Florida Highwaymen Painter James Gibson wins National Governors Association Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts

Tallahassee, FL – Florida Artists Hall of Fame Member and Florida Highwaymen Painter James Gibson has been awarded one of eight National Governors Association (NGA) Awards for Distinguished Service to State Government. Gibson earned the award in the Distinguished Service to the Arts, Artistic Production category. This important award recognizes outstanding service to the arts, focusing on contributions that improve the quality of life and bring distinction to a state. The award presentation will be made July 18 during the NGA Annual Meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The Highwaymen have been exibited in Chipley and many other locations in Florida
 
“The State of Florida is privileged to have a talented artist and civic leader like James Gibson representing our state’s gifted art community,” said Secretary of State Kurt Browning. “We are thrilled that the National Governors Association has recognized Mr. Gibson with this prestigious award.”
 
A Florida resident since his birth in 1938, Gibson is a prolific Florida landscape painter. He estimates that he has painted over 10,000 landscapes. In the segregated 1950s, Gibson and the original Highwaymen artists chose a different path than most African Americans who worked in packinghouses and citrus groves. They taught one another to paint instead. “They used to laugh at me, but I didn’t give up,” Gibson said.
 
He began selling his paintings for $20 out of the trunk of his car and they now sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars. His works are widely collected by thousands of Floridians, and Governor Charlie Crist selected his work to be featured in the Governor’s Mansion in honor of Black History Month in 2008.

An engaged citizen for the arts, Gibson regularly contributes to charitable events, including art auctions, art education events, and the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches. He participates in the federal “Weed and Seed” youth instructional forum that “weeds out crime and plants seeds of crime prevention.” Gibson’s work has been exhibited at the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida House in Washington, D.C., and has been commissioned by two Florida governors.

He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame as a part of the Highwaymen in 2005, and was appointed and currently serves as a board member of Citizens for Florida Arts, Inc.