Highwaymen Legacy

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're listening to Evergreen Media Network. I am Cindy Schwartz
and this is our Veteran's Voice Radio show in your host,
Ralph Nathanoco.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello everybody, and thank you so much for being with us.
You know, it means an awful lot to me to
have all of you friends out there loyal to the
not just our Veterans Voice Radio, but also the high Women,
the Treasure to Find, the road show, the bookworms, and
anything else we have a good time with. Today we're
going to discuss high women legacy and the reason this

(00:39):
came up in the audio. In the studio with me,
I have Susan Harris smiling as you know she but
you say Jetson and when you say Susan Harris, they're synonymous.
One goes with the other, one does not go without
the other. How about that. You're welcome, sou And no,

(01:01):
this is not a paid commercial or but we we
the ocos. All of our appliances in our house are
all purchased at just even our mattress. To give you
an idea, just.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
The TV appliances mattresses seventh stores.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Now you're moving, you're relocating.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
The one we're gonna have an eight store for a while.
It looks like we will close down a smaller one.
We'll have our own little strip on Gatland.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh so you're moving from Saintucy West to Gatland. Is
that a busier area? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, because tradition, tradition, tradition, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Tradition anyway. But the main reason we're talking about legacy
is because about I think I'm going to guess about
three months ago, we have with us on the phone
all the way in Hawthorn, Florida.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Do you know where Hawthorn, Florida is?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Anybody raise your hands? Yeah? It out loud? Is that
east west, south, north or central central? Rightay? So mary
Anne Clawson is on the phone. We met mary Ann Clawson.
In fact, I'm going to have mary Anne tell you
how how Mary Anne and I met. And therefore, if

(02:21):
I meet somebody, Susan meets them, and Susan meets somebody,
Ralph meets them. So we kind of share all the
goodies now within our family here. So first of all,
Mary Anne, thank you for taking the time to being
with us.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Well, thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
I've been looking forward because I think that you're one
of the interesting is. I want to say you're not
an up and coming You've been there. You painted before
I even knew where the Eye women were sixteen years ago.
But how did you and I meet? You got to
tell the story. It's pretty cute.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Well, actually, I acquired a painting and it doesn't have
a signature on it, so I was trying to figure
out who it belonged to. It looks like a Florida
Highwayman painting. It is in the color schemes of a
Florida Highwayman painting, but there's no signature. So I've been
trying to figure out who this painting belonged to. And

(03:19):
now that you've asked me this my mind who I
thought it was but as a Kaya Baker, Yes, as
a Kira Baker, and but you told me it was not.
And then we just got to talk. And then and
you found out that I am also an artist.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
You are an artist. You are the artist. But just
so you know, when you presented that question to me
and we spoke and we hit it off right away,
you sent me a copy I forwarded as a Kia
Baker Junior has a Kia's son who also is an artist,
and we have a lot of are in our gallery

(03:57):
in Vero Beach, and he's said, no, that's not his father.
I didn't think it was either. You know, it's funny, Susan.
I think you can probably agree with me. I can't
say about all twenty six, but I'd like to think
that most of the time, you and I and the
several of us serious dealers, serious collectors, we can usually

(04:22):
ascertain within a realm of who painted something without knowing
who the artist is. Would that be correct?

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, there are some surprises that come along. We saw
an abstract painting come up for auction by Mary Anne Carroll,
and nobody would have ever guessed Mary and Carroll if
it wasn't signed, because it was so far out of
the realm of what we've seen.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
It would have been better ahead of Bradney Dems painted it.
It was just weird. But the name Mary Anne Carroll
draws respect. So Mary and now let's go back to Marianne.
By the way, there is a play on words there.
Anne Carroll is the only woman amongst the twenty six
Hall of Fame, and may see and who do we

(05:05):
haven't on the phone with us today, and may see
Mary Anne Clawson.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
How do you like that.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Did you ever notice that before, Marianne, Yeah, it's fine.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
So when tell us about yourself, uh, because we want
to talk about you your art. We want to talk
a little bit about high women, second generation, legacy art style,
landscape or now I heard a new word today, tribute.

Speaker 5 (05:35):
So that's a good word for that.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
It may not already, it may be better than all
of the other, but anyway, so tell us about yourself,
because you are very, very talented, you really are.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
Thank you. So I was born in Okeechobe, Florida on alike. Actually,
my dad was out on a fishing trip and surprised
I came early. I was born out on the lake literally,
and so I am truly from Florida on the water.
It is probably why I loved to paint the water
so much. I lived in Brunswick, Georgia as an adult

(06:14):
for twenty six years, and I've been teaching art for
twenty one of those years. I taught pre K through
twelfth grade in school, not just painting, but like all mediums,
we did paper mache and clay and crafts, but always
my passion was painting. When we painted, I really enjoyed
the painting with the kids, and so I opened up

(06:40):
my art studio and kind of followed my dream as
an artist back in two thousand and nine, So sixteen
years ago. The Painted Planet is my studio's name, and
it was located in Brunswick, Georgia. And so I moved
back to my home state of Florida about three years
ago to help my mom. She's eighty four years old

(07:02):
and she's just at this place where she needs me
to be closer. And so we moved back here and
I opened up my studio still called The Painted Planet
at Mosman Hall, where I do teach painting and drawing
classes for children. But I wanted to do it a

(07:22):
little bit different when I moved here. I wanted to
focus all the years I have focused on all my
students as artists, but I wanted to now focus on
myself as a thank you, just to kind of tone
in on my own art. And so I told I
had a little going away party with all my friends

(07:43):
up in Georgia, and I said, y'all want to bring
me gifts, bring me new paint brushes, because I'm going
to paint new painting. And that's what I did. So
I had several people tell me your paintings. They remind
me of the Florida Highway, the style, and because I
love color and I love texture, and I never really

(08:06):
felt when I was in Georgia that I felt like
there was something missing in my art. And it wasn't
until I moved back to Florida. And I just have
such a love for old Florida and for rivers and
lakes and streams and creeks and anything swumpy that that's

(08:27):
where I just really started to flourish in my art.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Okay, let's go backwards. Okay, at what age did you
realize and discover that you've got an innate talent to paint,
because obviously this is something that you were born with,
that you've got a beautiful gift. You really are lucky.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
Well, actually this is kind of gonna be a little
bit of a strange story, but I'm adopted. I was
adopted at thirteen years old. Who was eighteen years old.
I met my birth mother. But when I was a
young child, I remember people telling me that your mother,
who I hadn't met, was an artist, and I just

(09:11):
wanted to be so connected with her, even though I
didn't know her, And I just felt like you know, well,
you know, if she was an artist, then I must
be an artist. So I've always been drawn to be creative.
I think it must have been truly in my DNA,
but I really I would draw on all my paper.
I would draw on everything and get in trouble in

(09:31):
school because all I ever wanted to do was be
an artist ever since I was young. And then of
course when I was older and I was adopted at thirteen,
my mama, who is the one that I take care
of now, she seen that in me, and so she
just encouraged me in the arts and being creative. She

(09:53):
owned a woodcraft store, so I used to draw all
of the patterns outs of her when I was a teenager.
That was kind of a and extra money just drawing
patterns from off. So in the first through thirteenth year,
or you know, your first few were you?

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Where were you?

Speaker 4 (10:13):
And we lived in a little town called Macintosh, Florida,
which is just south of Gainesville. We lived in a
place called Sportsman's Cove right on the lake and probably
where my uh I remember really just loving being out
on the water and my love for the swamps and

(10:35):
the rivers. I used to take my mom's boat out
across Orange Lake into an area called Cross Creek over
Lake Walkloosa, and I would spend the whole day Saturday
making this whole trip. And I just recently found out
because my sister and I went out fishing and she
told me, you know, you wasn't supposed to leave Orange Lake,

(10:57):
don't you. We never were allowed to leave Orange Lake.
I'm like, oh oos, because I was in three lakes
and two rivers and on a creek. So I don't
remember that part that I wasn't supposed to leave. I
must have not heard that part.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Now, in a lot of times in elementary school, they
used to set up easels and two or three lucky
kids in the class will get to paint. Were you
paint in landscape or scenery or anything like that, or
did you have that option or not.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
You know what's funny is that I don't remember any
of my teachers except for my art teacher.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay actually, and.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
So my favorite memory in art was every year they
had a cinder block wall, and every year you got
to paint a cinder block and that could stay up
all year long, and then at the end of the
year they would whitewash it again, and the next year
everybody got to pick a new block. You paint something else.
So I was always looking forward to painting my block

(11:51):
and that was kind of my favorite little thing.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
But yeah, that's a good idea. Really, you were born
to paint, Yes, born to paint.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Definitely got to do a story, and we got to
call a born Marianne.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Okay, we're gonna take a short break. Everybody. We have
with us, Susan Harris from Jetson's, and I apologize. I
think I don't think I really formally introduce you today, Susan,
So when we get back, we'll do that. But mary
Anne Clawson uh lives north central North Florida. Uh, We're

(12:23):
gonna take a break. When we get back, we're gonna
continue talking about the high Women and the entire story,
but we're gonna go backwards a little bit and we'll
see where Marianne fits. Because to me, your sunshine, you,
to me, it's another star in my horizon and that's
I'm honored in the pleasure to have you, uh in

(12:44):
my life, Marianne since soly so we'll be right back, everybody.
This is this is who today. I don't even know
who are we today, So let's let's just say we're
the High Women's story today. Okay, well, that's a beautiful story.
We'll get to all that in the next few moments.

(13:04):
We'll be right back everybody.

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Speaker 2 (14:10):
Hey, did you hear the latest about our Florida High Woman? No? What,
there's a new High Woman art gallery and Vero Beach.
Really where eighteen seventy two Commerce Avenue?

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (14:20):
When's it open? Seven days a week? Called nine five
four five five seven six two two six for an
appointment any time, No kidding, Just call for your appointment
nine five four five five seven six two two six
and then go to eighteen seventy two Commerce Avenue.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Wow, that's good news.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
A member of the Itex trading community, Your I text
dollars are welcome.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
And welcome back to Arbiter and Source radio show with
Ralph Nathan Elco.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Today it's the High Woman. Yes it is. And to
formally introduce everybody, all the players in today's show, the
cast so to speak, of course, might produce our producer,
Cindy Schwartz. Cindy and I have been together going on
fourteen years and still going. We're still talk aware for

(15:09):
each other. Yeah, we're having a good time. So Cindy,
thank you for the honor and privilege of my working
with me. Or should I say, playing with me here
to me, if you're enjoying something, you're not working. And
to my right, I'm looking at one of my dearest
dearest friends, Susan Harris. Susan, I'm beholden for you as
long as I live. You're one of my dearest dearest friends.

(15:31):
And even though I'm a lot older than you are,
you really have been a mentor to me. You've guided me.
And whatever success I've reached, a lot of it, I
yield to you and thank you for Oh no, sincerely you.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Your friendship is a wonderful thing, Mary, and you know
that I saw your friends that came down when you
first visited Ralph's gallery. Cindy, I've heard you talk about friends, Ralph.
Your life is full of friends, and it makes life
so much better, doesn't it. Everybody we know that well, friendships.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Remember the cliche you could pick your You could pick
your friends, but not your family. So in a way,
I'm kind of closer to both a lot of my
friends and that that don't mean that in a derogatory way.
It's just I'm local, so my friends are local, of course.
But in all fairness, Cindy, Cindy, you're Cindy, your Susan. Susan,

(16:26):
we have to talk about Jetson's because when we talk Highwomen,
it's synonymous with Jetson's. So where do you fit it all?

Speaker 5 (16:35):
Well, he I know.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Ralph wants me to tell you about the show. It's
always on the last Saturday in January, January thirty first
and twenty twenty six, and it's from eleven to three
and it's it's really more than four hours. People start
setting up and then the early birds who are High
Women crazy start showing up. They want to get first
DIBs on getting paintings the artists that they're setting up.

(16:58):
Some artists will even paint there, and usually all black.
The man you trained for, Oh my gosh, Marianne, if
you ever saw him come into the show, you think
he was moving there.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
He was moving in, but we moved on. It was empty.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, he come in with forty paintings and if he
went out with one, it would be amazing.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
And the show is if we're forty one.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
South US Highway one Fort Pierce, just between Edwards Road
head south and then north of Midway, about.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
A little over a mile north of Midway, on the
west side of the street and you can't miss it.
You're going to see the jumongous as my grand one
of my granddaughters. It's the most humongous flag you'll see
American flag, of course. So uh. And Jetson does what
I got it, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Appliance electronics, which includes you know, setting up the theater room,
doing some of your wiring for all the things you have,
all of the different technology that's out there today. We
do have our TV still and we also have mattresses.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Mattresses. Honestly, all of you the showrooms are beautiful.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
And one of the things I do like. And by
the way, all this is unsolicited, just so you know,
it's just this what you call friendship. Yes, when you
go to Jetson's, nobody's breathing down your neck, down your back, pushing, pushing, pushing.
They're there. They ask you if that can help you.
They can show you, but if you kind of just
walk around, they kind of just give you space. And

(18:27):
I like that. That's good.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
So glad they're doing it. The one you know, we
have a store in Stewart. You can see highwaymen paintings there.
It's right there on Federal Highway or US one just
south of Monterey. Go in there. It's worth a look.
In the Port Saint Lucie East store, also along US
one or Federal Highway, it is there we have some
highwaymen paintings. And then in our main store, which in

(18:52):
our office which is in Fort Pierce, we have a
service department and our main's main office part that has
highwaymen painting is in it too. If you'd like to
see you know, you can call me anytime, not two
o'clock in the morning, but do you call and happy
to you know, have a tour made possible for you.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Don't forget to mention Susan Harris's name when you walk in,
because she is part of management and they like to
hear that. Yes, okay, so now I'll stay with us
all the way up in Hawthorne, Florida. Said everybody figure
out where Hawthorne, Florida is near mckinopie, right, Marianne, not far.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
From mcinope, Yes, same county.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
About how many miles do you think?

Speaker 4 (19:37):
Maybe about fifteen?

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Mikoke, I'm sorry, Hawthorne is north of mckinope right east.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, okay, because Mcinopie is where there's quite a few
antique shops and used to be some Highwayman galleries. So
quite a few people make that jaunt.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Beautiful street there, the trees covered those streets. It is, Yeah,
it's a beautiful. It's like going backwards a little bit
in time. So Marianne, let's go backwards. So you do
agree with what Susan and I that you were born
with this talent. And as soon as you called and

(20:18):
we met, I think that we all, all of us
have this mutual love for the Florida landscape, the Florida
high women type of art. And so how did you
get how did you get involved falling in love with
the high women movement as far as landscape and related subjects.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
So, like I said, when I first opened my studio
up in mail Rose, I had several people say that
my work was similar to the Highwaymen. And then one
day another fellow artist called me and said, Hey, a
friend of his, which was Al Black, is going to
be down in Okella and we're going to go out
to lunch. Would you like to go have lunch with him?

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (21:02):
I said absolutely, And so I went down to Okella
and I met Al and his woman as he called
her Desiree, and we had a lovely lunch and over
lunch we just clicked and I shared with him some
of my paintings and he says, you did this, and

(21:23):
I said, yeah, I did, and he said, wow, those
are good, and it's going to have an opportunity to
come and paint with him. So I jumped on that,
and so we got to paint together. And I'm going
to say meeting al Black was truly though, a turning

(21:43):
point in my paintings.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
What year was that?

Speaker 3 (21:46):
What year?

Speaker 4 (21:48):
I don't remember the year. It's been probably about maybe
two or three years ago and shortly after I moved
here and I've been here going on four years.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
How big a town is Hawthorne by.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
The way, Hawthorn is you blink and you've missed it?

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Does it have a dairy Queen?

Speaker 4 (22:05):
No, no dairy queen? Sorry, Sunny Barbecue which is now
Diane which is Sunny Barbecue? Sonny?

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Is it really a sunny daughter? And it's called Dianebecue.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Wow, that's interesting. I didn't know that either.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
That's what we have.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
And how many traffic lights are downtown?

Speaker 4 (22:31):
One?

Speaker 2 (22:32):
I had my one thing, my index finger up just
see you in the studio, so I wanted to progress
for a minute. How far back in your art experience?
When did you learn of the what we now call
Florida High Women.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
It's only been maybe about four years ago really, And
then when I started, like I said, I've painted with
I've had other people teach me things before, like you know,
I've I've had several ladies who took me under their
wing and they taught me. It taught me different things,
and I never could truly understand what they were saying.

(23:11):
It was just like we didn't. I didn't connect with them.
But as soon as I saw al, as soon as
he opened his mouth and I saw what he was doing,
something inside of me just clicked and it changed. I understood.
I understood depths, I understood perception, I understood tones, I
understood it all. It was just like it just like
a book. It just opened up. It made sense. I

(23:32):
got it well.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
L Black was a very very unusual man. He could
make literally he could make somebody feel like he is
their best friend within a few minutes.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
True, that's true.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
Salesman artist mentor, that was his life. He started as
a salesman artist and then finished as a mentor, still
painting a mentor.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
And right bless his saw live. We lost him. I
think it was May twelfth of this year. Todd, my
dearest friend H. Todd and I are very very U
kind of missed the guy. So we're going to take
a halftime break. Everybody kind of you know what you
can do in about one and a half minutes, go

(24:15):
do it. Come back, and when we get back, we're
going to continue talking and what we're going to discuss
with Susan, Marianne and Cindy and I, we're going to
discuss kind of the different categories within the entire movement
as we know of the High Women. It is absolutely
one of the most beautiful stories in my life. We'll
be right back. This is the What Show, What Show,

(24:40):
our veterans voice for Radio, the High Woman Legacy. Will
be right back