Among the season’s highlights is a return visit on Tuesday, Sept. 22, by R.L. Lewis, one of the 26 African-American painters who emerged during the 1950s and ’60s to become known as the Florida Highwaymen. In 2009, Lewis captivated a WISE audience of nearly 250 people who came to hear his account of the Highwaymen and witness a demonstration of his creative method.
Lewis will be introduced by Daytona State photography professor Gary Monroe, a leading authority on the Highwaymen who has authored several books on the artists. Monroe tells a story that relates the racist attitudes of the past, the nostalgia for a once unspoiled Florida, so-called “outsider art” and the entrepreneurial spirit of the original 26 painters. Theirs is a story of entrepreneurs who sought to rise above the meager existence offered by the agricultural and citrus industries - a common vocation for many African-American workers in Florida at the time.
Art to the Highwaymen was a craft, a way to earn a living. At the time, no gallery would show the work of unknown, self-taught African-American artists. Instead the Highwaymen painted from their garages and backyards on inexpensive Upson board, framed their work with crown molding, then traveled Florida’s east coast on weekends to sell their paintings to hotels, offices, businesses and tourists.
They were a prolific group. Volume was a key to their survival as artists. Their technique allowed them to produce brilliantly colored landscape paintings quickly and efficiently. It is estimated that more than 200,000 of their original works exist, according to Monroe, whose research and books about the Florida Highwaymen triggered a renaissance of demand for their paintings in recent years. The Highwaymen were inducted into Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. Today, their original art can command thousands of dollars.
Monroe’s most recent work tells the story of Mary Ann Carroll, the only woman among the renowned landscape painters who Monroe calls the First Lady of the Highwaymen.
The WISE season kicks off on Tuesday, Sept. 15, with a presentation about the history and future of Daytona Beach International Airport by Steve Cooke, the airport’s director of business development. On Oct. 13, Andrew Sandall, executive director of the Museum of Arts and Sciences, will talk about some of the more than 30,000 objects and artifacts housed at Florida’s largest museum of its kind.
WISE patrons interested in estate planning and how to avoid probate won’t want to miss a Tuesday, Nov. 3, presentation by attorney Randal Schecter, and, on Nov. 17, Tim Weaver, general manager of Trader Joe's in Winter Park, will share the history of the burgeoning grocery chain that in recent years has developed somewhat of a cult following.
Daytona State’s own Chef Costa Magoulas, chair of the Hosseini College of Hospitality Management, will close out WISE’s fall season on Tuesday, Dec. 1, with delectable demonstrations and tips on how to create holiday spreads that are guaranteed to impress even the most finicky guests.
The Foundation created the WISE program to provide continuing education and cultural enrichment activities to senior members of the community. WISE is open to anyone age 50 or older.
All WISE presentations will take place at DSC’s Daytona Beach Campus Hosseini Center, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd., from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Find a complete listing of fall presenters at DaytonaState.edu/wise. For more information, contact Kent Ryan (386) 506-4425, or RyanK@DaytonaState.edu.
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