plaza.

Scores of people walk by and stop to hear spiritual Budatom strum his guitar and sing in his soothing voice. Children come running and screaming to get a balloon twisted into their favorite character from a movie or into an interesting animal by Larry. Others walk up to sit down with Egberto Almenas to get their portrait drawn for their very first time.

Almenas comes every Sunday with his wife Maria and sits with his legs crossed on a bench, facing a folding chair directly across from him. Behind him, there’s an easel displaying portraits he’s drawn in the past, including one of himself.

Visitors to the plaza approach to ask how much a portrait costs, and he tells them that he just accepts tips if they want to give one. He looks at each person who sits down and first asks them to look left and right as he analyzes their faces. They relax and try not to move too much as he starts to quickly draw and look up and down at his paper and then to the client. Features are the first things drawn, and then he adds on details to bring the portrait to life.

“A lot of the expression goes in the eyes and reveals a certain statement of the sitter and I try to capture a little of that,” Almenas said.

It is a different experience for Almenas each time he sketches, he said, as something different is always happening around him while he draws. He’s constantly looking around as people pass by on bikes and kids splash in the plaza’s fountain. During the whole process, he speaks very low and respectfully to everyone whether they are a young child or aging adult.

Almenas is a poised man with a slight Spanish accent, grey hair and small eyes. On paper, he has a resume listing everything from author to artist and professor of Spanish literature, humanities and art.

Born in Chicago and then raised in Puerto Rico until he came to study art at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Almenas said he has always been a lover of art in all of its forms.

In Puerto Rico, he said he was always making art and writing in different forms expressing creative ideas. His muse from a young age, and still to this day, has always been Jose Marti, a national hero in Cuba and worldly literary figure who has inspired many artists and leaders.

“He’s a big influence in my way of thinking, especially trying to search for originality and Latin American identity and a very fulfilling worldview,” Almenas said.

Almenas is associated with the research institute of Jose Marti and has written multiple essays and two books about him.

When Almenas made his way to Chicago, he read “Versos Libres,” a collection of Marti’s poetry on the plane ride. He came to America to attend college, deciding to study art.

“Many people have the dilemma of choosing what to do. If you really love something and that’s your passion and you let go of it, you become something else and that can make you miserable for the rest of your life,” Almenas said. “You will have the money, the rent and get the car, but what good is it if you’re really, really miserable?”

“… Fortunately I was crazy enough to do what I did,” he says about following his heart. “It’s provided so much. I wouldn’t change it for anything else.”

Almenas’ latest publication, “Art Capsules: The Contemporary Art Scene in Central Florida and Beyond,” came out in 2014 and covers the art movement that has been seen in the Central Florida area over recent years.

“It’s catching up here and taking a lot more risks. There’s a very Floridian voice,” Almenas said.

As a docent in the Orlando Museum of Art, Almenas sees how people of all ages experience art. He said the most gratifying experience he’s given is showing children art, because they have a natural tendency to express it and are intrigued by it.

The Cultural Plaza radiates with art, encouraging passersby to pull up a seat and stay awhile, from a few minutes to a couple hours. Children let go of their parents’ hands to run towards the man making balloon animals, and others on bikes stop to get their portraits drawn as they listen to the music.

Budatom, the guitarist, is currently attending Full Sail University and comes to the Cultural Plaza Fridays through Sundays when he can. He, Almenas and Larry the balloon crafter have serendipitously shown up at the same time on Sundays for the past four months.

“People come and just enjoy having another area on the Avenue where they can experience culture and expression for enjoyment,” Budatom said while catching some sun on his face before his next set. “We’re creating a place for enjoyment. This whole area is for enjoyment for people. This whole strip is just a place for art and culture and all we’re doing is just adding to that.”

A lot is happening around Almenas and the sitter in the span of time he draws them. They look around and react differently to life going on around them. Almenas says he tries to grab this emotion as much as he can, from the strands of hair the wind blows across someone’s face to their eyes reacting to the sunlight filtering through the trees.

“He has age to his work. You can just see that he’s been doing it for a while. He’s got a timeless sense of art,” said Budatom, who has had his portrait drawn by Almenas.

Larry the balloon twister regularly sits next to Almenas and his wife on another bench where a crowd of children quickly forms. He’s been coming to the plaza for about six weeks, but has been twisting little kids wishes into balloon form for a while.

When the regular balloon twister who came to Give Kids the World Village didn’t show up the day Larry’s family was volunteering there, he quickly went up and started to fill in. He now has a portfolio of over 70 twists and says it’s like “cotton candy for the soul” to be crafting smiles onto children’s faces.

“All the art forms here in the park compliment each other very well … Budatom brings people over here and the people that come see the balloons, and the kids want a balloon which improves my art, as well as for the portrait artist, it improves his,” Larry said as he finished twisting a balloon animal.