86
Show-Stealer
Upon meeting Alexander, now eight,
it’s obvious he is articulate and smart,
musical and artistic, and the opposite
of shy and reserved. A born performer,
Alexander is the kind of kid who points
out that his birthday falls on the same day
Louis Armstrong died. And the kind of kid
who takes up trumpet in third grade.
Alexander’s latest passion, is electric
guitar, and he plans to play Stevie Nicks’
“Edge of Seventeen” in this year’s school
talent show. He was inspired to take up
the instrument by a 10-year-old electric
guitarist in Shool o ok, a musical he
saw in March in New York.
Shool o ok is not the only musical
Alexander has seen. In February, he saw
hanto o the era at Tampa’s Straz
Center for the Performing Arts. He liked
it so much, he has since learned all the
songs on the soundtrack by heart and
he’s read the book (the actual Gaston
Leroux book, not one of the abridged
versions adapted for children.)
When it comes to talents, Alexander has
a bunch. Besides the above, there’s his
magic act - surprisingly good for a child
of eight (“I like astounding the audience,”
he says. “I like astounding my friends”.)
But it was Alexander’s artistic abilities
that rst attracted the attention of this
magazine. A picture he drew when he was
seven - of his family’s cat, Puddy, facing
off with a wild fox - was selected to run in
the December 2017 issue of the popular
kids’ magazine Hihlihts.
Alexander’s drawing was inspired by a
story Nicole told him: late one night, after
hearing what sounded like screaming
in her driveway, Nicole saw a fox, one
that’s spotted every once in a while in the
Teich’s Palmetto development, standing
just a few feet from Puddy, whose back
was arched, all her fur standing on end.
Eventually the fox ran off.
Alexander didn’t witness the fox/Puddy
incident, but a picture formed in his mind
when he heard his mom’s story. So, when
Hihlihts issued a call for “awesome
animal” stories and artwork, Alexander
drew a picture of a gray Puddy facing off
against a red fox with a speech bubble
saying “Yow!” The caption reads “My cat
had a stare-down with a fox.”
“I’ve never been published for something
before,” Alexander said. “This time, I knew
they couldn’t turn down a drawing of a cat
staring down a fox.”
The Art of Kindness
Alexander’s paintings, paper collages,
and drawings cover the walls of his
bedroom, as well as other walls in the
Teich’s home. One painting, called
Poppies, is a lovely interpretation of
Vincent van Gogh’s famous work of
art, ield o oies, featuring bright
red poppy blooms, green fields with
hills, trees and a vibrant blue sky in the
background.
Alexander painted Poppies when he was
ve years old at an art summer camp run
by Bradenton artist, Will Corr, with whom
Alexander has also taken art classes.