ORLANDO, Fla. – During Black History Month, we’ve told you all about the Florida Highwaymen and how they got their start in the 1950s, selling paintings of Florida landscapes along the highways.
Among the group of 26 Black artists included one woman, Mary Ann Carroll.
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According to the Orange County Regional History Center, she was born in 1940 in Georgia. She was a child of sharecroppers who moved to Fort Pierce.
She joined the Florida Highwaymen, who learned from A.E. Backus. He taught the artists how to paint landscapes and turn them out quickly. The artists mentored each other. For Carroll, her mentor was Harold Newton.
“Carroll’s artistic journey began at 18 in Fort Pierce when she encountered Highwaymen artist Harold Newton, whose flame-painted car caught her eye. Captivated by his painting of a Poinciana tree, she developed a deep interest in the medium,” said Flynn Dobbs, city of Orlando public art coordinator.
Carroll used painting as a way for her to make money from home while raising seven children.
“Carroll’s artistic style can be described as ‘survivalist,’ with a dynamic approach to brushwork and palette knife techniques that varied across her work but retained a strong foundation of consistency. Known as a colorist, her vivid and bold palette drew inspiration from the sun, water, trees, and shadows, capturing the essence of her surroundings in every stroke,” Dobbs said.
The group was excluded from traditional art galleries and that is why they traveled around the state. They sold their paintings on the side of highways to travelers and also visited small businesses. Carroll said she traveled around the state by herself, during segregation.
“With unwavering determination and faith, she painted at night and sold her vibrant landscapes by day, often traveling Florida’s highways while her children attended school. Carroll confronted adversity head-on, breaking barriers of race and gender to blaze a trail where none had existed before,” Dobbs said.
It took several decades for the artists to grow in popularity. In 2004, they were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
In 2011, Carroll was an honored guest at the annual First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington, D.C. She even presented one of her paintings titled “Royal Poinciana” to former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Carroll’s art has been shown on three continents, she lectured at Howard University, and traveled as a guest of the American Embassy and U.S. State Department.
She died in 2019 at the age of 79.
The City of Orlando will feature Carroll’s paintings in what they’re calling the first solo show dedicated to her work. It will be inside City Hall’s Terrace Gallery.
“Mary Ann Carroll: Queen of the Highway” is co-curated by Dobbs, and independent curators Mark J. Lerner, Tony Hayton, and John Biederwolf.
There will be a public reception for the exhibit on April 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. If you can’t make it to the event, the exhibit will be at City Hall until June 22.
