Sandy Footprints: Florida Highwaymen



Pastel Artist Liz Ebanks shares her knowledge of the Florida Highwaymen.



Discussion Questions:  Florida Highwaymen Lesson

Created by: Liz Ebanks
National Art Teacher Award Recipient

Thank you, for celebrating with us our heritage as landscape painters by sharing our Sunsets on the Beach.  We thank you as guests for making the children’s sunsets a renewed cherished symbol of Florida’s beauty, resilience, and fragility. As Enviromental Stewards we hope our passion empowers you to join us in preserving our natural sugar, white beaches for future generations.  Discover the traditions of the Florida Highwaymen as we share our artist statements in the Artsonia online gallery.

Follow our sandy footprints and enjoy our pastel sunsets set to the rhythms of the Heritage Festival in our Animoto video: 
http://www.artsonia.com/schools/videos.asp?id=127786
 

If you enjoy this post you may also enjoy this link on my
FLORIDA HIGHWAYMEN LESSON:
http://lizebanksartgallery.blogspot.com/2011/01/florida-highwaymen-landscape-lesson.html

As a National Art Teacher Award Recipient and Fashion Designer, I always welcome commissions to customize shoes and invitations to present my Art Workshops in Tampa. My art lessons are perfect for Private Schools, Community Centers, and Birthday Parties.

Email: liz@rescueteam.com

Event: Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival

Location: Tampa, Florida Curtis Hixon Park

January 16, 2011 at 2 PM

VSA Florida Booth

Reading Comprehension

Grade Level: High School

Based on Internet Readings

Focus: http://www.interestingideas.com/out/highway.html

Fill-in the Blank Questionnaire

Vocabulary:

Collaborate

Twenty- six

Accessible

2004

Romantic

Heritage

A1-A

Elements

Mentored

Rediscovery

Solicitation

Twenty-five

Essence

School

1. Jim Fitch is sited with the ___________ of these Florida African-American Landscape painters by coining the term Highwaymen in his book after they lost popularity. Prior, to this the Highwaymen paintings were considered Folk Art because, the artists received no formal art training.

2. A. E "Bean" Backus was the white painter that inspired and__________ the first Florida Highwaymen Alfred Hair during the 1950's.

3. Alfred Warner Hair shared what he learned from Backus after each class with his friends who learned to quickly create _________ landscape paintings of Florida.

4. Each person contributed a different ________ whether it be the sky, water, birds, or trees to create together a complete painting as quickly as possible as a group or Collective Enterprise.

5. Therefore, they did not make pencil sketches on paper and composition. They blocked in the elements onto board quickly to capture the __________ of the landscape or mood. The brushstrokes communicated gusty winds, tranquil estuaries, and crashing waves.

6. Often the group placed several canvases on the walls at once. The challenge for the group was to overcome being excluded from representation in galleries because, of their black _________ and segregation.

7. The group of ____ Highwaymen and one woman were mostly from Ft. Pierce, Florida.

8. Alfred Hair invited friends to assist him in his backyard "painting bees" working on as many as ___ canvases at one time.

9. Later the Highwaymen became, known as the Indian River _______.

10. Often, they depicted colorful landscapes using whatever materials that were __________ and affordable to them such as: masonite (pressed hardwood) or cardboard for canvas, door molding for framing, and house paint.

11. The Highwaymen focused on selling 50,000 of their paintings to dentists, banks, restaurants, doctor offices out of the trunks of their cars along the stretch of road known as ______. The artists accomplished this by setting out on foot and making door-to-door sales instead of focusing on gallery commissions.

12. Peddling their art work was an incredible risk. They did not want to be thrown in jail for ___________ or forced to pay license fees like a gallery or artist today. Therefore, they sold their oil paintings often wet before they could dry completely.

13. On average the collaborative paintings were signed by the artist that did the majority of the painting's features and sold for approximately ________ dollars. This made the nostalgic paintings preserving Florida's natural landscapes affordable to the middle class.

14. The Florida Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artist Hall of Fame in _______.

Resources:

Print: 

Monroe, Gary, The Highwaymen:  Florida's African-Amenrican Landscape Painters, University Press, 2001

Web:

http://www.everything2.com/title/Highwaymen

http://www.florida-arts.org/programs/halloffame/memberInfo.cfm?member=11

http://floridahighwaymenartist.com/

http://www.floridahighwaymenpaintings.com/the_highwaymen

http://goflorida.about.com/od/blackhistory/a/flahighwaymen.htm

http://www.interestingideas.com/out/highway.htm

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/13/robert-butler-life-full-lessons/

http://www.visitflorida.com/articles/florida-highwaymen-local-art-makes-art-history

Content Keywords: Florida, Landscape, Painters, African- American Artist, Backus, Alfred Hair, Collective Entrepreneurs, Nature, Art,  Florida Artists Hall of Fame, Folk Art, Artists

TIP:  What product will take off the paint out of my child's clothes?



The kids & parents luv working in the dry pastels b/c it's so easy to clean up, non-toxic, & cheap. Pastels are like colored chalk. The girls practiced blending colors at the Arts In The Park. Soap & water or this product called Kiss Off. (That is the real name of the product.)
 


Childrens Art Workshops in Tampa

Email: liz@rescueteam.com

"My Paintbrush Spilled a Sunset" thank you Animoto  video of my Pastel Teacher Demos to all my fans.  The tarpon are biting in the pass.  The conch is sounding it is sunset time.  Follow my sandy footprints to preserve our Florida beaches at this link:
http://animoto.com/play/VJleSsaXU8LXb20Pts3bfQ