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Artwork: Distant Thoughts by Jonathan Green
History & Archaeology: Keys to the Calusa Indian Culture
Marco Island, FL: (January 16, 2008) . . . “Learning about one’s surroundings and history is not just for children — the excitement extends to adults of all ages,” believes archaeologist William H. Marquardt, Curator in Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History and Director of the University of Florida Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies at the University of Florida.
Dr. Marquardt is the keynote speaker at the fourth and final segment of art lecture series Art Interprets History: Visions of Marco Island’s Past, scheduled to be held Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, 7 pm until 9 pm at the Mackle Park Civic Auditorium located at 1361 Andalusia Court on Marco Island. Using the site of the Old Marco Inn, Dr. Marquardt will also guide a tour of the ancient Calusa ceremonial site where history buffs will learn about the elaborate rituals held with synchronized singing and processions of masked priests. The tour will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008, beginning at 9:30 am at the Old Marco Inn located at 100 Palm Street on Marco Island. Both the lecture and tour are free and open to the public.
Art Interprets History is a multi-phased project combining lectures and field trips with original art work representing scenes from Marco Island’s history. Led by the collaborative efforts of the Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) and the Art League of Marco Island (ALMI), the series is designed to blend the humanities disciplines of history, archaeology, and anthropology with visual art to create awareness of the people and events of Marco Island’s past.
International figurative painter and artist Jonathan Green will join Dr. Marquardt, unveiling the progress of his interpretative paintings of the Calusa Indian lifestyle. Stephen Muldoon – a third generation painter diverse in his scale from easel painting to murals to trompe l’oeil and Art Interprets History curator Paul Arsenault, a Naples resident and renowned painter of contemporary life in coastal communities -- will also debut new interpretative artwork. The artists used historical photographs and documents as well as early paintings of Marco Island to create individual artful interpretations of Calusa Indian lifestyles. William H. Marquardt has spent the past 20 years researching and studying the Calusa Indians. His experience has shown many newcomers are fascinated and eager to learn about Florida’s environment and history. According to Dr. Marquardt, in the sixteenth century, the Spaniards who arrived in southwest Florida encountered a populous, sedentary, and politically intricate society: the Calusa.
From several firsthand accounts of south Florida Indians written by Europeans, it is apparent that the Calusa were socially complex and politically powerful. The Calusa were well established, with a population of perhaps 20,000 or more.
In 1566, over 4,000 people gathered to witness ceremonies in which the Calusa king made an alliance with Spanish governor Menéndez de Avilés. The king entertained the governor in a building so large that 2,000 people could stand inside. Inside a great temple, they observed walls covered by carved and painted wooden masks. The Calusa king had the power of life and death over his subjects and was thought by them to be able to intercede with the spirits that sustained the environment's bounty. Commoners supported the nobility and provided them with food and other material necessities. Towns throughout Florida sent tribute to the Calusa. By the early 1700s the Calusa had been overrun by armed Uchise Creek and Yamasee Indians from present-day Georgia and South Carolina, who sold the south Florida natives to the British as slaves. Although the Calusa successfully resisted conquest for over 200 years, ultimately they fell victim to political struggles that originated in European colonialism. By the 1750s their culture had been essentially erased
Director of the Randell Research Center – a research and education facility in Pineland, Lee County, Florida – Marquardt received his Ph.D. from Washington University, St. Louis in 1974. He has conducted archaeological research in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, and Burgundy (France). Since 1983, he has directed the Southwest Florida Project, focused on the ancient domain of the Calusa Indians (present-day Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties). He is curator of the permanent exhibit People of the Estuary: Six Thousand Years in South Florida in the Florida Museum's Hall of South Florida People and Environments.
“This is an exciting project to bring the Calusa Indians to visual life,” says artist Jonathan Green. “My art is connected to spiritual, mental and social concerns with a strong interest in human figures, so imagining the lifestyle of the ancient Calusa culture intrigued me. The opportunity to help raise awareness and preserve Marco Island’s history is also important to me.
“The Calusa Indians wore quite a bit of jewelry and decorated their bodies extensively, so the combination of pattern and abstract color spaces are the stylistic basis of my interpretation,” he adds.
“When starting a new series of paintings, I always study the canvas to assure that it is properly primed and ready,” explains Green. “I lightly sketch the preliminary study of my subject on the canvas and follow up with an application of oils, using an adaptation of the verdaccio method (underpainting using a range of shades of gray).”
“I have found these steps essential in developing a range of values for later layers of paint,” he continues. “After several layers of paint are applied to the canvas, I use chiaroscuro methods to create a range of light and shade that creates an illusion of depth and highlights focal points in the painting. All of the paintings in the series are painted to the same point before I apply further layers of color.
“A series of paintings takes three to six months to accomplish four or more complete applications of oils, which is when I consider them finished.”
Born in 1955 in Gardens Corner, South Carolina, Green graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1982. He also holds an honorary doctoral degree from the University of South Carolina. Following his graduation Green traveled widely – throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the West Indies, Switzerland, Germany, England and France.
The four-month Art Interprets History: Visions of Marco Island’s Past series featured renowned archaeologists Michael Russo, Robert Carr, William Marquardt and maritime historian Robert Macomber discussing Marco Island’s past and conducting guided field trips. Jury-selected artists also included Rachel Kennedy – an American Impressionist and colorist offering whimsy and spirited fluidity and nationally acclaimed landscape painter Robert Charles Gruppé.
Guest lecturers and artists are also working in partnership with the Collier County Public Schools to conduct programs and field trips to art classes. The series culminates with a month-long exhibition of the original artwork at the Art League of Marco Island in March 2008, sponsored by Fifth Third Bank.
The Art Interprets History programs are made possible through grants from the Florida Humanities Council (FHC), the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs and are proudly sponsored by M&I Bank Marco Island, Florida. FHC is an independent, nonprofit organization that funds public programs throughout the state of Florida. FHC funded programs explore Florida’s history, folklore, environment, literature, music and art.
The South Florida archaeological collections contain materials from thirteen counties (Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Dade, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Martin, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie). This area includes 14,666 square miles, about 27% of the area of Florida. William Marquardt also curates the ethnographic collection of Seminole and Miccosukee material culture.
