The Artist Who Captured Naples’ Soul – Paul Arsenault’s Storybook Canvases 🖼️📖 - Spotlight on Good People by Robert of Philadelphia

Episode Transcript
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Robert DiLella (00:00):
Hello everybody and welcome to the Spotlight on
Good People.
We're on location today at avery special place.
It's our special guest today,an artist whose work has
captured the heart, the soul,and the spirit of communities
around the world.
Paul Arsenault, hopefully Isaid that right, the French
version.
For decades, Paul has been morethan just a painter.

(00:20):
He's a storyteller, apreservationist, and an
ambassador for culture throughhis art.
Known for his vibrant anddetailed landscapes and
seascapes, Paul's canvases arewindows into the beauty of
nature, history, and the peoplethat make each place unique,
including our beautiful Naples.
Paul's artistic visions remindus all to truly slow down and

(00:43):
take in the natural beautyaround us.
He's truly a pioneer.
He got to Naples just a fewyears before our family.
My father brought us down herewhen Naples was just a small
little town with some greatsnook fishing and you could
actually drive on the beach.
It's such an honor for me tosit down and have a great
conversation with Paul.
In this conversation, we'regoing to explore the
inspirations behind his work,his journey as an artist, and

(01:06):
the legacy he hopes to leavebehind.
So grab a cup of coffee or anespresso like me and get ready
to be inspired by the passionand artistry of Paul.
Enjoy.

Paul Arsenault (01:18):
Well, ever since I closed the gallery, everyone
thinks I'm dead.
So it's nice when someonebothers to look it up, which is
all it is.
And being in the first cornerof Naples when it was first

(01:40):
established, because The onlyreason to come to Naples in 1888
was the opening of the NaplesHotel, which was across the
street on that corner.
Oh, it was.
That's where it was, across thestreet.
It was across the street.
And directly in front of it wasthe pier where the little trunk
was.

(02:02):
where your trunk was wheeleddown from the dock of the pier
to the lobby of the hotel.

Oh, because they would come here by boat.

For 30 years, you couldn't come by car.
You only could come by boat.
So the first corner was wherewe've been living for the last
42 years.
Oh,

wow.

I

didn't even realize that.
I'd heard it before, but I...
Yeah, never put it togetherlike

that.
And in fact, when there was anannouncement of the family that
built the place that was comingto town from up north,
Philadelphia, the Sloans, thelittle newsletter that the hotel
provided for the hotel wasthat, oh, the Sloans have come

(02:48):
down from Philadelphia acrossthe street on, it was known as
Ocean View Junction, thatintersection, because the cupola
faced out over the pier.
And so they- What is a cupola?
A cupola is, in my book, thelittle box observation, you

(03:14):
know, with a little roof on it,That's a cupola where people
would be looking out.
Here, I'll show you what itlooks like.
So this would present thevantage of the ocean view
junction.
So this was the intersectionright here.
We're across the street fromit.
So that's just...
And

only by water for many years.
Only

by water, yeah, right, for many, many years
because the road was just

a sandy

path.

And the Sloans from Philadelphia, which I
didn't know, would that be SloanKettering?
No,

no.
The son was the first privatereal estate guy who, real estate
office, which was a pump housemoved to the alley of the

(04:11):
property where you could payyour rent rolling down the
window, going down the alley toAC Sloan, who was the first
private real estate office.
on the property.
He was in, the Sloan senior wasin silver mines and different

(04:33):
things.
And the name of the propertywas Tacopa named after the
Indian chief in the proximity ofwhere he hit the silver that
paid for the property.
And he built four or five homesin and around old Naples where
we were.
So anyway, that's just-

Didn't know that name in the history of Naples.
Or that they're from Phillytoo, huh?
Yeah, right.
Back in the day, yeah.
Yeah.
So, well, I guess to givepeople a sense, if you could
tell us your story.
Tell my story?

Sure.
Well, I was raised in the SouthShore of Boston and went to art
school, Art Institute ofBoston, two weeks after
graduating, signed on as adeckhand on a research vessel
out of Woods Hole Oceanographic.
We worked up in New England fora while, and then they sent us

(05:30):
to Florida.
And in 73...
November, we sailed into theIndian River Inlet at Fort
Pierce and worked with theSmithsonian.
And we were asked to collectmarine samples from the Gulf
Stream to the Indian RiverLagoon, which was projecting a

(05:55):
huge...
population explosion.
So they just wanted to assesswhere the marine life was in the
region.
And the Smithsonian were theones taking that project.
And we were gathering samplesfor them.
And I came from a town that hadan attitude about Florida.

(06:17):
Why would anyone want to go toFlorida?
This is up in New England.
There's no seasons.
It's all flat, and it's wherepeople go in their final
chapter.
Anyway, coming to Florida inNovember, leaving brown, cold,
raw, gray New England, and rich,coconut-swaying...

(06:41):
flowers blooming, pelicansgliding, mullet jumping.
Oh my God, this was a beautifulplace.
And I fell in love with thecommunity there.
And then when I did discoverNaples, I signed off the ship
and that was back in January of74.

(07:06):
So as of this week, it was 51years ago.
So that's what brought me here.

Wow.
So were you, did you have aninterest in marine life or what
got you on the ship to beginwith and when did?

Well, I was always drawn to the waterfront.
My grandfather had lumberschooners.
My father was a sailor.
And I grew up in thispicturesque harbor town,
Hingham, in the south shore ofBoston.
And I could paint when I wentto art school, but I didn't have

(07:46):
much knowledge of life.
So I thought it would be goodto sign on a ship and have a
little adventure.
And I just let the chips fallas they may as a starting point.
And it was a wonderful catapultthat brought me to the tropical
light, which is something I'vebeen part of and one with ever

(08:11):
since, while maintaining my NewEngland appreciation and what
Naples afforded was anopportunity for travel, world
travel.
And I was very fortunate to beable to take full advantage of
that.

What was the time in your life where you knew
that art was your calling?
It was going to be what youwere going to do and do?

Well, it's one of those funny stories in life.
When I was five and a half, itwas Lincoln's birthday.
It was way before kindergartenclass.
I turned on the TV to a showthat you drew along with Captain
Bob.

(08:54):
It was Lincoln's birthday.
So I drew along with CaptainBob the portrait of Abraham
Lincoln.
And when my mother camedownstairs and I showed her the
portrait of Lincoln, the bloodleft her face.
She freaked and started runningfrom room to room.
Who's in my house?
Who did this?
And I'm just sitting therelooking at her, freaking out,

(09:17):
thinking someone else did this.
And so it gave me a lot ofconfidence that with a paper and
pencil, I could be...
I could generate a lot ofemotion.
And it was something I was goodat.
And I just kind of kept it up.

Wow.
Wow.
So that impression at five isseeing the reaction of your
mother of something that youcreated.
You could see the emotion thatwhat you did drew out of her.
It just lit something insideyou.
It did.
Yeah.
And you were just...
had a natural gift, obviously.
Well,

my grandmother was a painter, hobbyist, and my
aunt was even more of aprofessional, but her true
profession was nursing.
But as a nurse up in Anchorage,her Christmas cards alternated
every year between Inuitchildren and Eskimo children.

(10:14):
And it was so...
wonderful to see the adventurethat she had while simply
painting these kids that were soforeign to what we knew, what I
knew.
And she was able to use thosenote cards and postcards as

(10:35):
fundraisers for the differentnonprofits that helped these
children.
kids.
And it was a nice littlemessage that I've taken on
myself, utilizing my art in afundraising way and in a way to
call attention to certainorganizations that need to be

(10:58):
known and their purpose needs tobe told.
So it's an excuse for that.

Yeah.
You've always been affiliatedin some form with a cause.
Yeah.
And Helen helped.
Wow, that's amazing.
So it also took, I think, somecourage to just get on a boat
and then get off a boat in themiddle of Naples in 1974.
Not much here.

(11:25):
No,

there was not.
But the thing is, I'd saved alittle money on the ship, and I
was...
I was eager to go as far asjust to paint the scene because
it was a beautiful place.

(11:47):
And I didn't really think of anadded concern.
The first thing I did in thespring of 74, after my first
season, was...
Back where Campiella's outsidedining is was Swan Court.

(12:12):
Oh, yes.
And Swan Court, I rented acouple of chicken wire screens
from the Art Association, had alittle art show.
And my housemate was aphotographer for the Naples
Star, the alternative newspaper.
And so he was easily...

(12:35):
able to present aprofessional-looking press
package when I had my art showat Swan Court.
And the first person to come bywas Elsie Upham.
one of the founders of theNaples Art Association.
She bought my first painting,which was a really nice nod

(12:57):
because she would have beenconsidered the grand dame of
painters, of Naples inparticular.
And it was terrific to get heracknowledgement from what I
learned about her afterwards.
But I was able to...
make a go of it enough.

(13:21):
My paintings were extremelydiscounted, but that was okay.
It was coming away with a fundthat could keep things moving
along until the next one.
I never really bothered aboutthe I don't know what you call

(13:52):
it, but the concern I shouldhave by just going for an art
career without having any kindof regular income but I just
felt confident that I'll make itwork one way or another and I
was hell bent and of coursethere was a lot of peanut butter
and sardines you know to keepthings going you know but it was

(14:17):
Naples was a town that if theyliked it they bought it you
didn't have to go through thesong and dance you would up in
New England which is you knowlike pulling teeth to sell a
painting or was at the time.

Yeah.
Well, there's something aboutthat because my father, in a
similar fashion, when we packedup and left Philadelphia and
came here in 77, which therewasn't a lot here, but it's the
same thing.
He didn't have a job before hegot here.
There was no nest egg.
It was in our motor home thatwe lived in, but he was so in

(14:51):
love with the area.
And I guess in some ways, likeyou believed in what he did
enough that he knew he'd make itwork out.
He didn't have any sort of anest egg to rely on.
He knew that once we got here,he had to start cutting hair
right away and get to work.
But I don't know, that takessomething because there's
something inside of, like I callit, pioneers, and I think you

(15:15):
are, to do that because itwasn't like you...
You got hired to come here.
No,

no.
Well, you know, one of thosecrazy shows like on Merv Griffin
or I don't know, one of thosekind of daytime shows had a guy
on and he basically said,listen, you don't have to be a

(15:43):
powerful bodybuilder to be aconfident person.
and doing what you want to do,going out in this world, all you
really have to do is to useyour mind and to be quicker than
the next guy.
And if you can guide theconversation, and if you can

(16:03):
guide the circumstance with justthinking about the comfort zone
of moving towards your nextgoal, I ended up not having any
nest egg myself, and I wasrequired to move around a lot as

(16:25):
far as painting or justshifting locations with...
Boston, Cape Cod, where I wasliving, even down to Florida,
back and forth.
It required not only drive awaycars when it came to, sometimes

(16:47):
when I had to come to Floridaor to go back to New England,
but I hitchhiked.
A lot.
And as long as I could guidethe conversation, I felt very
confident that I could make myway without having to be
dreading, oh my God, now what'sgoing to happen to me?
It never occurred to me.

(17:08):
It's just guide theconversation and keep it moving
forward.

Wow.
I didn't realize you had thatin your background too as well.
Commuting back and forth,hitchhiking between...
Well, and

it's not like I did a regular...
routine of of snowboarding, Idid travel a lot that did
require hitchhiking early on.
And I had some wonderfulexperiences with just the early
on days of exploring back when.

(17:42):
And I learned early that inguiding the conversation, you
can really learn a lot if youask the right questions.
And so I I would love theadventure that was to come in
going a long distance in ahitchhiking situation to a

(18:03):
certain degree.
I mean, if it was, you know,raining and urban, you know, it
was no fun.
Yeah, yeah.
But you just plan it and guideit and go.

Yeah, but all of that was a part of what, how do
you be who you are and how doyou create who you created?
Uh-huh, right.
So it was part of the journeythat made it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think of, you know,what was it like or what would
it be like?
Were there time periods whereyou were up against, you know,

(18:37):
I've got to make somethinghappen here.
I've got to get some incomehere.
I've got to make the ends meet.
Did you ever get to thatblocking point where what do I
create now that's going tothat's gonna work so that I can
feed myself?
Or was there ever that juncturefor you, or was it just always,
it just always seemed tohappen?
You were, that creative side ofyou was always able to flow.

Mm-hmm.
Well, there was, you know,several times when things were
lean.
What I did do early on was,After I was affiliated with

(19:17):
several of the galleries here intown, I realized being a
resident of Naples and onlygetting a one-week exhibition
and then maybe an extra week asa partial exhibition was not
enough to maintain as a localartist.

(19:39):
And anticipate a consistentincome.
It was just, I had to basicallyshake the bushes in a more
far-reaching way.
And one of my first fundraiserswas working with the Heritage

(20:03):
Foundation that had justrefurbished the Depot back in
1980.
And So I had an exhibitionthere, which was a fundraiser
for the hurricane devastatedDominica, which was an island
that I lived in down in the WestIndies.
And it had just been totallydecimated.

(20:27):
And we did a fundraiser forthem.
And it was utilizing...
the organization, the HeritageFoundation, and it was just
getting a network going thatwould be something beyond myself

(20:52):
and the proprietor of theplace.
The next fundraiser happenedwith the Conservancy where I did
three years in a row, aConservancy exhibition.
And that really brought about awonderful introduction to the

(21:13):
community where I had a hugenumber of people come to my
exhibitions at the Conservancy.
And it...
And from that point on, I wasan entity and a contender for
nonprofit fundraising options.

(21:35):
So it went from there tohospice and to the Alliance for
the Mentally Ill and for a bunchof different organizations that
were both humanitarian,environmental and preservation.
So that's kind of been my way.

(21:57):
Is

that when a sort of theme evolved for you or was

there always a...
certain situations with theAlliance for the Mentally Ill is
a really great organization forsomeone who has bipolar people

(22:27):
in their families where youreally don't have many options.
You just have to know what theoptions are.
And I have family members, andit was something I could do with
my art to acknowledge and to bea part of the story and what I

(22:48):
could do for my own familymembers in that regard.
So there was that.
And I have, as I go, I do...
find different situations thatI can be helpful with.

(23:13):
We're working on trying totransform the baggage car at the
Naples Depot Museum into ablack history museum.
And it's a story that needs tobe told, especially in this
town.
And the baggage car is mostappropriate.
That was the ticket to ride, soto speak, for the black
population to get a job that hadbenefits.

(23:35):
And that was a very importantpart of how to take things to
the next level with the blackcommunity.
Anyway, we're working on thosekinds of things and it goes on
and on with just as you gothrough life, things become

(23:56):
important to you that once youlearn the story, oh my God, what
can I do?
And I find art is a greatvehicle for that kind of work.
way of introducing the story,the idea, the image.

Yeah.
Well, I noticed that in talkingto you before we started here,
as you were describing some ofthe work that you've done,
there's such a rich story behindeach piece that I found so
fascinating.
There's this...
It's not just, oh, I'm going togo paint that house.
There's more to everything thatyou do.

(24:33):
What goes into your...
process of creating what youcreate, what's behind it?
Do you just suddenly say, I'mgoing to do that, and here's
why, or what happens inside you?

Well, at this stage of the game, being this
week my 51st year as aprofessional painter...

Congratulations.
Wow,

that's awesome.
There is a certain...
when you have that round numberof 50 years to assess, well,
okay, 50 years.
So what's that mean?
What is the significance ofthat?
How can I make it somethingthat's relevant and not just the

(25:24):
fact that, you know, I'm an oldwhite guy that's been doing it
for 50 years?
So basically it's...
putting together thesedifferent 50-year retrospective
shows.
I have one going on right nowat the Marco Museum.
It's my 50-year retrospective.

(25:46):
It'll be open until February15th.
It's been up until October 1st.
And it's a great opportunity toshow the example of 50 years of
painting For instance, thispainting right here of the old
Marco Inn.
I painted that in 1975.

(26:09):
The invitation for myexhibition is the same building
from the other side.
And now here's a building from1883.
It happens to be condemnedright now, but its history is
remarkable.
A beautiful old building.
and well, it could be gone verysoon.

(26:30):
Anyway, my show is a show ofpaintings of 50 years in the
region.
The curator of the show didn'tnecessarily want to take my
paintings from far afield, fromanywhere else but South Florida.

(26:51):
She wanted to make sure thatpeople of South Florida could
see my 50 years depicting ourimmediate region.
So it incorporates places fromSarasota to Fort Pierce to Key
West, but concentrating on, it'sMarco-centric, Naples and
Everglades City, Chokoloskee,and all in between.

Wow.

So this can be seen- Yeah, you can go there
right now and make sure you callahead to make sure of the dates
and the time.
But I'm very proud of itbecause it was beautifully
curated, beautifully hung, andit's very immersive.
And I'm getting all thesepeople that do bother to go from
Naples to Marco saying, oh myGod, Paul, not only thanks for

(27:39):
introducing me to the museum,but Your paintings told such a
story I had no idea.
So the captions really haveplayed a lot of the positive
feedback because of the addeddimension that the image didn't

(28:03):
show.
But oh my God, that's thestory.
And that's what's kind of funabout...
my able, being able to puttogether a show that not only
tells the story, but shows thestory.

Yeah.
I think that's so special,especially in our area here
where, um, you know, so manypeople have migrated here over
the years from 74 to now and inthe last five years and the last
10 years, they just keep comingbecause it's, it's such a
special place.
I mean, Naples has got such acharm.
It's so, uh, I feel so blessedto live here and, uh, to tell

(28:37):
the story for anybody who's, uh,newer and newer could be 20
years to me or you know 20 25 30years to still i'm i'm still
learning about the area andthese little hidden gems and
these charming little places togo visit um you know what to do
on a sunday you know you have somany uh little golden nuggets
that you've captured in a waythat we don't even know are

(29:00):
amongst us or that we live livearound so um what what are some
of your favorites uh that you'vecaptured from the area that
you've

Well, you know, there is, it's funny, you know,
I came out with a book, MyJourney as a Painter, right
there.
And it has paintings from allover the place, all over the
world.
And people came up to me when Ifirst came out and said, Paul,

(29:31):
you know, I had no idea you leftOld Naples, you know, And it's
because of the, and it's notlike I wanted to be sentimental
with old Naples or anything.
It's just early on, I just lovethe idea of the little, the
cottages, the alleys.

(29:51):
And especially when early on,the little cottages that were
built behind the main houseswere, those little cottages were
kind of sprinkled in thebackyard, regardless of
setbacks, so that sometimes youhave this wonderful little charm

(30:11):
of these nestled littlecottages that kind of looks like
the Bahamas because it'spre-setback and all that.
And back during the Depression,the locals, to get by during
the Depression would rent outtheir main house and slap up a

(30:32):
little cottage in the back fortheir family to live in, and
that was a lot of themotivation.
So a lot of the...
When you ask me what are thepockets that are left, there
are...
A lot of people love the littlealleys and those little pockets

(30:53):
of the...
of the old neighborhood thatare still there, that are
quickly disappearing.
When it comes to the beach, Ilove Wiggins Pass and Barefoot

(31:16):
Beach because it's all nativematerial.
It's all...
natural Florida fauna with thebeach and the pass, looking
across to Wiggins State Parkfrom Barefoot.
You know, it's my favoritebeach you can go to without a

(31:38):
boat, you know.
And so there are just differentlittle places that, you know, I
don't want to...
give up my favorite littlegetaway spots.
But the fact of it is whenyou're at peace and you're

(31:58):
looking hard and you're lookingin the general scheme of things,
we have a special place herewith the weather, and with the
proximity to nature.
We've got the 10,000 islands,we've got the Gulf, we've got

(32:23):
the Everglades.
And when you learn it and whenyou can appreciate the
specialness it can offer, wehave a real jewel here.
And so we just have to focus onthat and the nourishment it
gives us.

You mentioned Chokoloskee.
Say more about that becausemany people don't know about
Chokoloskee.
Well,

Chokoloskee is one of those little places that
you couldn't drive there until55 when they made the causeway
using the shell mounds that wereprevalent there from the
Colussus, the early moundbuilders.
The early Smallwoods store isthere.
It's a museum, frozen in time.

(33:10):
It's not a Disney version.
It's the real deal.
That will lock you in topioneer living in Florida, in
Southwest Florida, in a big way.
It's highly regarded as a...
a jewel of historic pioneerstructure.

(33:35):
And...

How do you get there?
Where is it?
Oh, okay.

Everglades City is five miles away.
And you go to Everglades Citycoming off of the Tamiami Trail.
And that's a few miles in fromthe trail is Everglades City.
And that was the county seat.
That's when Baron Collier, whenhe wanted to break off half of

(34:06):
Lee County, he said, we'll letyou have Collier County if you
put in the road to Miami.
So he built the Tamiami Trail,establishing Everglades City as
the county seat and where hebuilt his operation for the
building of the trail.
And then- you know, five milessouth of that is Little

(34:30):
Chokoloskee, which was ahappening spot back in the day,
pioneering days before.
In fact, there was quite acolorful yet dark incident that
happened with the desperado EdWatson met his undoing right by

(34:58):
the Smallwood store, he had beennotorious for what was reputed
to be his murders.
And they finally found a bodyand the townspeople met him and

(35:18):
did him in.
Did justice right there.
Well, when he raised hisshotgun gun, um that gave that
gave them the license and andthey said that um um when they
um When they did the autopsy,they got enough lead out of them
to fill a coffee can.

The tea on Togolai, I didn't know this.
I didn't know that.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it has some legendaryconnections there.
Oh, yeah, it goes on and on.
That's great.
I didn't know that EvergladesCity was the county seat, too,
at one time.
Yeah,

Hurricane Donna changed it.
Oh, okay.
So they brought it up herethen.
But, yeah, the old hospital wasthere.
Really?
Wow.
Yeah.
And there was the oldEverglades Inn and, of course,
the Rod

and Gun.

Is that the Rod and Gun?
Okay, the Rod and Gun.
Mick Jagger, Sean Connery, allthat stuff.
It's had a happening history.

Wow.
Five presidents, too, on top ofthat.
So this area, we were alsotalking about, well, actually
where you live, was onlyaccessible by boat.
Yeah, for like 30

years because it was just a badly rutted, sandy
track that you couldn'tcomfortably drive consistently.
So you took the boat.

And you have a...
One of the paintings you showedme was the Colusa Indians, it
looks like, coming to shore.
What area was that in?
That was

on the Naples beach.
And...
What's kind of remarkable isthat when you think of people
from 800 years ago, 1200 yearsago, living here in Florida, to
have the wherewithal to dig acanal virtually from the beach

(37:30):
to the bay to eliminate Youknow, the five-mile polling down
and all those miles polling upinto the oyster beds and, you
know, up into the bay where theywere after whatever they were
after.
they did a canal, which wasknown by the early pioneers as

(37:53):
the ditch that went fromvirtually Ninth Avenue South
across to kind of where BlueProvence is, the city dock.
Oh, wow.
Really?
So it kind of cut across there.
That was the canal.
And what's kind of interestingis the painting that I did, to

(38:17):
kind of illustrate what it wouldlook like with the Colussus
portaging their Cyprus canoes upthe beach onto the canal to cut
across to the bay.
They used my painting on thefront of the archaeological

(38:38):
magazine of the quarterly, andit just came out this month.
And so that they...
gave me the nod in my academicvision that put me on the cover.
So that

was a nice thing.
Yeah.
Beautiful how you've capturedso much of the unknown of the
area.
I think you've really done agreat job of keeping it alive
for people.
And it's fascinating for me tohear this, having lived here so
many years of my life, notknowing so much of what you're
sharing with me, which I thinkis really cool.
You'd also talked about forpeople that...

(39:11):
Don't know, as I didn't knoweither, that these, whether it
was the wealthy or whoever couldafford to come here, at the
time they'd come here by boat,and the Naples Pier was there to
tender the boats, I guess, asthey came in, or the people came
in.
Well, it was

a steamship line, and that was part of the
Naples company.
They had a steamship line, andwhen Haldeman bought the plot of
Naples, he got a couple ofsteamers with it, and he got the
hotel, right?
and all the outbuildings, and Ithink it was for $50,000.
And so, yeah, and the steamercame in from Fort Myers.

(39:52):
Originally, it came in fromPunta Gorda, but then Fort Myers
became the port for thesteamers to then come to Naples.

Okay, and they would bring the people into the
hotel there.
You were telling me how that...
process worked for peoplebecause they couldn't get here
any other way.
They couldn't get here

by...
No, no, they couldn't.
And then they would charterboats.
They would charter guides totake them fishing because this
town for the Louisville crowdthat first established where
Haldeman was from, he had theLouisville Courier, the

(40:37):
publication that advertised outto the Midwest, what he deemed
as Naples being the sportsman'sparadise for endless game and
fish, along with the incrediblywarm weather and beautiful white

(40:58):
sand beaches with swayingpalms.
And that's why when I first gothere in 74, the only license
plates I saw were Michigan,Ohio, and

Kentucky.
Yes.
Yeah.

Yeah, it was

Midwest for the most part.
Yeah.

And then they had these wonderful old Florida
waterfront families thatprovided the– the guide pool for
these visitors from up northcoming down to want to go sport
fishing.
You know, there was the tarpon,of course, which was the

(41:39):
legendary silver king, but therewas the snook and everything
else that was just so bountifulthat anyone just trying halfway
would be successful.

Yeah, and that...
That was clearly one of thereasons why I know my father
chose Naples, because we movedto Florida in 77, not knowing
where we'd end up.
We were in a 30-foot motorhomeliving in it.
We had sold everything backhome and Anything as a
12-year-old that I had, I wastold I had to sell at the garage

(42:11):
sale because we were onlyliving in this motorhome, which
was a great adventure.
He took us on a lot of fun andspent the summer driving up and
down the west coast of Floridafrom down in the Keys where he
really wanted to be was in theKeys because he thought the
fishing was premier there.
My mother said, no, there's noway we're raising the kids in
the Keys.
We've got to go somewhere else.
So it was Sarasota, Naples,back and forth, and then it did

(42:34):
end up, fortunately, in Naples.
And it was fishing.
that he was, you know, that waswhy he left Philadelphia, the
weather, of course, but hewanted to fish and hunt and be
able to have that around.
And snook back in the day werea great challenge.
They were plentiful, but alsosnook were always like a

(42:54):
challenge, a challenge all thetime.
I knew your

dad as a really good snook fisherman, so he was
good at it.

Yeah, absolutely.
In fact, you mentioned thestar.
And Zach, we have some of thosethe paper that he talked about
that, uh, was one of hislaunching pads.
And so we'll have to put thoseup too.
Cause we have, I think in ourboxes over there, we have some
of the old articles out of thestar.
Um, and there's an articleabout his, uh, fishing and being

(43:24):
a stylist and being a fishermanat the same time.
There was two things that he,his, his real passion, but this
area I didn't know was known forthat.
People came here to sport forthe sport of, yeah, I know
Tarpon was, uh, was big, but youknow, and, and also I remember
the, The mosquitoes were also abig thing then too.

(43:44):
And I remember going to highschool here and having the old
DC-3 planes fly over and spraythe area with the, I don't know,
it was cool to see as a kid,but they're fumigating us.
Yeah, DDT.

Yeah, yeah, it was.
And they only came out whenkids were just standing, waiting
for the

bus.
That's what it was.

Yeah, it was, they held.
The health department and theschool department weren't in
sync there.
And then there was, and if theydidn't get you with the planes,
the trucks came by.
The trucks would come down thestreets, yeah.
And then just kind of hover inthe corner there where the kids
were.

Yeah, I remember that.
I remember that.
I could smell it right now, thefragrance of the, whatever they
were spraying on us that, yeah.
And it was just fascinating forme to see these, as a kid,
seeing the planes fly over.
Little did I know what washappening to our internal, what
was happening to us.
So, you know, my mother smokedduring pregnancy.
So back then smoking was, youknow, acceptable too.

(44:49):
So it was different.
My mother and father, both weresmokers.
And I remember Dr.
Spano, I don't know if you knowthe Spano.
Okay.
Yeah.
Everybody knows the legendaryJoe, Dr.
Joe, who's still practicing nowat this, this they were good
friends and they had gone out todinner together and they all

(45:11):
had come from work and It wasthe Sextons, the Spanos, and my
parents.
And they left at the same time.
And on Central and 8th, I'm notsure which one on Central, Dr.
Spano and my mother both left,but they were going different
routes in the two roads.
My mother looked down for aminute.
She was leaving.
She looked down to check thelighter to light a cigarette.

(45:33):
When she looked up, the lighthad changed, and she broadsided
Joe, Dr.
Spano.
Put him in the hospital reallybad.
He was in...
rough shape.
And I remember her going tovisit him often.
He would still see her evenafter that.
He would go visit him in thehospital.

(45:55):
And they could smoke in thehospital.
They were smoking, visiting Dr.
Joe while he was in thehospital.
And ever since that time,whenever they'd go out to
dinner, the rest of them for theyears after that, David Sexton
would always say, I'm going toskip out a little early on
everybody.
He would leave dinner earlyjust to avoid my mother.

(46:16):
But the old ways of Naples andthe community and, you know, the
old stories.
And you had talked about one ofthe other legends in the
community, Mrs.
Gaynor, who was one of my dad'sfirst customers, who you knew
her father, which I think is,you know, the Gaynors were...
I don't know, instrumental orother pioneer legends in the

(46:39):
community.
The Norrises, yeah.
Norris, was it?
Yes, that's right.
That's right.
Norris family, which there'sthe Norris Center.
And so how did you meet him?
How did you get to know the...

Well, back in 76, I had wanted to hang out or
I wanted to explore Key WadenIsland.
And so...
I knew that if I wanted to gothere and-

Were there houses on Key Waden then?

There was a couple of little camps, but it
was pretty, nothing was reallyhappening.
No one was out there in aregular way.
And so I knew that if I wantedto go out there, it would be
impossible to get permission tohave a campfire and all that
kind of thing.
So a buddy of mine wasvisiting, a college buddy, and

(47:33):
he was a writer.
And I just want to do a seriesof watercolors.
So a buddy of mine here droppedus off on a boat about four
miles down from the club.
And so we just wanted to go andhang out and not be bothered.
So we didn't show our tents onthe beach.

(47:55):
We kind of covered them up soyou couldn't see any indication
if you looked hard.
So for the first week, it wasunbelievable.
I did watercolors and it wasjust really a lot of fun.
What time of

year was

this?
This was in 76.
It was just before New Year'sin 76.
So it was December 75.
I mean, yeah, 75.
So after the first week, thisis unbelievable.
This is great.
And we had a lot of rice andonions.
But we were running out of thegood stuff.

(48:34):
But anyway, we thought, we canlive another week out here, but
we got to replenish our water.
And so we decided to, at fivein the morning, go to the pool
house of the club, shower,shave, and get our jury cans

(48:56):
full of water.
And as we were leaving the poolhouse, this old timer with his
placer with piping and a crest,and I swear he had a monocle on.
He came in and we said, oh,good morning, as we're carrying
our jugs out.
Oh, and he just didn't knowwhat he was seeing.

(49:17):
My buddy had a blonde monocle.
blonde ponytail down to hiswaist so he knew we weren't, you
know, guests.
So anyway, we just bug out andwe're so psyched that we've got
another week there.
And just as we were saying, youknow, God, it's just too bad we

(49:41):
don't have a couple of girlshere to share this with, we kind
of hear this giggling and Andwe're just kind of sitting back
on the beach in front of ourcampsite.
And here come these two gals.
And we say hello.
And we had just graduated fromcollege.
They were college girls.
They were visiting one of theirgrandmothers annually, invited

(50:04):
each other down to come andspend two weeks for their
vacation with grandma.
And they were doing theirannual walk to the pass from the
club.
And so we're talking to thegirls.
Where's your boat?
We got dropped off.
Where's your site?
Well, we're hiding it.
We don't want anybody to throwus off.

(50:24):
I said, well, can we see it?
I said, well, don't tellanybody.
So we show them our site.
I show them watercolors.
And as we go out to the beachto send them off, all of a
sudden this Marine patrol comesflying by and stops and comes
right to the shore and points tothe girl, get back.

(50:45):
And the girls say, oh, no,we're going south.
And he goes, get back, getback.
And all of a sudden, ahelicopter comes from behind the
island over us.
And so we're just saying,Jesus, these girls are a little
too troublesome.
So we're kind of backing intothe woods.
The girls decide or are obligedto go back to the club and not

(51:07):
continue their walk.
So we go through the week.
We come back having to take theferry back from the clubhouse
to the shore.
we are greeted by the managerof the club just at the
beginning of the club property.
And he starts screaming at us.
We've seen you there with yourcampfire.

(51:29):
You're going right to jail.
The police will be waiting foryou at the dock.
And we said, hey, that's fine.
We've had two wonderful weeks.
Don't worry about it.
And he was just very, veryupset.
And he just said, yeah, you'regoing to be in jail tonight.
Just want you to know.
Fine, fine.
But we were just so blissedout.

(51:51):
It was like no big deal.
And he said, not only that, Mr.
Norris wants to speak to you.
So I said, okay, that's fine.
We'll speak to Mr.
Norris.
Couldn't get a hold of himbefore, but...
Anyway...
So expecting this big burlyguy, you know, proprietor, we

(52:15):
opened the door and he's likeFred Astaire, you know.
He said, well, boys, you know,you didn't have permission.
Well, sir, we didn't figure wecould get permission.
We felt if we would, apologywould be easier.
And he goes, well, you got thatright.
He goes, well, what's in theportfolio?
I said, oh, I was doingwatercolors out there.

(52:36):
Yeah, let's see them.
Hey, these are pretty good.
And then he took me over toshow him some of his cartoons.
He was a cartoonist for theChicago Tribune.
So he's just saying, oh my God,you know, this is great.
And he basically told me astory.
You know, when I married mywife, you know, she wasn't in
line to, you know, inherit thechairman of the board ship.

(52:58):
But when the one who wassupposed to inherit it didn't,
suddenly...
I, the cartoonist, became thatperson.
So, anyway, he goes, what wereyou guys eating out there
anyway?
So, well, as a matter of fact,there was a great run of those
fighting conks, and we figuredwe'd get a couple of dozen each

(53:19):
with every high tide.
When you When you boiled themout, beat them with a stick and
fried them with onions, theywere pretty good.
And we caught a fish once in awhile.
Oh, my God, here's 20 bucks apiece.
Go to George and the Dragon andhave a steak on me.
And so that's what we did.

(53:40):
So when we go outside, all of asudden there's a group of
people out there.
And in the front of the groupof people, there were two girls,
the two girls that we had met.
I said, what happened?
And they took us to a site andsaid, well, as a matter of fact,
the moment that the old man sawyou in the pool house, there

(54:01):
was a body that was turned up inMarco.
And so there was suddenly anall points bulletin for any
questionable people in theMarco, Naples, islands realm.
And so...
all of a sudden these girls arewalking by these, what they

(54:24):
could see were people on theisland having campfires every
night.
So we were suspects.
And so all of a sudden thesetwo girls leaving the camp,
Kiwain camp, were potentially inharm's way with an all point
bulletin.
Fortunately, by the time thegirls were picked up, they had

(54:48):
caught the guy.
So we weren't routed out.
So anyway, Lester Norris says,hey, I just met this artist,
this watercolor artist that wasout here and you gotta see his
work.
So that's how...
Lyle Gaynor was introduced tome through her

father.
Oh, that was his...
Oh, my gosh.
Wow, what an amazing story.
That's incredible.
That's awesome.
Wow.
It wasn't by...
No, it wasn't at a cocktailparty.
That's great.
That's even better.
I love that.
And the fact, I didn't knowthat that was his background as

(55:31):
well, that he was a cartoonist.
He was a

cartoonist for Chicago Tribune.
Yeah.

Unknown (55:35):
Wow.

And, you know, he had no intention of, you
know, heading Texaco, but heended up doing it.
That was their, where

the fortune was from Texaco.
Wow.
Oh my gosh.
That's incredible.
All the years I knew her, Ididn't know that.
And to hear that story abouther and their family there, you
know, and the fact that hecould, He could appreciate your
work, too.
He did.
He could see and appreciate it.
Wow.
Yeah, that...

And Lyle became a very nice collector, a very
good collector.
In fact, she gave me back acouple of really wonderful
pieces that were terrific tohave back.
She knew that they would beimportant.
So she was

terrific all the way around.
Oh, yeah.
A lot of special women, yeah.
Very special.
As one of my dad's first...
customers and loyal till thevery end.
Loyal is the word.
Yeah, it's just so special.
Another one of those...
pioneers or special people inour community and this is kind
of neat what i think abouthaving this opportunity to talk

(56:37):
to you is kind of specialbecause usually you just get
little sound bites of people youdon't get to really hear the
full story of what um you knowwe talked about the media right
now and the local media whichyou know we get to hear about
what restaurants are opening orwhat restaurants are closing
seems to be the headline of theday or um you know, a traffic
accident, which usually gets alot of clicks, I suppose, but

(56:59):
not to really get to see.
You talked about the star, youknow, back in the day, the star
was something that was specialabout that.
Was it the way it featured thecommunity and the people in the
community in a special way?

They did stories.

Yeah.
Yeah.
And to be able to hear yourstory, because I truly was, when
I heard that I was going tohave an opportunity to talk to
you, I thought...
how honored I am to have you,to get to talk to you, because
there are a select group ofpioneers, and I call them
pioneers, that were here back inthe day, and you were certainly

(57:36):
one of those people.
But you've been all over theworld.
You've been in so many places,and places I didn't even realize
in researching you, and whenyou're showing me the book, and
how many parts of the worldyou've been in, and even that
you lived in Hana.
Right?
He lived in Hana, which isthat...

Yeah, no, and it's kind of nice.
I have an eight-foot paintingover the front desk of the Hana
Hotel.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
And the only way I could dothat painting was to present my
case to the elders there, theHawaiians.
It's a Hawaiian community.
And, you know, there'sHawaii...

(58:14):
And there's tourism, butthere's Hawaii, the island, the
culture, the native situation.
That is, they really gotscrewed when their island was
just taken over.
It was absolutely an illegaltakeover.

(58:36):
Even our president said it wasillegal at the time.
But So there is a certainfrustration, especially when all
the land is owned bynon-natives, a lot of it is.
And so there is, butfortunately I had a dear friend
who was Hawaiian, who did theceremonial hollies, the

(59:02):
structures, whether they werefor living or ceremonial.
And...
when there was a big event, abig ceremony, and he had a
special holly that he had justdone, he would want me to go and
paint it, which was an honor tobe included.

(59:22):
And when his Hawaiian friends,what's the holly doing here?
You know, the non-Hawaiian.
Well, he might be a Haole, buthe paints like a Hawaiian, so
that's what he's doing

here.
So I got

access to a lot of stuff that was really, really
special.
So it really enhanced myexperience and my connect to the
place.

For anybody who doesn't know, Hana, it's on the
island of Maui, right?
And to get there is...
They have a

bumper sticker that says, I survived the road
to Hana.
It's a rainforest on a hairpinroad, coastal road that is very
high up on cliffs.
And when it rains, massivetrees fall down.
So it's a Jurassic Parkexperience without the critters,

(01:00:20):
but the drama is there whenwhen the weather kicks up.

Robert DiLella (01:00:26):
Yeah.
I drove it, and it's exactly,as you say, it's what I felt
like I was in a Jurassic world,like another world completely,
and in a Jeep on some of thoseroads, and they're not really
roads, some areas of it.
It didn't feel like a road.
It was like a

Paul Arsenault (01:00:41):
creek

bed.
Yeah.
It's so beautiful.
Very beautiful.
And to live there, I can onlyimagine, or to be there for a
period of time, because ours wasjust to drive in, eat, drive
out.
Right, right.
Well,

it was a great gift to have that chapter.
It was terrific.

Yeah, you've had some...
You've also been in theCaribbean, other islands in the
Caribbean that you've livedthere, stayed there.

Yeah.
I mentioned the fundraiser Idid for Dominica.
at the depot.
When I arrived there in 78, Iguess it was January 78, it was

(01:01:28):
eight months before independencewas going to be declared there.
And I had just been living sixmonths in St.
Barts, which was a verydifferent kind of West Indies
Island.
It had a certain...
glamour and a certain specialquality that was not necessarily

(01:01:48):
West Indies oriented, but itwas a circumstance of a unique
island that was French and- St.
Bart's.
St.

Bart's.
What time period was this?

I got there in 77.
Oh, okay.

So that was before it became the Island of
the Stars?
Well,

it was burgeoning with that.
In fact, that's the cover of mybook here.
That's

Gustavia.
Oh, I love that spot.
That's one of my wife and I'sfavorite area.
I didn't realize

that.
Yeah, so that's what it lookedlike back in 77.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
So it was a glam factor forsure, but...
I

got chills.
That is one of our favorites.
That's where she wants to gofor her...
She's got a big birthday comingup in May.
That's where she wants to go.
There's a restaurant backthere.
Shopping there is great and therestaurants are great.
No, no.

And to get there back in 77 was unbelievable
because it was...
Well, even to get there now onthat little...
I can't imagine that.
But the core group of peoplethere, the players, were all
interesting.
I got a telegram sent to me Infact, it was by that guy, that
writer friend from Key Waden.
He sent me a telegram, a blondeAmerican painter.

(01:03:01):
And that was the address.
And it got to me immediately.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So, but when I got to Dominica,So you were here first?
I was here first for sixmonths, and then I went to
Dominica because I really wantedto paint the West Indies, the
real island life.

Dominica was a French island too?

Actually, it was an English island between two
French islands, which gave it acertain isolation, a certain...
And it wasn't known for itsbeaches.
It didn't have a golf course,but it was the most West Indies
of the islands of the Caribbean.
That was the idea, the point.
And the fact that I arrivedthere eight months before

(01:03:46):
Independence gave me thedetermination, you know what,
I've got to do something forthis special island.
So I started an art cooperativethere.
So knowing that they need toshow the art of this island when
Independence came.
And so I did that.
And it was very special.

(01:04:09):
to get to know this island.
It's spectacular.
It's called the Nature Islandof the West Indies.
And so I was there, and then Iwas called back to the States
with a family emergency back themonth after independence.

(01:04:31):
And as it happens, my...
My wife was so sick of metelling stories of my favorite
island of the West Indies asDominica, and I'm not taking her
there.
We finally went last February,which was very special.

(01:04:52):
And we went there and loved it.
Now her complaint was, whycouldn't you have taken me here
when I was 40?
Because it's a hiking island.
Oh, is it really?
Well, yeah.
I mean, there's cloud forestsabove the rainforests and
boiling lakes and just aremarkably rich culture.

(01:05:14):
A

lot different than St.
Barts because St.
Barts seemed to be rockier,volcanic almost.

Yeah, yeah.
There's waterfalls and parrotshere.
Yeah, and the biggest parrot inthe world is there.
Really?
On the Dominican flag that wasraised from the British back in
78.
So in going back there, it wasinteresting.

(01:05:39):
I had a...
And it was wonderful that...
one of the ministers of culturethat was there became a dear
friend.
He put a painting of mine ofTrafalgar Falls in the kiosk of
Trafalgar Falls with all thesephotographs of the years that
falls changed.
There was only one painting.

(01:06:00):
And that was my painting thatwas put there by Alwyn Bulley.
And we were there three daysafter carnival when there was a
memoriam, float at Carnival.
One a tribute to Alwyn Bully,the other to Earl Etienne, the
first student that became partof my co-op for Independence.

(01:06:25):
Oh, isn't that amazing?
So anyway, for not having asdirect a consistent time there,
I was able to set up a programwhere I did a talk.
The money I got from the talkhas gone to coral restoration of

(01:06:45):
Dominica.
And so that's what I've set upthere for my return gift to the
island.

So anyway, you do what you can do.
Yeah, that's a beautiful thing.
You've left your...
You touched them in a way thatlived on even after you left the
area.
That's what was

nice because it's a very, very special
island.

What would you say...
I notice in this industry alot—now, I'm not a stylist
myself, even though I'm in thebusiness, but I see so many
young students, kids, who loveto do hair or they're passionate
about hair.
It's an expression.
It's an art expression.

(01:07:27):
They just use a differentcanvas.
And they often have to strugglewith their parents who— have a
college fund set up for them togo to get some type of four-year
degree, but this art is insidethem that they just have to
always fight against, it seemslike, to be able to turn it into

(01:07:47):
the passion, to have theirpassion be what they do as a
career.
What would you say...
to that.
There's this budding artist inthem that the parents and
society has this four-yeardegree pathway for them that you
need to go do this.
And I see it all the timewhere, you know, sometimes
they'll end up, you know, doingwhat the parents wish for them

(01:08:09):
and go to a year or two, three,sometimes complete college, but
it's really just not in theirsoul.
It's just not in them.
And this incredible artist isthere.
What would you say And that'show I equate it anyway to our
business because there's a formof art there too.
But for any art form at all,what advice would you give to

(01:08:29):
somebody who's in that space?

Well, you know, when I first came here in
Naples, there was a realsurprise gallery, the Harmon
Gallery.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it was Foster Harmon set upthat gallery.
And in fact, I think it was...
when Julius Fleischmann boughtThird Street to create a certain

(01:08:55):
tone and tenor for thecommercial street of Third
Street.
He gave Foster Harmon, who wasbased out of Sarasota at the
time with the gallery, two yearsfree rent to bring his high end
museum caliber gallery toNaples.
That was the first.

(01:09:16):
And so, well, I mean, it wasn'tthe first gallery, but it was
the first move to take things upa notch.
And so Foster was, he was avery wise and cultured guy.
And I had gone to art school,but it wasn't one of the

(01:09:41):
accredited big gun art schools,not one of the schools that with
an affiliation with that got meinstant entree to museum
situations.
They gave you the fundamentals,you had to work it out.
And that's what I did.
But what Foster said was,Listen, Paul, pick 10 of your

(01:10:04):
favorite artists of the age andask and send a self-addressed
envelope to them, to theirstudios, and get a 15-minute
interview with any of them youcan.
Just talk with an artist thatyou appreciate, admire, and if
at all possible, spend time,apprentice, but that kind of an

(01:10:29):
education, taking it personally,to the next level would be much
more valuable to you than goingto some university at this
stage of the game.
You're a capable painter, butyou need mentoring in the ways
of the artist's sensibility.

(01:10:50):
So I wrote out 10 of myfavorite artists, with a
self-addressed envelope and didall the homework I could with my
limited means.
And so I wanted that.
I saw the wisdom of that,speaking with, talking to, being

(01:11:12):
advised by someone who is whereI want to be.
However, I didn't get oneresponse.
In fact, when I was up inCaptiva, about 20 years ago or
so, 25 years ago, Rauschenberg,Robert Rauschenberg, went buying

(01:11:37):
his bike.
And then he kind of twirledaround and said, you mind if I
take a shot and use it?
I said, yeah, sure.
You can take a shot and use it.
And so he takes the shot.
And I said, so Robert, back 30years ago, when I first came to

(01:12:01):
town, to Naples, I realized thatI needed to talk to some
artists of the day that I wantedto talk to about taking things
another step, the next step.
And so I sent you and nineother guys, nine other artists,

(01:12:23):
a letter saying, with aself-addressed letter.
And basically he said, oh yeah,30 years ago, huh?
What happened?
I said, well, not one of youguys sent the letter back.
So he just kind of reachedover, pinched me in the ass and

(01:12:47):
said, you should have sent apicture and then took off on the
bike.

That's great.
Yeah.
Love that.
Yeah, I think back to my fathertalking about when he was
becoming a stylist, or wanted tobecome the best stylist that he
could be.
It was a similar situationwhere he went to a school that
was you know, uh, got him whathe needed to get the license

(01:13:18):
and, uh, and to go work.
The recommendation at the timewas to go work with somebody
who, even if it's for free,who's going to teach you the
ropes and, and, and mentor youor be your mentor, uh, for it.
So he, uh, found this guy inthe inner city of Philadelphia,
which is about a 30 minute drivefrom where he was that he went
to work with.
And the guy was, um, and Idon't remember the name.

(01:13:40):
I know my sister would know whohe was because in the day he
was, this was pre-Vidal Sassoon.
This was early, late 60s whenwomen were still doing the
roller sets and they do 20 or 30roller sets a day.
And before Vidal Sassoon camein and kind of transformed the
industry and turned it into likethis geometric haircut where
they didn't need to put rollersin at all, get rid of the

(01:14:01):
rollers.
And he went to work with thisguy who really was, drilled him,
worked him really hard, but,but gave him the foundation of
what she loved was, was greathaircutting.
And then, um, I remember in,um, after we had moved here and
the money was in the rollersets, cause the women would come
in once a week, you know,sometimes twice a week and get

(01:14:22):
the roller sets and you do 20 or30 of those a day.
And you had this repeat personwho'd come in a hundred times a
year for 50 times a year, atleast roller sets was the bread
and butter.
And, um, we, uh, at that time Ihad been working with him in
the eighties and he, he, henever liked the look of the
roller cause it was the samelook all the time.
And at the time he started tosay, that's an old lady look and

(01:14:45):
people don't, women don't wantto look like an old lady.
So he had this, uh, he said,but we're doing a lot of the old
lady look and people are goingto figure out that that's, uh,
you know, somebody says, wheredo you get your hair done?
They say, Robert ofPhiladelphia.
Well, that's, do you want theold lady look?
So he, he had this vision of,or this idea that, We can't do
them anymore.
We're going to have a burn theroller party, and we're never

(01:15:08):
going to do them anymore.
The

juice can.
Didn't they have orange juicecans with the rollers?
Yeah,

it was just this...
You know, we had so many ofthem.
I remember all over the salon,we used to use them as, we used
to take a wiffle ball bat andhit them with them.
And upset a lot of peoplebecause he just made this
declaration that we're not goingto do them anymore.
And a lot of people were reallyupset about it.
And I was worried because I wasworking in the back of the
house with the finance part ofit.

(01:15:35):
And I was worried we were goingto lose a lot of money because,
you know, that was kind of thebread and butter point.
And there were a lot of upsethusbands who were like, you're
upsetting my wife and she wantsthis done.
And he said, well, you know,this is the look we want.
a look we want to create andprobably which most people want,
don't even know that they wantit.
And, uh, he had the foresightto say, we're going to get rid
of those.
And yeah.

(01:15:55):
And, uh, the same way, um, inlike, had I known as a kid, I
didn't know cause feeding me washis problem, not mine as a kid,
you know, I didn't have toworry about it, but he wasn't
worried about it.
My mother was on the otherhand, worried about how we're
going to eat, but he always knewthat he could at least fish if
nothing else, we'd eat out thatanyway.
Um, I have some rapid fire.

(01:16:16):
You know, you've been, this hasbeen so fascinating for me
because I've learned so much anddidn't even need to ask any
generic questions because you'rejust, you're just so insightful
as to what I really wanted tocapture for the community, for
this, this area.
These kind of rapid firequestions, especially as an

(01:16:36):
artist.
So do you have a favoritecolor?

Well, you know, when I first came to Florida on
the ship, I was asked to bedesignated as the crew member
that had to get certified as adiver.
So it was up to me to getcertified.
And one of my dives forcertification was at Penny Camp

(01:17:04):
down in Key Largo.
Oh, yeah.
You can go to Key West or youcan go to the Keys and you can
see the color of the water andit can be very nice and it can
be average and it can bespectacular, then it can be
average.
Well, the day I went the firsttime to the Keys, the color was

(01:17:27):
spectacular.
And the moment I saw thatemerald green, it just became
one with the love of not onlythe color, but the feeling, the
emotion, and the geography.

Yeah.
Yeah, there is something.
Now that you mentioned that,because we would spend summers
in the Keys, and there's nothinglike that water there.
It is something to see.
And the shade sometimes, andthe depths of the water, and
you'd see it.
Yeah, just when you get on thatseven-mile bridge, we used to
stay at a long, there was acampground there, on Long Key,

(01:18:05):
right before one of the bridges.
And it was just the summerswe'd spend there and that water,
that clear, beautiful water,and just seeing the barracuda
and the parrotfish and thebeautiful colors.
It just reminds me so much.
And it's still that way.
That's what I love because thewater is still, it's still just
so special.
And that's a good one.

(01:18:25):
I never even...
consider that in the palette ofcolor, but I think that really
is just, it reminds me of that,the days there, because it was a
big part of my youth growing uphere.
The Keys we go to.
That'd be fun.
Yeah, lobstering.
It's not America anymore.
Yeah, not at all, yeah.
How about a favorite artist ormost inspiring artist

for you?
Well, you know, one of myfavorite artists that is living
now is David Hockney, a Brit,who just has had a wonderful
career and has evolvedbeautifully and has been a great

(01:19:09):
example for an artist who has,on his quest for his creative
process, has tackled, mastered,and tackled more and more
different ways of creativitywith his art, with his painting,

(01:19:30):
with theater, with stage sets,with photography.
He's just a brilliantinspiration and he's an artist
that's living today.
He's great.
As far as a favorite painter,Of all times, there's not just

(01:19:53):
one.
It's just kind of you wake upone day and it's, oh, God, I
love the wonderful spirit ofToulouse-Lautrec, of Paris, in
that day and age.
I love some of the...
classicist artists, Delacroix,and some of the impressionists,

(01:20:22):
post-impressionists, Gauguin.
I've been very lucky to havehad a wonderful appreciation and
different periods of lovingthis direction of where the art
goes and the painting goes, orthis direction.

(01:20:43):
So it's...
It's been fun to have so manygreat minds to kind of pull from
as I go through life collectingfavorite books people, our
creations, our images that havebeen done through history.

(01:21:06):
And it's a great life whenyou're living and breathing it
to have to take things andassess things going forward,
because there's so muchwonderful talent to consider and
to muster in yourself, okay,what's the next important thing

(01:21:29):
to do?

Your book, which I now realize would be so great
to have in each of our salons,because we're coming up on our
45th anniversary.
Mom and Dad opened it in 1980,so we're not far behind you.
But your book captures a lot ofso much.

(01:21:53):
I think it's a great table bookthat should be in every home in
Naples, really.
Can we get that?
Well,

you can buy it from me.
I don't think there's any placethat sells it anymore.

Online?
Online, yeah.
From you?
From me, yeah.
Just

call and come over.
I have a charming old floorFlorida property that's old
cottages and it's under the bigbanyan tree right by the pier.
So it's a fun place to visit.
I have that book.
I did another collaborationwith a couple, the Lairs, and
that was the beach cottage book.
And that was the provenance ofthe beach...

(01:22:34):
homes of Naples and theirstory.
And it was quite a successfulbook.
In fact, it went through threeprintings and the Historical
Society was the beneficiary ofit.
Unfortunately, it was on everycoffee table of every beach
house in Naples and whenHurricane Ian came, so everybody

(01:22:58):
lost their book.
And unfortunately, it was sopopular that it's $400 now.
So it's really a sought afterbook.
It's a lot of money.
And as it happens, my wife andI are coming out with a new book
We've been somewhat stalled anddelayed with COVID, with Ian,

(01:23:26):
and with a couple of othersurprises that have kind of held
us back from production, butwe're now slated to come out
with it for next fall.
It's a centennial book,Centennial of Naples, but it
coincides with my 50th year ofbeing in Naples.

(01:23:47):
We're using old engravings andpostcards.
and photographs and mypaintings and my stories.
So it moves away from thestandard canned history of
Naples.
But as you can tell with myinterview, I've had a unique

(01:24:08):
entree into the scene here andto be able to tell with my
paintings and images the storyalong with the other part of the
story that is important, butit's my history.
that I choose to pivot from.
It's the one that I think wouldbe most interesting to people

(01:24:32):
who are just looking for abreezy but profound image,
story, history.
Yeah.
So that'll be coming up

next year.
Oh, I'm looking forward tothat.
Okay, next year.
Okay, so we're going to...
stay tuned and communicate topeople as that comes around,
because we'd love to, um, notonly see it, but share it with
people too, because I think it'sreally fascinating for people
to, uh, uh, you, you've, you areso full of so much of what

(01:25:07):
people, uh, can appreciate aboutwhat this charm of this area
and you've preserved it so welland you've spoken it so well.
And not only this area, but somany beautiful parts of the
world too, you know, which Ithink is so fascinating.
And I, um, Certainly appreciateyou taking time for us and
sharing what you've done andwhat you've created.
Oh, there's also a calendar.

(01:25:27):
So it's the beginning of theyear.
It's 2025, the beginning of theyear.
So we have to make sure peopleare...
Now, where can people get thattoo?
Because I think that's great.
It's a great way to start theyear.
Sure, sure.

We have it at...
Paper Merchant.

Oh, okay.
Another long timer.
Right, right.
Yeah, great.

The Georges.
And Bruno's and Regatta, Ithink, and a couple of other
places downtown.
And again, my house.
So just giving me a call.
And yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
This could be our last year.

(01:26:06):
I'm not sure.
And, for instance, this happensto be the alley between 12th
Avenue South and Broad.
This is the new Annex Museum toPalm Cottage that is opening in
February this coming month.
So 12th

and Broad, so that is Broad is east-west.
Yeah.
So 12th would be the streetbefore the...
What's the...

12th is where the pier...
12th goes into the pier.

Into the pier.
Okay, gotcha.
That's 12th and Brock.
12th and

Brock, okay.
And basically, since they didthis, they put this hedge all
the way up and a fence, and youcan't see this anymore.
So it's...
It's just kind of, I'm tryingto catch things as things
evolve.
For instance, my last year'scalendar was Broad Avenue South.
The three cottages on Broadwere the most intact

(01:27:10):
architectural series of homesfrom the beach.
Thinking that who knows what'sgonna happen with these
beautiful cottages.
Well, I guess in September,they tore down the middle
cottage.
So as I go along, I'm just kindof painting the scene as it

(01:27:31):
evolves.
And

yeah.
And you mentioned your home andpeople going there or calling
you to stop by there.
Where is that?
Because I think that's acharming little- Well, it's

a corner of 12th and Gordon Drive.
And so- It's under the banyantree.
And so just giving a call tomake sure we're there.
And usually we are.
So that's, you know, we'rehappy to oblige.

Yeah.
That's really special.
I mean, to have that, becauseit is such, it is, my wife and I
drove by it this past August.
And of course, looking at allthe changes in the area, because
you could go away for a weekand come back in a week and not
recognize Naples so quickly.
That's right.
How much things are changing.

(01:28:17):
But the charming quaintness andthe...
It just, to me, embodies what Iremember of Naples so much.
Well, right.
And

right after the hurricane happened and we were
so devastated, people...
people drove by and they wouldcome up to say, are you gonna
save it?
Oh yeah.
But they would say so much isgone, so much is devastated.
The first place we wanted tolook at to see if it was gonna

(01:28:50):
still be there was our place.
So it was like, they were justtouching a part of what they
loved about their home and tomake sure that was still intact.
And so that's what's, it's an,caretakers of this very special
property.
That's what's important for usto do what we can to make sure

(01:29:10):
that is available and accessibleto generations to come.
So that's a big responsibilitythat we're working on right now.

Yeah, that's a beautiful thing.
I didn't think of it in thatway, that it does preserve for
so many what we know of thisarea.
It just keeps it in our heartslike that's it right there in
your heart.
upholding that special placethat we have.
I loved, and I reallyappreciate this, the story about

(01:29:38):
your mom seeing your portraitof Lincoln and the emotion that
you saw in her.
And I really, that just kind ofbrings it full circle because
I, as me having the privilege towork with artists every day.
And, you know, they think froman artist's side of the brain,
you know, they talk about theleft brain and right brain and
they just to watch theirreaction.

(01:29:59):
My father used to always saythe gift or the payment was the
was the love and the gratitudethat somebody would express when
they looked at themselves inthe mirror after he was done
creating what he created.
And that was what gave him hisfulfillment in everything.
And you seeing that as afive-year-old, seeing the impact
it had on your mom, what you,this out-of-body human that

(01:30:22):
nobody knew what you were doingliving there.
And here you created thisincredible piece that, moved
your mother in a way and that'swhat this industry is and I'm
grateful for it and I'm sohonored that I got a chance to
spend time with you and get toknow you and the history and
what you've provided for us inthe community so one of the True

(01:30:43):
legends and pioneers of ourcommunity.
I can't thank you enough forspending time with us this
morning.
And we owe you a haircut, too.
You've got great hair, sothat's on us next time.

Terrific.
Good.
I'll save myself.
Thank you, Robert.
It's been a great pleasure.
Yeah, honored to have

you.
Thanks again, man.
Appreciate it.

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