"INSPIRED BY THE FLORIDA HIGHWAYMEN" by: Liz Ebanks ©2011

We invite you, to reveal how the Highwaymen made their nostalgic paintings preserving Florida's natural beauty affordable to the middle class during the 1950s. Discover how these self-taught African-American landscape painters from Ft. Pierce, Florida overcame oppression and discrimination by forming a Collective Enterprise. Explore how Alfred Hair shared what he learned about landscape painting from his mentor A. E. Backus with his friends. Learn how Hair hosted backyard "painting bees" to develop the raw talents of his friends and turn out more than 50,000 paintings. Break from the traditionsof the Hudson River School with Hair's new romantic style of painting. Focus on painting mental snapshots of Florida's treasured landscapes. Simulate the vibrant colors, speedy brushwork, and intuitive approach of the first Highwaymen.