ART
Hutchinson and his wife, Joan, lived on the Seminole’s Brighton Reservation
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before the tribe members transitioned into modern society. “Seminole
Warrior” is a recent painting done in 2010.
considered at the forefront of Florida’s landscape tradition. In
1965, his paintings represented the state at the World’s Fair in
New York. His folios of Osceola, Alligator, Wildcat and Billy
Bowlegs III are the quintessential portraits of the Seminole
tribal leaders.
Though he now lives in Hawaii, he continues to paint
Florida subjects and his work is in private and public collections
throughout the world.
Hutchinson’s life story is one fascinating chapter after
another, and at his side for much of it has been his wife of 55
years, Joan. Born in Ohio, Hutchinson says his father was “not
a successful businessman” and the family lived a meager life
on a farm. To amuse themselves, his older brother and his
sister, Patricia, would make up stories and little Jim would
invariably draw the story. “I would draw to entertain myself
and paint pictures and I just never stopped.” Patricia, whom
he called Patty, “was a wonder, just a tower of wisdom.
“She was fun and exceedingly bright,” he remembers.
When the family hit more hard times, they moved to Stuart
after World War II and Hutchinson lived a Huck Finn-style
life on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.
“I was Alice in my own Wonderland,” he remembers. “We
lived almost entirely off the river, sometimes just fish and coconuts.
We didn’t know any different. We knew we were poor
but we didn’t think about it. We used to swing baby alligators
around by their tails. We didn’t think that the mother was just
around the corner. We ate the American egret because it had
the most beautiful meat.
“We would catch tarpon in the North Fork and harvest
oysters and sell them for nine and a half cents a quart. Then
we would take all our money and go to the Lyric Theatre for
the movies.”
BACKUS DAYS
Hutchinson told his sister he wanted to be an artist and
she said she had heard of an “old man” who lived down by
the river who was “very selfish” and gave lessons to aspiring
artists. Hutchinson convinced his sister to take him down to
meet Beanie Backus at his Fort Pierce studio. >>
BRUSHES WITH THE FAMOUS
Jim Hutchinson and his wife, Joan, had a wide circle of
friends during their time in the Stuart area, and it intersected
with more than a few of the Treasure Coast legends. Here are
some of their memories:
On A.E. “Beanie” Backus, Hutchinson’s brother-in-law
and artistic mentor:
“Bean treated everyone — old and young
— like a regular human being. He never talked
down to anyone, and if you had something to
say, he let you say it. It was the place that you
could have an opinion, express it and defend
it. Also, a lot of people don’t know this, but
Bean was a brilliant chess player.”
On Waldo Sexton, the developer and eccentric creator of
Vero Beach’s Ocean Grill, the Driftwood Inn
and McKee Jungle Garden:
“Joan and I worked for him and he paid us
$1.50 an hour apiece. That was good money
for us. We painted his bathrooms. Joan’s painting lasted longer
than mine, and we became known as the ‘potty painters.’
He had a W.C. Fields way of talking. He would say, ‘I’m an
art patron — in a nickel way.”
On Zora Neale Hurston:
“She was a wonderful storyteller. She was so
expressive that everything she said sunk into
you. Joan’s favorite quote of hers was: ‘I’ve
been in poverty’s kitchen and I’ve licked all
the pots.’ ”
On Seminole tribal elder and historian Billy Bowlegs III:
“Every morning, he would drink instant coffee.
He had a dog that would eat grapefruit. He
was the kind of guy who, if he had whiskey,
would drink it all until it was gone. Or if he
had cigarettes, he would smoke them all, and
then not do it again for months.”