Queen of the Highwaymen: A Retrospective Exhibition of Mary Ann Carroll comes to City Hall

Join the City of Orlando for the opening reception of Mary Ann Carroll: Queen of the Highway, the first solo exhibition honoring the only woman in Florida’s legendary Highwaymen group.

The City of Orlando presents Mary Ann Carroll: Queen of the Highway, a retrospective exhibition celebrating the art and life of Mary Ann Carroll (b. 1940-d. 2019), the only female artist in Florida's renowned Highwaymen group of artists.

The Highwaymen were a group of 26 African American artists working in Florida during the mid-20th century who created and sold vibrant landscape paintings, often door-to-door, overcoming racial and economic barriers to achieve recognition.

This marks the first solo exhibition honoring Carroll's extraordinary work, at Orlando City Hall’s Terrace Gallery and co-curated by Flynn Dobbs, Public Art Coordinator, City of Orlando, and guest independent curators Mark J. Lerner and Tony Hayton.

The exhibition opens on April 4, 2024, with a public reception from 6 to 8 pm, with the exhibition running from April 4 through June 22.

Mary Ann Carroll: Queen of the Highway invites visitors to explore Carroll's compelling six-decade journey along a road less traveled. As a Black single mother during the Jim Crow and post-segregation era, Carroll used her artistic talents to support her seven children.

With unwavering determination and faith—she painted at night and sold her vibrant landscapes by day, often traveling Florida’s highways while her children attended school. Carroll confronted adversity head-on, breaking barriers of race and gender to blaze a trail where none had existed before. 

https://www.orlando.gov/Events/Queen-of-the-Highwaymen-A-Retrospective-Exhibition-of-Mary-Ann-Carroll.

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