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Is It Tacky Or Is It Art?

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By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 25, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Rosemarie and Tim Byrd exited the Florida Memorabilia and Highwaymen Show carrying a purchase they couldn't stop chuckling about - a 4-foot-high wire sculpture pink flamingo destined for a spot amid ferns beneath a live oak in their Safety Harbor yard.

"The neighbors are either going to love it or hate it," Tim Byrd said. "We'll put some pink Christmas lights on it."

His wife said they had to name it, and her suggestion of Marilyn won out. Their find was representative of the uniquely Florida kitsch available Saturday at Sunken Gardens. The show, held indoors and next to the botanical gardens, continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

The Highwaymen art movement started in Fort Pierce in 1955 with artists painting landscapes of the Indian River and Atlantic Ocean. Some were sold along highways, but they weren't known as the Highwaymen until writer-historian Jim Fitch coined the term in 1994. The 26 black artists were inducted into the Florida Art Hall of Fame in 2004.

"I enjoyed seeing things that reminded me of my mother and grandmother," Rosemarie Byrd said. "The pottery, scarves and barkcloth were special."

Her husband added, "I liked all the tacky souvenirs."

About 1,500 attended to sample the art, clothing and alligator ashtrays offered by 31 vendors.

Dennis Adams of Masaryktown had a wooden carved hula girl at one end of his display, and postcard-sized acrylic paintings on cut plywood by W.C. Addison at the other end.

"This painting is my favorite item," Adams said. "It was done by Addison, who used to paint on the pier here in St. Pete and sell his work to tourists. Then he followed the tourists up north in summers to do the same there.

"Look at the detail in his work. Can you imagine how small the brush he used must have been? The seagulls and palms really stand out."

So did the hula girl statue carved by Bruce Montecalvo, whose mother once lived near Adams. The wooden blonde with pink lipstick and toenail polish wears a one-piece aqua swimsuit and skirt.

While some were searching for an oddball item destined to be a conversation starter, others were serious collectors of Hawaiian shirts, barkcloth and Highwaymen paintings.

Gary Moss of Williston lectured on "The Culture of Aloha Shirts" with a slide show.

"They were selling them for 99 cents when they made them in Hawaii years ago," Moss said. Now the shirts made between 1935 and 1953 often bring hundreds or thousands of dollars in a market driven by Japanese investors.

Willie Sands of St. Petersburg looked at the paintings of R.L. Lewis of Cocoa, one of five Highwaymen artists selling works in the lobby, and said, "I grew up in Indian River County, where many of these were painted. And these take me right back there. It's like I'm back there picking fruit."

MEMORABILIA AND HIGHWAYMEN SHOW

WHAT: Exhibition and sale of vintage souvenirs and memorabilia, tropical decor, Hawaiian shirts, barkcloth fabrics and works by Highwaymen artists. Lectures, films and free appraisals of vintage Florida art offered.

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today

WHERE: Sunken Gardens Botanical Park (indoors), 1825 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg

ADMISSION: $6, $3 for children younger than 2.

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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