What should we call a female artist recognized as one of the 26 Highwaymen? A Highway Woman? A Highway Person? Strange as it may sound, let's just refer to her as a Female Highwayman. Her name is Mary Ann Carroll. She is 73 and for 65 years has lived in Fort Pierce, home base for the African American painters famous for their vivid Florida landscapes usually rendered in oil on Upson board and framed with crown molding. They often sold their paintings from their cars parked on the side of a highway. In the 1950s their work sold for $10 to $15. People loved the stately palms, shimmering lagoons and bright sunsets. Today a Highwayman painting may fetch tens of thousands of dollars. Starting when she was a young newcomer to Fort Pierce, Mary Ann Carroll learned her craft from Highwayman Harold Newton, who died in 1994. In January, a marker about Newton and Carroll will be dedicated at the Moore's Creek Linear Park as a stop on the Highwaymen Heritage Trail. For more about the trail and a female Highwayman, go to thehighwaymentrail.com. For 88.9 FM, this is Paul Janensch.
A female Highwayman
