ART
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Sandy Ridge by Jim Hutchinson, oil on canvas, 2009.
“One of the things working for us was that we thought we were
indestructible,” says Hutchinson. “We didn’t care what society
thought of us. We did care what individuals thought of us.”
POSTERITY
Hutchinson’s four years on the reservation produced a body of
work that recorded the Seminole way of life for posterity. His portraits,
his numerous paintings and his historic depiction of the Dade
Massacre became treasured paintings of Florida’s history. Fifty of
them, funded by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation,
are in the collection of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida.
His works also are in the Florida Capitol, the Governor’s Mansion
and the James Hutchinson Foundation of the Loewe Gallery at the
University of Miami, among others.
When Jim and Joan’s sons, Kevin, now an artist in his own right,
and Kelly, a Latin scholar, were born, the family lived at Sewall’s
Point. Then, 17 years ago, they made the decision to move to the Big
Island of Hawaii.
“I thought it was like Stuart was 50 years ago,” says Hutchinson.
The couple now live on a five and half acre farm and grow macadamia
nuts. “I always knew we would end up on a nut farm,” he
says, chuckling.
Hutchinson still paints the Florida he knew — at least the one he
knew 50 years ago. “Well, all the places I used to paint are now golf
courses and gated communities,” he says, “So it doesn’t matter if I
am here or not.”
But his time in Florida was something he treasured, and even
as he was painting its natural beauty, Hutchinson says he knew it
was fleeting.
“We were aware that we were living in a paradise in transition,”
he says. “And we were so grateful that we were there to see it.”
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