Main Street Vero Beach is honored to have one of the Highwaymen as the November artist of the month. Roy Algin McLendon, Jr. was born in the town of Bridgeton, a city in the farming area of southern New Jersey on October 7, 1955 when his parents Roy McLendon, Sr. and Annie B. McLendon were migrant workers that had traveled to the northern states for seasonal work. Shortly after his birth, Roy and his family returned to Gifford, a small black community on the east coast of Florida where his father began an artistic quest that was inspired by neighbor Harold Newton (deceased), a Florida Highwaymen.
Landscape and seascape art scenes permeated Roy's childhood along with an occasional still life or portrait. He was a natural, self taught artist from drawing in the sand to brush painting. In his teen years Roy began to paint alongside and sell his paintings with his father, Hall of Fame Florida Artist, Roy McLendon, Sr. Al Black, a Florida Highwayman who started as a salesman for some of the artists, also sold some of Roy A. McLendon, Jr.'s paintings.
In the summer of 2011, The Florida Highwaymen Artists held a meeting and voted to draft a letter to submit to The Florida Artist Hall of Fame requesting that Roy A. McLendon, Jr. be added to the list of Florida Highwaymen Artists and receive recognition as an original Highwaymen. He is the only artist of any Florida Highwaymen children that meets the qualifications.
As a little boy growing up in the south, his fondest memories of days gone by that stand very vivid in his mind are flowers, citrus pickers, wild life, birds, deer, small animals, wooden houses on blocks, kids playing and clothes hanging on the clothesline.
Roy's material of trade in the beginning of his career was Upson board with crown molding for framing. His median of choice is oil paint. He is known for his renditions of southern subjects and Caribbean scenes; a fusion of Florida's lush landscapes with childhood memories of home places, back-country sunsets, Royal Poinciana, moonlit rivers and lakes. Figures of African American fishing nets or mending nets, once an everyday sight in communities, are often incorporated into his landscape scenes. The Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean incite a desire in him to paint so that people not just see what he creates, but feel his creation. His goal is to make what was not accepted as Highwaymen Fine Art to become recognized as Fine Art and he has accomplished it through the professionalism and dedicated artistry of his work.
Main Street Vero Beach is located at 2036 14th Avenue in the historic downtown arts district and has Resident Artists including Clair Brunetti with her custom jewelry; Megan McCook, artist and Barbara Sharp from Sharp Art Design. Main Street Vero Beach can be reached at 772-643-6782 or via email at info@mainstreetverobeach.org. Visit our web site at www.mainstreetverobeach.org, be sure to LIKE us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updated information about all that Main Street has to offer.
Main Street Vero Beach (MSVB) works to revitalize, preserve and create a vibrant, historic downtown community in which to live, work, shop and play. Main Street Vero Beach (MSVB) is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Florida Main Street program, part of the State Division of Historical Resources and is a member of The National Main Street Center a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Across the nation, Main Street's 4-point approach of Organization, Promotion, Design, and Economic Vitality has transformed the way communities revitalize, promote and manage their historic downtown's and neighborhood commercial districts. Main Streets everywhere thrive again living on as places of shared memory where people still come together to live, work, and play.
Main Street Vero Beach is located at 2036 14th Ave in the Historic Downtown Arts District
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