The A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery in partnership with the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation announce the publication of an original body of literary work inspired by the art of the Florida Highwaymen. A group of eight local poets composed 10 new poems published online by the Backus Museum and available at https://www.backusmuseum.org/back-roads.
In January 2025, with the opening of the special exhibition Florida Highwaymen at the Crossroads (January 11 – March 2), the Museum opened the galleries for this special creative writing opportunity for the local Porch Poets. The Porch Poets are members of a small writing group sponsored by the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation, dedicated to providing a supportive environment for local poets to share work and receive constructive feedback in order to develop and refine individual voices and craft.
In our culturally rich and diverse Treasure Coast home, these writers have embraced “ekphrastic poetry”, a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Derived from the Greek word ekphrasis or “to describe,” this form of poetry is an ancient and powerful rhetorical device for poets to reflect upon or immerse themselves and the reader into a visual work, offering fresh viewpoints and responses. After a guided tour and focused gallery writing time, the participating poets over two months’ time nurtured to fulfillment a total of 10 poems inspired by the specific paintings on view.
This inspiration came from the paintings of the Florida Highwaymen. The Highwaymen are a loose collective of Florida artists who learned landscape painting techniques and began a creative enterprise of selling their bold and rapidly-produced works of art to customers up and down the state’s Atlantic Coast and beyond from the trunks of cars. In 2004, twenty-six of the original artists were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, and in 2016 the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American Culture and History opened with 18 Highwaymen paintings in the national collection. The Backus Museum has a more than six-decade history of exhibiting and championing the art of this extraordinary movement that began here.
This collection of new poems is published online as a virtual chapbook, originally a small and inexpensive publication for poetry and other short literary forms. Participating poets include:
- Skipwith Coale, “The Clouds Shall Lead You” inspired by Harold Newton’s Spanish Pines
- Adriana de Kanter, “Indian River Morning” inspired by Sam Newton’s painting of the same name
- Cathy Detko, “Fire Sky” inspired by Harold Newton’s Sister Pines at Sunset, and “Undisturbed Florida” inspired by Alfred Hair’s painting of the same name
- P.M. Draper, “Mystic” inspired by Harold Newton’s Mystical Backwater
- Bruce W. Fraser, “Deep Marsh” inspired by Alfred Hair’s Undisturbed Florida
- Christine Light, “Dear Harold” inspired by Harold Newton’s Spanish Pines
- Deborah Smith, “Imprint” inspired by Alfred Hair’s Moonlight Wave, and “Waves in Time” inspired by Harold Newton’s Moonlight Break
- Nancilee Wydra, “Were We To Know” inspired by Harold Newton’s Morning Waterway
The poems and the paintings that inspired them can be seen here: https://www.backusmuseum.org/back-roads
ALL DATES AND PROGRAMMING SUBJECT TO CHANGE; PLEASE CHECK THE WEBSITE FOR ANY UPDATES OR CANCELLATIONS.
About the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation
The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation is dedicated to preserving the author’s historic home and nurturing contemporary writers through a series of literary offerings including writers groups, summer camps, workshops, and poetry festivals. Laura (Riding) Jackson (1901-1991) was a widely noted poet of the 20th century who moved to a small frame house on 13 acres of citrus groves in Wabasso, Florida in 1943 where she lived and worked until her death. LRJF honors Jackson’s belief in the promise of language by creating community through the literary arts.
About the A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery
Since its founding in 1960 and the first day the doors opened in 1961, the A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery has been a center and catalyst for creativity and culture in our region. The Museum houses the nation’s largest public presentation of artwork by Florida’s preeminent painter, A.E. “Bean” Backus (1906-1990), and also continues its more than sixty-year tradition of exhibiting and celebrating the paintings of the original Florida Highwaymen, who got their start here. In addition, the Museum organizes and hosts changing exhibitions from artists of regional, national and international acclaim. The Backus Museum was recognized as the 2022 Best of the Best Community Choice Award for Best Art Gallery; and the 2021 Best Tourist Attraction – 2018 Best Museum / Best of the Treasure Coast by the readers of Indian River Magazine.
Schedule: Regular Hours Wednesday – Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM; Sunday, 12 Noon to 4 PM. The Museum is closed May 3 & 4. Admission is $5 per person; AARP, AAA, and Veterans with appropriate ID receive a $2 discount. Students with school ID, children under 18, active duty military, and current members are always free. Visitors are asked to follow the latest public health guidance for the safety and comfort of guests, staff, and volunteers.
