FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Their imaginative and prescient of Florida’s magnificence coloured a whole bunch of canvases, however many years in the past their pores and skin colour prevented them from reaching larger fame and fortune.
Now the famed highwayman’s artwork is wanted throughout the globe, and an initiative is giving them a everlasting house.
RA McLendon has been busy currently portray river scenes. Sitting on a chair at an occasion in Wellington, McClendon started drawing within the mid-Fifties, drawing on the bottom as a baby.
He befriended a gaggle of African-American painters from the Treasure Coast who turned often known as the Highwaymen.
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This life is just not straightforward.
“[I would] Working all day and never promoting a single portray,” McClendon recalled.
Artists have been shut out of conventional galleries and have been pressured to promote their work on the roadside and wherever they might discover clients.
“We might promote them in docs’ workplaces, lawyer’s workplaces, anyplace work may very well be offered,” McClendon mentioned.
At the moment’s collectors uncover vibrant works created by these gifted artists.
Though lots of the authentic Highwaymen are actually gone, there’s a motion that ensures they don’t seem to be forgotten.
Particular Report: Black Historical past Month
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Doretha Hair Truesdell’s husband, Alfred Hair, was one other of the unique Highwaymen.
Lately, she walked previous an empty room upstairs in a constructing on Avenue D in Fort Pierce.
“Are you able to think about this?” Truesdell requested. “All this lovely Highwayman artwork will probably be on show. This will probably be its house.”
She hopes to open a brand new museum devoted to the Highwaymen this yr.
Along with the artwork, this system additionally plans to showcase interviews with a number of highwaymen as a part of a documentary filmed in Fort Pierce a number of years in the past.
Whereas authentic canvases can price a whole bunch or hundreds of {dollars}, you possibly can request your personal Highwayman art work on your automotive for a lot much less.
Lawmakers handed a invoice just a few years in the past that might have allowed the creation of highwayman license plates.
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However with a view to create it, 3,000 folks wanted to pay upfront for vouchers, and to date, demand outdoors St. Lucie County has been low and has an extended technique to go.
Charges from the skilled part will go towards artwork packages on the museum in addition to native colleges, which can sooner or later encourage the following Highwayman.
Artists like RA McLendon now have their very own studios and subsequently not must ply their commerce on the motorway.
“I haven’t got to promote them anymore,” McClendon mentioned. “They arrive to me now asking for work.”
The Metropolis of Fort Pierce is internet hosting its annual Bandit Heritage Trail and Art Exhibit Feb. 18 at Moore’s Creek Linear Park at Seventh Road and Avenue D.
The museum web site may also be open to the general public for a sneak peek.
