Florida Highwaymen/Black Artist's of the 50's

The Florida Highwaymen, as they were later called, were a group of African American painters who painted mainly landscape paintings for tourists traveling the main highways of Florida. There are many books written about them. Their work has become very collectable over the years. A few of the painters are still alive today and still give talks about their experiences painting in an earlier Florida.

Florida was a tropical heaven, not yet populated as it is today. There were tens of thousands more egrets, herons, osprey's and other birds. The waters were not yet polluted. The gulf was crystal clear and the natural springs bubbled up as they had for hundreds of years. Even when my family moved here from Mississippi in the early 1950's I can remember the sting in my nose of breathing in the salty air on Indian Rocks beach. Florida was truly its name, the Spanish word meaning flower. Oleanders and bougainvillea bloomed, citrus trees were ripe with fruit, and concrete had yet to be poured and tar slathered on the shell roads...the boom times would come, people would retire here by the hundreds of thousands each year...the waters would become mercy, the sea life disappear, and the birds would lose their habitats. But before all that would happened the Black Highwaymen would capture the pristine beauty of an environmental wonder.

Several years ago when I was teaching art, I did a school wide program on Florida that was centered around the arts. We had a professor from the University of Florida who came and gave a wonderful presentation on the Black Highwaymen. I wasn't sure how that would go over in an elementary setting, but the parents were fascinated and filled the auditorium. We also had a Seminole Indian princess who traveled from the Everglades Reservation and presented the history and culture of the Seminole Indians. We had a live Florida panther for the kids to see, you can imagine that was a huge hit for kids. The entire schools was decorated with drawings, paintings and interactive areas the kids created while learning about Florida history, culture and environment. Over a thousand parents and children attended the event that included visual art, dance, drama and food. The arts are a strong conduit for learning and disseminating information in a way children learn. It is being lost today in the rush to test, we have forgotten how to teach in the ways children learn best. I doubt any child who went through this unit on Florida will ever forget it and will tell their children. Experiental learning, problem solving and discovery are what the arts are....it is how brains are developed. Saving the arts in schools should be a paramount in every learning environ.

Thank you Black Highwaymen for adding to the richness of Florida and capturing its unique beauty.

This is the second reference to African American Gardens of the South.

This site also takes you to Amazon.com. I am not advertising, just showing you the book cover and author.

http://www.amazon.com/Places-Spirit-Traditional-African-American/dp/1595340645/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323027866&sr=1-2

This is one of the references to African American Garden's in the South. I will also add the second. It takes you to amazon.com, but you will see the book cover.

http://www.amazon.com/African-American-Gardens-Yards-Rural-http://www.amazon.com/African-American-Gardens-Yards-Rural-South/dp/0870497626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323027557&sr=1-1

The Art of The Southern African American Garden of the Past

There has been a book published recently about the gardens about black families of the South and their gardens. I saw the reference briefly and will need to go back and look it up for you, but it reminded me of these photo's I took in New Orleans. This was a small garden outside a restaurant near the 9th ward that was so devastated by hurricane Katrina. I love the garden for its naiveness and honesty. As an artist I am enamored when people with no art background are creative in their everyday life. I am not sure if this was meant to be a version of a black saint as St. Fransis of Assi, or another religious figure. I love the contrast, the almost reverse image of face and hair, the bright colors that seem to call from the Islands. But I just love people wanting

to be creative. Naive art, outsider art, primitive art-what ever we may call it, is the human spirit wanting to create with what ever skills they have.

The African American Gardens of the past often had any objects that could be found easily in the immediate environment and then utilized into the garden whether it be an old paint bucket, a used black rubber tire, or a piece of this or that. These were families who had little and made something from the little they had. However I think the influence from African and the Islands many of these people originated from. As a child of the South I remember these gardens well, but had not thought about their influence and uniqueness until I happened upon the reference to this book. I look forward to tracking it down and sharing it with you.

Rabbit's Moon studio: Pop Art

Rabbit's Moon studio: Pop Art: Pop Art Popular Art The definition below is from Wikapedia. I think it is interesting that icons like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis keep bein...

Pop Art

Pop Art

Popular Art

The definition below is from Wikapedia. I think it is interesting that icons like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis keep being rediscovered from one generation to the next. If we step back from the world we live in daily and view it from afar or even with a different eye as Warhol did and many of the Pop Artist it helps us to understand culture in a way we might not. I think that is one of the functions of the artist. Jung called it "artist as shaman". The artist can interpret or translate the world we live in with an almost spiritual intellectual view.

There are times when the average person does not understand what an artist, or art movement is conveying. At times it seems not to make sense and with that frustration people will reject or ridicule the art or artist. But as with Warhol and the Pop artists we begin to see the what the influence of mass culture and commercialization had on us as individuals and as a society.

"Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States.^[1] Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art. Pop removes the material from its context and isolates the object, or combines it with other objects, for contemplation.^[1][2] The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it.^[2]

Pop art employs aspects of mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects. It is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, as well as an expansion upon them.^[3] And due to its utilization offound objects and images it is similar to Dada. Pop art is aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony.^[2] It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques.

Much of pop art is considered incongruent, as the conceptual practices that are often used make it difficult for some to readily comprehend. Pop art and minimalism are considered to be art movements that precede postmodern art, or are some of the earliest examples of Postmodern Art themselves.^[4]

Pop art often takes as its imagery that which is currently in use in advertising.^[5] Product labeling and logos figure prominently in the imagery chosen by pop artists, like in the Campbell's Soup Cans labels, by Andy Warhol. Even the labeling on the shipping carton containing retail items has been used as subject matter in pop art, for example in Warhol's Campbell's Tomato Juice Box 1964, (pictured below), or his Brillo Soap Box sculptures."

The statement below gives us insight into what Warhol was thinking and his meaning in creating Marilyn.

It makes one think what will be the next art movement and what will it tell us about our own mass culture now. Who will be the shaman artist that reveals that to us? It is exciting to me to ponder.

"Warhol is a pop artist, meaning he takes images from popular culture, commercial products and advertisements and recontextualizes them within the framework of the art world. By using a familiar image like Marilyn Monroe, he flattens the image of her to show our shallow understand of her. She has become an icon of pop culture, and no longer a person with depth and character. Her iconographic portrait is a symbol for beauty and fame, and no longer for the person she is/was." W.C. Chatton

Welcome Ecuador!!!

Welcome Ecuador!!! It is so nice to have you with us. We look forward to learning more about the artists of Ecuador.

Rumi

A Mother's Love is a Powerful Thing

98 years old

Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.
::: Rumi :::

Test Tiles for Transfers on Ceramics

Test Tiles for Mixed Media Art Project

These are not decals, this an actual printing on clay using a ceramic ink on raw clay, then fired. It has taken us much practice and experiments to get this to work. In these pictures you will note the image looks pixilated, it is due to the canvas the clay was rolled out on. There are many variables that effect the look of the image.

I am working on a project that will use images and thoughts from my Mothers life, as a type of portrait and honor to her, but in general to all women of my Mothers generation who survived two wars and a great depression-they are made of stern stuff, but who also wore there badges with grace and compassion. My Mother was beyond a sewer, she was a seamstress, a tailor, and artist with cloth and needle. She also was a science teacher majoring in biology and chemistry. Her love of nature and science was passed on with great love to myself and my brother, and like a stone dropped the ripple effects go on to our whole family. Now her grandsons hunt fossils and points with great glee...a gift given from another generation. At almost 99 she still is a presence in my life, even with the effects of a massive stroke 9 years ago, she can still communicate love, grace, compassion and determination. I am always in awe of her being and thankful for the gifts she has given me and others. So it will be in an art piece, perhaps many, that I will honor her as Mother, as Earth Mother, as life giver, as woman, as love....it will be a theme in my art to honor these gifts. As Dali, Jasper Johns, and many other artists develop a symbology of language that reappears in their art, my art is developing its own language, its own alphabet. So these test tiles are the beginning of a mixed media piece in the making. As the piece progresses I will share it with you.

Beads Galore!!

Asheville Bead Store

Asheville is the home of some of the finest craft artists in the United States. Here is one of the craft store suppliers that support crafters who do jewelry and beading. Take a look at their large selection. The staff is friendly and helpful. There is even a leather couch and fireplace to relax by. They also offer classes. Check it out. It is eye candy big time!

http://www.chevronbeads.com/( clickable in the column of websites of interest to your right)

Art is a calling

There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it.
::: Henry Moore :::

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

By Robert Frost

Robert Frost's poem could be the tale of every artists, the road less traveled. It is an uncommon choice to be an artist, but often it choses us and not vice versa. Many of you here the inner call, urging you on to paint to draw to create...you cannot drown it out of your head, it is there strong, persistent and at times demanding. When I taught young children there were some who could not help but draw. The classroom teachers would often punish them for drawing on their math or writing papers. I tried to explain to the teachers these children cannot help it, they must draw, it is an inner call. And those are the children who will perfect their skills by daily drawing and observation even without a teachers help. They will draw relentlessly with pencil in hand on any scrap of paper, anywhere they can, day after day, year after year. They are creators and they cannot help but to create. It the less worn grassy path they follow, and take the path less traveled because it is their path and they must take it, and we need for them to take it. For we need creators in this world or we would have bare walls, no music or dance, there would be no concerts, nor movies or plays. There would be no architects to design interesting buildings, nor interior decorators to make magic happen in our homes and businesses, and no illustrators for film and print....and no inventors to help us create new and better ways of doing things. We need people who are willing to take the road less traveled.

Today is Art Class Day/What to do!!!

Sometimes I feel a bit like Rodin's "Thinker" when I am going to class. I have been away on vacation and not thought about glass nor clay the whole time. So today sneaked up on me and I haven't planned ahead. I can't say that is unusual for me because I am not a planner that way, but I still feel the panic. I will sit down with all my different little bins of glass pieces and tubs of larger bits and stare a while, drink my coffee and start to let the ideas come. That is usually the process for me, move a piece here, connect another here, take it away try a different combo, until it seems right to me. I think every artist works differently, but that is common for me, as an intuitive artist, my ideas flow best that way. They just come. I trust the process and turn myself over to it. People often ask me what I am going to do, and I tell them honestly I don't know. People who are not artists find that hard to conceive, but is my process and usually works well. There are days nothing works and nothing comes together, but not often. I figure on those days I just wasn't meant to work and do something else. Glass and clay are new media for me and I enjoy the experimentation and exploration of the unknown. So we shall see what the day brings and I will share the results with you later. What will I do! Only the force knows...the artistic force that is!

The Thinker by Rodin

This is an awesome project that is architectural and art at the same time. Trailers stacked as if condos. Take a peak at thinking outside of the box and recycling in a creative way.

http://limewedge.net/trailer-park-art

Recycling of trailers/signs/art studio's

Isn't this one just great?! Who had the idea to do this? Local creativity!!

This is a trailer that has been recycled in to an art studio.

Abandoned buildings as Art

Abandoned buildings as art installations-amazing work! This quite amazing. Click on the above highlighted area to see the article.

Trailer Art in Europe

European trailer art is very unique and creative. Take a look at these truck trailers and the amazing work a few artists started.

Aunt Lorine in Sepia or Antique tone?

I was visiting one of my favorite aunts in Mississippi and taking a journey back to childhood memories. Aunt Lorine and Uncle Dana were very special and I enjoyed many wonderful visits at their home as a child. Dana was one of my Father's brothers from a family of 12. The boys were hard working farm boys and loved to tease and play. We often gathered at Uncle Dana and Aunt Lorine's where all the brothers would play domino's and Aunt Lorine would cook wonderful Southern meals. My cousin Fran and I would play outside looking for lightning bugs until the night came on summer nights-just two little girls running barefoot. Uncle Dana is gone now and Aunt Lorine is a fighter, she is still going strong. She has over come tremendous illness just to be home again. The house has changed little since we were small when I walk back in, it is just like my memories of childhood: the checkered table cloth, linoleum floors, and furniture all the same. The domino room, where my Father and his brothers played is still there. I took these photo's of Aunt Lorine having a favorite meal of mine: peas, corn bread and sweet potato's. It is still my favorite of foods. I then took the photo and played around with the tone....I was looking at antiquing the colors or going for a complete sepia tone to give it an aged in the past look. Which do you think is more effective?

The Eyes Have It!

"Eyes are the Windows to Our Souls"

This famous quote has a mysterious origin, but one person that has been thought to have coined it is Leonardo Da Vinci. Many artists use they eye as a symbol, as do various cultures. The evil eye in the middle east protects you. The eyes on the temples of Katmandu are God watching over you. The hand in the middle of the palm can be found in the earliest of art going back to ancient Egyptian times as a symbol of protection against perceived evil.

I like to use eyes as a symbol in my work. I feel comfortable in the world of Surrealism and the use of symbology. I like the idea of concept, visual poetry and hidden subtle images triggering meaning. The photo below is a detail from my latest work for the Dali Museum Event, Liquid Desires. The name of the art work is "Wet Dreams". The work is now in the collection of an Orlando Physician and shares its space with a Chihuly! It is partly a reflection of what the eye sees, as Dali portrayed in several of his pieces.

In the detail of Alternate Universe you can see how I used eyes again as a symbol in my work. On the far left are the eyes of Galileo, in the center are the eyes of the Mona Lisa, and on the far right are the eyes of Einstein. The rusted metal strip with multiple transfers, glass and mirrors is as a sentence to a paragraph. The paragraph being the larger section of the art work.

Some eyes are so identifiable that they are iconic. When using popular icons one can not help but think of Andy Warhol and his Pop Art portraiture. Elvis peers out at you in the top photo while a young Leonardo looks out at us in the last photo.

A Banner Day For Rabbit's Moon Studio!

Another Bench Mark Day for Rabbit's Moon Studio blog, we have now reached over 5,000 hits! Wow, that is great. Thank you loyal followers and new readers, we appreciate your support. Make sure you join the blog. It is the column on the right.

Welcome Slovenia!

Welcome Slovenia! It is great to have you with us.

Arts and Crafts of Western North Carolina

These pictures were taken in Asheville and Waynesville, North Carolina in the mountains of Western North Carolina. This area is known for its fine crafts. Originally crafts were essential to the early mountain settlers who were isolated by the rugged geography of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Clay was plentiful and accessible to make dishes, pots and jugs. Reeds and gourds from the local plants were used for baskets and other home uses. Hardwood could be carved into furniture and tools. The mountains gave to those who were creative enough to make use of her gifts. Life was hard, but these people were tough. They survived harsh winters, disease, and poverty.

To read more about the area and the history of the mountain people I recommend reading Cattaloochie by Wayne Davis. It is a book about the creation of the Smokey Mountain National Park. The families who had settled they land, lived there for generations, were displaced and forced off the land.

There is also a movie I would highly recommend by the name of Song Catcher which is about the discovery of original Elizabethan music in its most pure form brought over by the early settlers. The rugged topography of the mountains kept the culture of the mountain people isolated and unchanged for generations. In the early 1900's a female music professor came to the mountains to visit and rediscovered the untouched beauty of early English music. She set out to research and record the music she was hearing. The story is about the difficulty of gaining the trust of people who did not welcome outsiders Another interesting area to investigate is about the Cherokee Indians who once had their own nation in the Blue Ridge, Smokey mountain area.

Thankful for the Simple Beauty of Life

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States

It is a day we often think of what we are thankful for.

I am especially thankful of the simple beauty of nature. I am thankful for my friends and family. I am thankful for art and being an artist. I am also very thankful for you and your readership of Rabbit Moon Studio's Blog! I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving American style!

photograph by Elizabeth Gordon

Welcome El Salvador

Welcome El Salvador!!! It is so nice to have you join us! We look forward to learning more about artists of your area and culture.

Winter Shadows

I love this photo. We are in downtown Asheville at the end of a long shopping day. We stop to talk and decide whether to go to the movie or go home. Then we notice the shadows. Winter shadows cast long with great contrast which makes them unique for photographs. I also like the hint of a sign to the left with DC showing in red against the brick.

Looking at this photo you might think it was a man and a woman, but it is me with my new hat and jeans legs that seem to go on forever. Ann is wearing jeans too, but the shadow widened and stretched horizontally maligning her legs look like a skirt. It is just a great photo, two people in silhouette. It is a photo that seems to have a story....that makes it a stronger photograph for me. It intrigues and makes the mind want to know more.

A day of shopping in Asheville..new hat and a great restaurant

Asheville is very a very European city in many ways, for one it is walkable. To experience a great deal of the downtown is easily done, as in Europe there are street cafe's on every corner, shops and galleries. There are street entertainers playing banjo's, violins, or singing to every passerby. Asheville is a town of art, music, and crafts. Dogs and cats are with their owners in many shops. It is just a friendly town. Curate is a new tapas restaurant that is outstanding. I loved the pumpkin carving and thought you might also.

I love hats. I buy them, then don't wear them. I am never sure if they look good, and then I feel uneasy about them...then I buy another I may or may not wear.! This one is a San Francisco hat, as it is named here-a short brimmed hat with an attitude for women. My Father loved hats and wore them all the time. He would reshape them to fit his look, tilt it in a cocky way, looking in the mirror for just the right look. It was his art!

Even though it is Thanksgiving this week in America, all the shop owners are already decorating for Christmas. They don't want to miss a big money making holiday! It is nice to be out of the tropical weather for a while, to wear a jacket, a scarf and a hat. The chill in the air feels good and watching the fire place warming the house in the evenings all snuggled in from the cold feels wonderful also.

Tomorrow is the big day, Thanksgiving. It is when we thank the native americans for letting us have their country. Not really, we are thanking them for helping us (pilgrims) to survive in a new world. Mainly, now it is a day of family gatherings...with turkey, stuffing, cranberry relish, and pumpkin pie. Tonight my family arrives and we will all start preparing for tomorrows big meal. It will be my brother and his family. The house will be alive with seven people vying for the kitchen to do their dish. Wine and conversation will flow. Great smells will fill the house. Dog will play and be underfoot. It will be a wonderful day!

Barbara Hepworth on Art

I rarely draw what I see. I draw what I feel in my body.
Barbara Hepworth

My works are an imitation of my own past and present.
Barbara Hepworth

One must be entirely sensitive to the structure of the material that one is handling. One must yield to it in tiny details of execution, perhaps the handling of the surface or grain, and one must master it as a whole.
Barbara Hepworth

Rabbit's Moon studio: Christmas Cat/Asheville Jewelry Store Window

Rabbit's Moon studio: Christmas Cat/Asheville Jewelry Store Window: Asheville Artists and Shop Owners love their Cats and Dogs Asheville is very animal friendly. Many restaurants have outdoor areas where do...