The First Lady of the Highwaymen Lecture
Wed Mar 27, 2:00 PM - Wed Mar 27, 4:30 PM

The First Lady of the Highwaymen Lecture
March 27, 2-4:30 pm
Arts Advocates Gallery, The Crossings at Siesta Key, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239
Free for Arts Advocates members, $20 for non-members – register at ArtsAdvocates.org.
“The First Lady of the Highwaymen” history lecture is about the legacy of the only female Florida Highwaymen artist Mary Ann Carroll, presented by Carroll’s daughter, Dr. Wanda Renee Mills. After the lecture, attendees will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with Mills.

The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 African American landscape artists, mostly self-taught from the Fort Pierce, Florida area, active from the mid-1950s into the 1980s. Because of the racial climate at the time, no galleries would accept their work, so they sold their art door to door or from the trunks of their cars along Florida’s eastern coast. The only female Florida Highwaymen painter, Carroll, whose landscapes are noteworthy for their vibrant colors, faced additional social and economic hurdles. The group’s renown grew internationally during the early 2000s, and in 2004 all 26 Florida Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. In 2011, Carroll presented a painting to Michelle Obama at the First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington, D.C.