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Artist Ted Michalowski thrives in creative atmosphere at school, work and play As the eerie, high-pitched sounds of an electronic instrument, called a theremin, reverberate through Afa Gallery, Ted Michalowski applies ink to paper with a medicine dropper. As the eerie, high-pitched sounds of an electronic instrument, called a theremin, reverberate through Afa Gallery, Ted Michalowski applies ink to paper with a medicine dropper. It s an impromptu rehearsal for an upcoming series of drawing socials at the downtown Scranton gallery, spearheaded by Mr.

Michalowski, a local artist and college art instructor. He s busy drawing Jason Smeltzer, who s playing the theremin, and Steve Kurilla, who s rapping out tribal beats on a drum. Collectively, the musicians are known as When I Float Backwards, a duo who performs all sorts of experimental music.

They have been regular fixtures at the drawing socials, which Mr. Michalowski started in February 2006. The events are live-music performances at which artists and art students enjoy the entertainment and draw the musicians.

They came about because of Mr. Michalowski s teaching at Marywood University and Keystone College. He would encourage students to go out to hear live music and draw the musicians.

But the students would often feel uncomfortable trying to draw in a club setting. He wanted to come up with a way to bring musicians into an environment where young artists would be comfortable like a gallery. He made arrangements with Test Pattern Gallery, 334 Adams Ave.

, to host the drawing socials. The events immediately started attracting not only college kids but also high school students, adult artists and people with no artistic inclinations, who just wanted to soak up the atmosphere. It s a great event for art students or whatever students, or whomever just wants to enjoy some adventurous music in a lively scene, Mr.

Michalowski said. Drawing is encouraged, but not mandatory. Musicians appreciate the uniquely attentive crowd and the encouragement to spread their wings and experiment.

Because of Mr. Michalowski s teaching schedule, he switched the socials from Thursday to Sunday nights, and from Test Pattern to Afa Gallery, 514 Lackawanna Ave. The drawing socials are just one of many projects Mr.

Michalow-ski, 33, a West Scranton native, has a hand in. Over the past two years, he also has become an accomplished courtroom artist, doing color illustrations of high-profile proceedings like the Hugo Selenski murder trial in Wilkes-Barre last year and the recent Hazleton immigration trial in federal court in Scranton. ABC News contacted Mr.

Michalowski in 2005 he s not sure how the network got his name to do illustrations for hearings in federal court involving Melissa WolfHawk, a woman whose infant was taken from her by Children and Youth Services because her husband, who was not the baby s father, was a convicted sex offender. WNEP-TV, Channel 16, also broadcast Mr. Michalowski s drawings, as the local ABC affiliate.

The major thing about courtroom work is that I have to immediately identify (people s) characteristics and body language and facial landscapes, and relay that visually, just as a journalist would do it with language, Mr. Michalowski said. He followed the WolfHawk hearings with some further work for WNEP on the Bradford County trial of Dustin Briggs, who was convicted of killing two sheriff s deputies.

He did illustrations of Mr. Selenski s trial for WYOU-TV, Channel 22, and WBRE-TV, Channel 28. Earlier this year, WBRE hired him for drawings of the first day of the Hazleton immigration trial before U.

S. District Judge James Munley. CNN then hired him for the remainder of the two-week proceedings.

The case was historic on a certain level, and that s when CNN approached me, Mr. Michalowski recalled. So it s just been a matter of being visible in the right place at the right time.

Each day of the trial, he sat next to CNN correspondent Bill Tucker, who advised him on which people to draw and how many illustrations to do. Some (networks) would like lots of drama (in the drawings), Mr. Michalowski said.

He was excited that CNN wanted drama, because it gave him the chance to tell the story as opposed to simply drawing portraits. He likened the hand-eye coordination and quick pace necessary for courtroom drawing to the skills needed in sports. Mr.

Michalowski credits his father with encouraging those skills in him as a young boy. I believe it was very instrumental for me, he said. It was at West Scranton High School that Mr.

Michalowski began thinking about art as a professional calling. He had a part-time job at a movie theater, and one of his co-workers was a Marywood art student. Until then I wasn t aware of a career in art being an option, he said.

I showed him my drawings, became good friends and went to Marywood. I didn t even apply to another school. At Marywood, Mr.

Michalowski found a mentor in the late Fred Brenner, who was one of the art professors there at the time. Mr. Brenner had been a fashion illustrator and a children s book illustrator who had also taught at Syracuse University and the Parsons School of Design.

Fred was the one teacher who ignited and influenced everything for me in the way I draw and look at drawing, as well as everything else in art, currently and historically, along with all the arts and how they connect. He made the greatest impact on my career, and life. Mr.

Michalowski continued to study privately with Mr. Brenner after he retired. It was he who encouraged Mr.

Michalowski to enroll in the master s degree program in illustration at Syracuse University. Five years ago, Mr. Michalowski returned to Marywood to teach, a venture that also was spurred by Mr.

Brenner s influence. When he had studied privately with Mr. Brenner, the man refused to accept a fee and only asked that Mr.

Michalowski someday pass along what he had learned. This is the major reason I teach. And, it s great to teach the very class in the same school where I met him, he said.

For the current academic year, Mr. Michalowski also began teaching at Keystone. He creates illustrations for the posters promoting The Northeast Theatre s various productions, and is working on a second master s degree at the University of Hartford, in Connecticut.

In August, he ll have an exhibition at Afa Gallery. And, besides his own art work, he wants to keep doing courtroom work and to continue teaching. I m doing everything I want to do.

I ve been enjoying my good old days for quite some time, he said. I do have occasional thoughts of moving to a bigger city, but every time I consider it, a new opportunity arises here. Education: Graduate of West Scranton High School; bachelor of fine arts in illustration, with a minor in literature, from Marywood University; master of arts degree in illustration from Syracuse University; currently working on a master of fine arts degree in illustration at the University of Hartford, in Connecticut.

Other endeavors: He also coordinates weekly drawing socials, formerly at Test Pattern Gallery and now at Afa Gallery, 514 Lackawanna Ave. He has done courtroom illustrations for ABC News, CNN, WBRE-TV (Channel 28), WYOU-TV (Channel 22) and WNEP-TV (Channel 16). He also does illustrations for posters promoting The Northeast Theatre s productions.

When: Sundays, 5 to 8 p.m. Details: General admission is $5, student admission is $2.

When I Float Backwards will perform at tonight s social, and The Doug Smith Trio will perform on April 29. For more information: visit Mr. Michalowski s Web site, www.

tedmichalowski.com, or his MySpace page, www.myspace.