FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Their visions of Florida's beauty colored hundreds of canvases, but decades ago the color of their skin prevented them from greater fame and fortune.
Now, the art of the famed Highwaymen is sought after around the globe, and there's a move to give them a permanent home.
R.A. McLendon was busy recently painting a river scene. Seated at a chair at an event in Wellington, McLendon started painting in the mid-1950s, graduating from drawings on the ground as a child.
He fell in with a group of African American painters from the Treasure Coast, who would become known as the Highwaymen.
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It was not an easy life.
"[I would] work all day long, and wouldn't sell a painting," McLendon recalls.
Shut out from traditional galleries, the artists would sell their work along the side of the road, and wherever they could find clients.
"We'd sell them at the doctor's office, the lawyer's office, anywhere we could sell a painting," McLendon said.
Collectors today have discovered the vibrant works created by these talented artists.
But while many of the original Highwaymen are now gone, there's a movement to make sure they're not forgotten.
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Doretha Hair Truesdell was married to Alfred Hair, another one of the original Highwaymen.
She recently walked through an empty upstairs room inside a building on Fort Pierce's Avenue D.
"Can you imagine this?" Truesdell asked. "All of this beautiful Highwayman art is going to be displayed. This is going to be its home."
Her hope is to have a new museum dedicated to the Highwaymen open this year.
Besides the art, the plan is to show interviews of several Highwaymen, as part of a documentary shot a few years ago in Fort Pierce.
While original canvases can run into the hundreds and thousands of dollars, you can apply to get your own piece of Highwayman art for your car, for a lot less.
Lawmakers passed a bill a few years ago to allow for the creation of a Highwaymen license plate.
But in order for it to be created, 3,000 people need to pre-pay for a voucher, and so far, outside of St. Lucie County, the demand is low, and there's a long way to go.
Fees from the specialty plate would go toward the museum, as well as local school art programs, that could one day spark the next Highwayman.
Artists like R.A. McLendon now have their own studios, so no more transactions on the highway.
"I don’t have to sell them anymore," McLendon said. "They come to me for the paintings now."
The city of Fort Pierce is hosting its annual Highwaymen Heritage Trail and Art Show on Feb. 18 at the Moore's Creek Linear Park located at Seventh Street and Avenue D.
The museum site will also be open for people to get a sneak peek at what's to come.
