— By Diana Moskovitz

GAINESVILLE SUN July 23, 2002 -- Julia D'Amico had never even heard of the Highwaymen until 1997, when her mother mailed to her in New York an article about the self-taught artists in Florida Living magazine.

Yet D'Amico, a filmmaker who grew up in Gainesville, finds herself an unexpected expert on the subject.

A documentary she filmed about the now-famous black painters airs Thursday on WMFE, Orlando's PBS affiliate. And it will be shown Saturday at the Appleton Museum in Ocala.

The Highwaymen traveled Florida's east coast during the 1950s and '60s, selling quickly produced landscape oil paintings along Florida's highways.

The paintings sold for as little as $10, as much as $35. Today, this same artwork sells for up to $10,000 and it hangs in museums across the state.

"You learn a tremendous amount from doing this," D'Amico said of the documentary. "You also hopefully become much better as a professional in the making."

Shared backgrounds
When the idea for a documentary on the Highwaymen first came to D'Amico, she recalls being enticed by the fact that the Highwaymen tale was a Florida story.

"It was about the people from the place I am from," she said.

D'Amico grew up in Gainesville, graduating from Gainesville High before attending the University of Chicago, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees.

Sharing a home state also helped as she got to know the painters.

"Having it be someone who really knew Florida and had roots in Florida was really a high note for me," said Highwaymen painter Robert Butler, one of five artists appearing in the film.

The way the Highwaymen forged their careers without training and little money, hastily painting hundreds of paintings a year to support themselves, also attracted D'Amico.

Their story reminded D'Amico of her own start as a documentary filmmaker.

"As I kind of started my own career as a documentary filmmaker, I could appreciate how hard it is to start out as an artist," she said.

Because D'Amico is an artist, albeit making documentaries instead of paintings, Butler said she related to the painters and that helped them open up when they talked with her.

"It's almost like one artist looking at another," he said.

Difficult beginning
D'Amico did not begin introducing herself to the artists until a year after reading the Florida Living article in '97.

The first reactions to her idea for the documentary were not encouraging. One art collector said, "Oh, people aren't going to talk to you," she recalled.

"Yes, some folks just didn't respond or I couldn't track them down," D'Amico said. "But among the five folks I found, it really shows the rapport I had with the artists."

Enrolled in film school and working full time, the Highwaymen project was D'Amico's first film, so securing funding became her first battle.

"There are a lot of people wanting to make films, so wanting to make a film wasn't going to be enough to get some funding," she said.

The first time D'Amico shot, she had no money for a camera. D'Amico knew of a place in New York where she could buy a camera and return it within 10 days. Although she never used the footage, the experience was a start.

"I just did it. I did whatever I needed to do to get it done," she said. "I became very creative about how to get stuff done."

During her first trip to Florida, she met with the artists and talked without videotaping to start building relationships. Then she returned and set up times to speak and record.

"I get a kick telling people where we came from," said Highwaymen artist James Gibson, who still paints every day.

While some of D'Amico's interviews were done face to face in privacy, she conducted other interviews during art shows or while the artists worked.

"George Buckner was painting while I was talking to him, and that was nice because in the documentary you get to see him working," she said.

Getting out word
Although D'Amico began with a schedule for how the project would proceed, she soon abandoned the plan and spent a year and a half traveling between Florida and New York.

Two other people helped her film in Florida.

"I would go down on weekends, holidays and as much as I possibly could, just pushing at it and going back," she said.

When filming ended, 10 months of editing with a professional editor followed. The final project was completed late last year.

She began by showing her documentary at film festivals, including the Palm Beach International Film Festival and the New Haven International Film Festival in Connecticut.

The picture won the Silver Award last year at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival.

She then called PBS stations, including WMFE in Orlando.

Carol Wonsavage, WMFE director of broadcasting and communication, was interested in the piece, but suggested D'Amico add an introduction to make the piece more accessible for PBS audiences.

The film now has the added introduction, the only narration.

Newfound fame
The success of the film grew along with the popularity of Highwaymen art. Two books have been written about the art.

Last year, a story about the Highwaymen was on the front of The New York Times art section.

"One of my paintings sold at $1,500. It's really, really like a dream," artist Hezekiah Baker said. "This is what I made my work, and people love it, and I want to give them what they love. That's the beautiful part about it, of being accepted by the public."

Fame was not the goal for the group of friends who found selling paintings an alternative to low-wage jobs. They were all men except for one, Mary Ann Carroll.

Because they were black, the artists knew their art would not be allowed in galleries, unlike the work of A.E. Backus and other other popular white artists of the time.

Instead, they traveled U.S. 1 and A1A, selling their paintings out of their cars to owners of small shops and professional offices whose empty walls were in need of affordable decorating.

They soon noticed landscapes were the most popular paintings and concentrated on them. The artists painted on Upson boards, the predecessor to dry wall, and made frames with crown moldings to keep costs low.

With paintings stacked on top of each other to be transported in cars, the shadow of one painting may be found on the back of another.

"I was painting to make a living and support myself. I had no clue I would do what I did," Gibson said. "I just keep on going now to find out what is next."

The art began growing in popularity in the 1990s, as books about the Highwaymen grew in number.

In 1994, Jim Fitch, founder of the Florida Museum of Art and Culture at South Florida Community College in Avon Park, gave the group the name "Highwaymen." The mass- produced artwork suddenly was in demand.

"They say artists only become famous when they are dead," Baker said. "Now, things have changed."

Lessons learned
D'Amico and the artists particularly savor the interviews with George Buckner, a Highwaymen artist who died after the filming was completed.

"Seeing George in the film like that, that was a really great thing," Gibson said.

D'Amico and the painters still keep in touch and remain friends. Gibson said he called D'Amico in New York after Sept. 11 to make sure she was alright.

"It was an extreme honor to make the documentary," she said. "Everyone was very inspiring."

D'Amico now is working on a project about a first violinist with the Buffalo Phil Harmonic, who created her own chamber orchestra just so she could be a conductor. She has received a small grant to help, calling it "a start."

But first her documentary is returning to where it first screened - Ocala. D'Amico still recalls how thrilled she was last year when the first screening was in Florida to a packed audience.

"To watch people watch the documentary and laugh and clap at the end was such a phenomenon," she said. "After the experience, I thought this is a phenomenon I am going to enjoy for the rest of my whole life."

The video
What: "The Highwaymen," a video documentary by former longtime Gainesville resident Julia D'Amico

When and where: at 2 p.m. July 28 at the Appleton Museum in Ocala; and 10 p.m. July 25 on WMFE, PBS Channel 24 in Orlando. Also, a copy of the video will soon be available for check-out at the downtown public library.

Admission: At the Appleton, seeing the video is free to museum members; for others it is included in general admission.

The Highwaymen, an exhibit
What: An exhibition of Florida's now-famous roadside artists, gathered from private and public collections. A portion of the exhibit was organized by Jean Tyson of Tyson Trading Co. in Micanopy.

When: Through Sept. 1

Where: The Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 NE Silver Springs Blvd. in Ocala, about seven miles east of I-75 (Exit 69).

About the Highwaymen
The Highwaymen is the name given to a loose association of 26 African-American artists, living and working near Fort Pierce. The movement got its start in the mid-1950s, involving a quick, commercial style of landscape painting that captures Florida seascapes, savannahs, backcountry and sunsets. The artists marketed their wares directly, selling their paintings right from the back of their cars at the side of the road.

Who are they?
Following are the 26 artists known as the Highwaymen:

Curtis Arnett, Hezekiah Baker, Al Black, Ellis Buckner, George Buckner, Robert Butler, Mary Ann Carroll, Johnny Daniels, Willie Daniels, Rodney Demps, James Gibson, Alfred Hair, Isaac Knight, Robert Lewis, John Maynor, Roy McLendon, Alfonso Moran, Harold Newton, Lemuel Newton, Sam Newton, Willie Reagan, Livingston Roberts, Cornell Smith, Charles Walker, Sylvester Wells and Charles Wheeler.

FYI: Win your own painting
You can enter a drawing to win the painting at right by Highwaymen artist Sam Newton. To enter, visit the Appleton Museum in Ocala. Tickets for the drawing are $5 each, with proceeds benefiting the Appleton Museum of Art Education program. Newton's painting was donated to the Appleton by Jean Tyson of Tyson Trading Co. in Micanopy.

The Facts
What: The Highwaymen: African-American, Self-Taught Landscape Artists in Florida

Where: WMFE PBS Orlando and the Appleton Museum in Ocala

When: 10 p.m. Thursday in Orlando and 2 p.m. in Ocala

Length: 46 minutes

Ocala Admission: free to museum members and included in museum general admission

SOURCE: GainsvilleSun