Channel 10 WTSP News Feature
Interview with World Renowned artist Robert Butler

Date: February 5, 2007
Time: 5:00pm
 

Date: February 6,2007
Time: 12noon

October 21 - December 1, 2006

Art history first, Robert Butler 38th Anniversary Showing
Featuring art by the entire Butler Family

On display for the first time- Painting, Sculptures and textile creations that represent an extraordinary display of the artistic skills  inherited by all eleven butlers....make that ten, the jury is still out on mom!

Opens at

SFCC MOFAC

South Florida Community College Museum
Of Florida Art And Culture

600 West College Drive
Avon Park, FL 33825

www.mofac.org

ROBERT BUTLER: Artist Comments

This painting of the Old Capitol has a special meaning that transcends the eloquent beauty it clearly emanates: this is a place that represents the will of a people to honor the highest ideals born of humanity - a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

As an African American, this place evokes a memory of those famous words spoken long ago by President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address regarding the honorable deeds o principled men: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did her. “ It was the deeds of principled men that guaranteed my place at an easel on the lawn of the Florida state capitol, documenting a beautiful icon of our heritage.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

20 x 30  Lithograph on paper

20 x 30 Giclee` ON CANVAS

30 x 40 Giclee` ON CANVAS

62 x 48 Giclee` ON CANVAS

Please Email for Details...

 
 lee@highwaymenartist.com.

Giclee` Available

Promoting Natural Florida Through the Arts is an environmental arts project created in partnership between Audubon of Florida, the Highwaymen Artists, and the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC). These organizations in collaboration with other partners have developed a year-long series of activities comprised of a nature art exhibition, artist workshops, community forums, nature walks, wildlife observation, canoeing and riverboat tours which enable participants to gain an understanding of the role of art in education, threats to Florida's nature and natural lands and outreach to the local community about the beauty of the North Fork of the New River. The project's goal is to heighten the community's appreciation and knowledge of Florida's growth issues and its impact on natural areas-particularly the Everglades ecosystem and to highlight the North Fork of the New River as a community resource.

The New River is an old river in an urban setting. It runs through downtown Ft Lauderdale. Where the river splits to become the North Fork begins the area locally known as Northwest Fort Lauderdale or the Sistrunk Corridor, a historically African-American community. The North Fork is the only remaining section of the New River left in its natural state. It meanders three and a half miles through an urban setting surrounded by many of the oldest African American communities in Broward County. Much of its natural beauty is retained in the shoreline. It is a snapshot of "Old Florida," with endangered pond apple and cypress trees festooned with flowering bromeliads and home to many native birds and fauna.

The Sweeting Estate
The early years of the North Fork of the New River were of admiration. During the early 1990's the Northwest portion of the river, also known as "Colored Town", was a place where food gathering, spiritual rejuvenation, transportation, and recreation was part of the daily life of the residents of the river. Many of these sites are now historical landmarks. One such landmark is the estate of Black philanthropist, Harry Gladstone Sweeting, also known as the Garden of Allah. Purchased in 1941, his nine acres of waterfront wilderness, tucked away at Northwest Fourth Street and Twenty-First Terrace, was known for its luxuriant plant life and jewel-toned peacocks. Notorious for his generosity, Sweeting was one of the first contributors to the Sistrunk Historical Festival. A world-traveler and self-styled "healer," Sweeting believed that his property was beneficial to spiritual rejuvenation. Baptisms, picnics, healings, and fortune telling were among the many events held on the property. All that remains now is a building where he stored his art collections and an altar site where he invited the community to Easter sunrise services and Christmas feasts.

For more information, please contact Mr. Lee Drake of Highwaymen Artist, LLC at (772) 577-2840.