Mary Ann Carroll
Mary Ann Carroll
(1940−2019)
Poinciana Tree
Untitled Poinciana Tree
Oil on canvas, 2004
H: 29” W: 35”
Acquired from the artist in 2004
Mary Ann Carroll is the only woman among the Highwaymen. At the age of nine, she moved from Georgia to Fort Pierce, where as a teenager she met Harold Newton. She watched Newton paint a Poinciana tree and immediately was drawn to the medium. Newton helped Carroll with her first painting, after which she went home to her mother’s backyard and began developing her skills. Carroll owned a 1964 Buick Electra, which she drove around the state to such places as Miami, Jacksonville, and Okeechobee to sell her paintings.
Mary Ann Carroll was always a strong and resourceful woman. After her husband left, she had to raise seven children. She held many odd jobs, working as a nurse’s aide, baby-sitter, and house painter to supplement her income. Since the revival of interest in the Highwaymen, her paintings are now in great demand. Her work is noted for her use of vivid colors. Besides being an accomplished painter, she was also a musician and singer and could be found on Sundays preaching and singing at her own ministry in Fort Pierce. In 2011, she presented a painting to Michelle Obama at the First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington, D.C.
