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University of South Florida Scholar Commons FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities Florida Humanities 9-1-2010 Forum : Vol. 34, No. 03 (Fall : 2010) Florida Humanities Council. Johnny Bullard Jennine Capo Crucet Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/forum_magazine Recommended Citation Florida Humanities Council.; Bullard, Johnny; and Crucet, Jennine Capo, "Forum : Vol. 34, No. 03 (Fall : 2010)" (2010). FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities. 51. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/forum_magazine/51 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Florida Humanities at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FORUM : the Magazine of the Florida Humanities by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MAGAZINE OF THE FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL The Art and Soul of Florida FROM THE DIRECTOR 2010 Board of Directors letter Rachel Blechman,Chair Miami B. Lester Abberger Tallahassee Carol J. Alexander Jacksonville WITH FLORIDA PIONEERS Julia Tuttle and Henry Meredith Morris Babb Ormond Beach Flagler intertwined among a primordial tangle of mangrove roots, the cover of this issue of FORUM reminds us that John Belohlavek, Vice-Chair Tampa barely a century ago Miami’s Biscayne Bay, now lined with Frank Billingsley Orlando sleek steel skyscrapers and luxury hotels, was a mangrove William Carlson Tampa forest. In a series of paintings of mangroves—a tree that David Colburn Gainesville thrives in the brackish places between land and sea—Miami Juan Carlos Espinosa Miami artist Xavier Cortada provides us with a potent metaphor for Jeanne Godwin Miami Florida’s resilience and adaptability. Norma Goonen Davie Jay Hess Miami While here at FHC we spend a lot of time distinguishing the humanities from the arts, in this issue of FORUM we explore Mary Anne Hodel Orlando their dual nature. The images in these pages offer us the William Jeter Georgetown opportunity to examine art from a humanities perspective. Deborah Pointer Kynes Dunedin What do these works of art tell us about the history and Caren Lobo Sarasota culture of our state? What was the personal vision of the Andrew McLeod Tallahassee artist? How do these creations add texture and nuance to our Darryl Paulson Palm Harbor understanding of history? Steve Seibert Tallahassee Jeffrey Sharkey Tallahassee I can’t look at the tropical landscape paintings of Florida’s Highwaymen without thinking about how these young, Brenda Simmons Jacksonville entrepreneurial African American painters, selling their Margo Stringfield Pensacola still-wet paintings from the trunks of their cars, created iconic Treasurer Fort Pierce Jon Ward, images of Florida as a mythical paradise. In the 1950s and FHC Staff ’60s, newly transplanted Floridians bought these paintings by the thousands, eager to bring a piece of paradise into their Janine Farver Executive Director new homes. Nowhere does the postwar Florida dream express Barbara Bahr Technology Manager itself so vividly as in these idyllic landscapes painted on Laurie Berlin Director of Administration gypsum board salvaged from home construction sites. Carly Guidry Development Director Vicki Hyatt Program Coordinator, Teachers Center The A“ rt and Soul” of Florida is awaiting you in the pages to Karen Jackson Program & Fiscal Assistant come. I know you will come away from this issue with not Nancy Kiper Technology Assistant only a deeper appreciation for Florida’s artistic treasures but also an expanded vision of our state’s character and culture, Lisa Lennox Website Administrator and the creativity it inspires in our artists. Brenda O’Hara Fiscal Officer Barbara O’Reilley Communications Director & Editor/FORUM Patricia Putman Associate Director Ann Schoenacher Director, Teachers Center Diane Wakeman Program Coordinator, Teachers Center FHC FORUM / Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, Fall 2010 © 2010 FHC The magazine of the Florida Humanities Council 599 Second Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701-5005 (727) 873-2000 Website: www.flahum.org The Florida Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the State of Florida, and private contributors. FHC FORUM is published three times a year and distributed to the friends of the Florida Humanities Council and interested Floridians. If you wish to be added to the mailing list, please request so in writing or via the FHC website. Views expressed by contributors to the FORUM are not necessarily those of the Florida Humanities Council. Cover: Artist Xavier Cortada’s painting, which depicts the incorporation of the City of Miami in 1896, can be seen as a metaphor for Florida itself. Intertwining mangrove roots connect people from different racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds in a The Florida Humanities Council would like to acknowledge the support of community. The rumpled, white document shown in the center of the painting is held by The National Endowment for the Humanities, The State of Florida, one of Henry Flagler’s railroad workers who voted to create the city. Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council (See more details on page 12.) on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts table of contents 2 Once Upon a Time… 2 See a story of Florida you’ve never heard: Take a visual journey through 13,000 years of Florida’s existence—as told through art. 4 Florida’s Earliest People Paleoindians, the first residents, hunted enormous Ice Age animals—and may have left behind one of the first works of art in the Americas. 4 6 6 The Europeans Arrive Enter the Spanish conquistadors and colonists—and their influential culture. 8 The Wild Frontier Cowboys, Indians, escaped slaves, settlers, soldiers, and many others jostled for position and territory. 8 12 Growing Communities With the 20th century came railroads and highways that opened up the state to settlement and attracted industries and people from many cultures. 18 Humanities Alive! News and events of the Florida Humanities Council 12 20 WWII Ignites Modern Florida The war jumpstarted a population explosion that reshaped the state’s character, image, and outlook. 24 Searching for Florida’s Future Art reflects the anxieties and tumult of our times. 20 30 My Favorite Florida Place White Springs once gushed with “healing” waters and drew a community together. By Johnny Bullard 32 Bridging Cultures When Florida Cubans met Florida cowboys, it was High Noon. By Jennine Capó Crucet 24 30 32 Our chief curator for this issue of FORUM is Mallory O’Connor, Professor of Art History Emerita at Santa Fe College, Gainesville. A longtime teacher, lecturer, and writer about Florida art, O’Connor is author of Lost Cities of the Ancient Southeast and coauthor with Gary Monroe of Florida’s American Heritage River: Images from the St. Johns Region. Connect to more about Florida art and artists in FORUM EXTRA! at www.flahum.org FLAHUM.ORG FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL FORUM 1 ONCE UPON A TIME… age through our gallerY OF Florida art—and see a story you’ve never heard. In this issue of FORUM, we offer you a visual journey through some 13,000 years of Florida’s existence. You’ll see evidence of the first known people, the cultural sea change brought about by Europeans, the rough Pfrontier years, and the entry into modern times. Art will do most of the talking. Much of it is beautiful; all of it was selected to intrigue and provoke you to envision a culture unfolding. Our gallery of about 50 images will not tell any definitive story, however, since each image reflects the personal insights and imagination of an individual artist. “Works of art invite us into the intimate world of one person,” says Mallory O’Connor, respected Florida art historian and chief curator of this project. “Art provides us with ‘visual homilies,’ little sermons about daily survival, social interaction, and the look and feel of our landscape. Each artist, each image, has a story to tell, a gift to share.” But perhaps when taken as a whole, the artworks will help piece together a portrait that is truer than mere words can express. “Art can play a special role by showing us who and what we are, by preserving the past, enriching the present, and imagining the future,” O’Connor says. “We would do well to listen to what we are seeing.” —BARBARA O’REILLEY, FORUM editor. 2 FORUM FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL ONCE UPON A TIME… Christopher M. Still. The Passing of One Day, 1997. Oil on canvas, 36 in x 90 in. Collection of Richard and Katherine Park, www.ChristopherStill.com. WHEN FLORIDA WAS WILD Imagine a lush, untamed place where primitive people coexisted with nature. RESPECTED WARRIOR An elderly Ais warrior in the Wolf Clan is depicted wearing a headdress that symbolizes his wisdom and alertness. Theodore Morris. Red Wolf (Ais), n.d. Oil on canvas, 20 in x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist, www.FloridaLostTribes.com FLAHUM.ORG FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL FORUM 3 FLORIDA’S EARLIEST PEOPLE lorida’S first residents, the Paleoindians, arrived about 13,000 years ago after making their way across the North American continent. They hunted the enormous Ice Age animals—including Fmastodons, mammoths, black bears, and giant sloths—using nothing more than stone-tipped spears. Human settlement in Florida was sporadic until the warming of the ocean and a rise of sea levels produced a more hospitable environment between 8000 and 5000 BC. Most of the early people—even those who built impressive mounds and semi-permanent structures—were hunters and gatherers. A few began to practice agriculture. By the first century BC, the Tequesta, an eastern variant of the Glades Indian culture, became established in the south Florida area that would one day become Miami. Other early Floridians—the ancestors of the Timucua, the Apalachee, and the Calusa—settled on the coast and along the inland waterways throughout the state.