January 2023
N E W S L E T T E R
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The New Smyrna Museum of History and Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum are excited to announce this special event scheduled for Thursday, February 9th at the Brannon Center.
Gary Monroe has been the primary voice about the Highwaymen since 2001, when the University Press of Florida released his book, The Highwaymen: Florida’s African-American Landscape Painters. His writings and talks set the stage for appreciation of their art and its meanings. The Highwaymen’s story is ultimately one of transcendence; their artworks are imbued with what great art realizes–a sense of grace.
As their paintings re-emerged a cultural phenomenon was born. Gary Monroe identified the 26 Highwaymen as part of his years-long research and, based on his nomination, The Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004.
Gary Monroe’s PowerPoint-assisted talk about the Highwaymen is engaging, entertaining and factual, as so much of what is said about the artists is inaccurate. Mr. Monroe brings an artist’s sensibility to looking at the paintings and is piqued by a native Floridian’s insights. He contextualizes the Highwaymen’s art in the Jim Crow South during Florida’s optimistic space-age years. He discusses the Sunshine State as a place to reinvent one’s self during the postwar boom, and explains how these paintings complimented this American dream sentiment. He talks about the artists individually and collectively, describing their modus operandi and how it led to their unique aesthetic. The paintings, he argues, realized a fresh contribution to American landscape painting, challenging the genre’s academic tradition and why they will find their way into fine arts museums.
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For Tickets Visit:
General Admission: $15
Museum Members: $10
Active members of the Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum and New Smyrna Museum of History are eligible for the members ticketing rate.
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We are excited about the return of our history walking tour program which will begin on Tuesday, January 17th and run through Thursday, April 27th 2023. We have some exciting updates to this year's tour schedule and pricing structure. Back by popular demand, the "Old Coronado Beach Flagler Avenue" tour is back on schedule for 2023. Also, it pays to be a member as we have reduced the price of the tour for our members from $10 to $5.
Here is a list of this year's tour selections.
Tuesdays - "The Three Downtowns of Old New Smyrna" Explore multiple areas that started to become the town center for New Smyrna beginning with the Smyrnea' Settlement of 1768 through the arrival of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway.
Wednesdays - "Central Historic District"
Visit multiple local historic landmark buildings as well as sites where New Smyrna's first residents made their homes.
Thursdays - "Old Coronado Beach and Flagler Ave."
Discover a tomb in the middle of the street and a WWII watchtower site as you explore the story of the community formerly known as Coronado Beach. This tour will meet and depart from the South Pine Parking Lot on Flagler Ave.
General Admission - $15
Seniors (65+), Students & Military - $10
Museum Members - $5
Sign up for a tour today:
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Marvin Owens
President
Southeast Volusia Historical Society
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year with family and friends. 2023 looks to be an exciting year here at the Museum with our monthly events scheduled through the year. In February, watch for the Highwaymen Exhibit located in the Brannon Center, with a presentation from a local artist.
I would like to take a moment to welcome two of our new Board of Directors Members, Carol Ladd and April Hudson. We are also looking for individuals who may be interested in being a board member or officer in the Southeast Volusia Historical Society. If interested please notify Gary Swanson who is this year’s committee Chairperson.
As all of you know the Museum could not function or become what it is today without our members and volunteers. I want to encourage those of you who have an interest in becoming a vital part of what makes this Museum so educational and enjoyable to many who visit. Come take part in this rewarding experience here at the New Smyrna Museum of History.
As always be safe and see you at the Museum
Marvin Owens, President SVHS
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Museum Program January 2023 |
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Join us Thursday, January 12th as we welcome our former museum director and local historian Robert Redd as he shares information about his newest book "Hidden History of Civil War Florida".
At the outset of the Civil War, Florida's entire population was only a bit larger than present-day Gainesville. Still, the state played an outsized role in the conflict. Join us and Author Robert Redd on a tour of the lessor-known aspects of Florida in the Civil War.
Stop by the museum store to pick up a copy of the book or order online today through the link below.
https://nsbhistory.shopsettings.com/Hidden-History-of-Civil-War-Florida-p471415156
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"The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters"
by Gary Monroe
The Highwaymen introduces a group of young black artists who painted their way out of the despair awaiting them in the citrus groves and packing houses of 1950s Florida.
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As their story recaptures the imagination of Floridians and their paintings fetch ever-escalating prices, the legacy of their freshly conceived landscapes exerts a new and powerful influence on the popular conception of the Sunshine State. Order today:
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"Harold Newton The Original Highwayman", by Gary Monroe
The Florida landscape is a drama composed of light, color, and form that hints at dark, primordial forces. Perhaps no artist has captured that dichotomy better and more prolifically than Harold Newton. Like the other young black artists who would later become known as the Highwaymen, Newton was painting his way out of the citrus groves, the packing houses, and Jim Crow laws that fueled the despair of African Americans in 1950s Florida. As the first Highwayman, and in classical terms the best, Newton's paintings are among the most highly prized.
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"Alfred Hair Heart Of The Highwaymen" By Gary Monroe.
Shot and killed in a barfight at the age of 29, Hair lived his short life fully, with zest and intensity that informed his art. In high school he made canvas frames in the Fort Pierce studio of A.E. Backus, the painter who inspired the style of the Highwaymen, and soon became the artist's protege. By the time Hair graduated in 1961, he was painting luminous South Florida landscapes and selling them door to door. One of the few formally trained Highwaymen, he spurred on the collective of artists as they traversed the state in search of the white clientele who would buy their artwork.
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"Mary Ann Carroll First Lady Of The Highwaymen" by Gary Monroe
In 1957, sixteen-year-old Carroll met Harold Newton, later dubbed the original Highwayman. He was painting a landscape along the side of the road, and there were red flames on his car. Yet what surprised the young African American girl most of all was discovering a black man who didn't work in the orange groves, who made a living off of his paintings. It wasn't long before she was creating and selling her own landscapes, and the other Highwaymen, taking note of her startling use of color, welcomed her into the fold.
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"Al Black's Concrete Dreams" By Gary Monroe
As demand soared, Al Black (b. 1946) emerged as a salesman par excellence. Often earning 35 percent commission, he was discouraged from creating his own paintings. But gradually he learned, partly from repairing damaged works that had been loaded into his car while still wet.
But by the 1980s, the party came to an end. New Florida was uninterested in pastoral scenes. Sales dried to a trickle too small to support anyone, let alone a man who had recently become addicted to crack cocaine. In 1997, Al Black was found guilty of fraud and possession of drugs. Ironically, this low point marked the beginning of Black's most productive period as a painter, a decade spent in correctional facilities. "Inmate Black" was recognized as painter "Al Black" after Warden McAndrew read a story by St. Petersburg Times columnist Jeff Klinkenberg about the Highwaymen. Soon, with the warden's encouragement and permission, Black was painting murals throughout the prison, classic Highwaymen landscapes that appeared in unexpected venues throughout the facility. Painting by painting, Black transformed drab institutional walls into windows offering a ray of hope to the staff as well as the inmates. When he left CFRC in 2006, Black had created more than 100 murals for the Department of Corrections.
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New at The Museum Store
"Smyrna Scenes"
Framed Postcard Images
Now available in limited supply, take a look at these wonderful colorized postcard images from our collection in the Sheldon Library.
Each hand painted frame measures 4" x 5" and features an iconic colorized image from Southeast Volusia County.
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Explore our entire online catalog by visiting:
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Thursday, March 9th 2023
6:30 PM 120 Sams Ave., New Smyrna Beach
Audubon's Epic Travels in Florida, 1831-32
with Joe Vetter
The quintessential artist, woodsman and naturalist explored our shores to complete his monumental "Birds of America", which features many of the avian wonders of the South. From St. Augustine, to Bulow's Plantation, to the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers, Audubon continued to DeLeon Springs, the St. John's and the Keys. Come celebrate his illustrated masterpieces and legendary life. (Mr. Vetter will be in character with trivia prizes for this presentation!)
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Your Membership and Support Matters!
New Members:
Robert Jones
Audia & Tom Ricker
In Memoriam:
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The Southeast Volusia Historical Society has been awarded the Guidestar Silver Seal of transparency to acknowledge the level of dedication that we provide to donors, organizations and government entities who consider donating to our organization. |
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Make your donation today via mail to:
Southeast Volusia Historical Society Inc.
P.O. Box 968
New Smyrna Beach FL 32170-0968
Donations can also be processed online by clicking the button below:
Talk to your investment planner about how you can donate your mandatory minimum IRA distribution directly to the Southeast Volusia Historical Society and not pay personal income tax on the distribution.
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Museum Hours
Tuesday - Saturday
10 AM - 4 PM
Adults 18+ $8
Young Adults 11-17 $5
10 & Under Free
Members Free
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The New Smyrna Museum of History
120 Sams Ave., New Smyrna Beach Fl. 32168
Phone: 386.478.0052
nsmofhistory@gmail.com
PO Box 968, NSB, Fl. 32170-0968
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