The Art of Beck Lane

Beck Lane in her artist residency space at ARCOS
on Central Avenue with "sketches" for the Highwaymen mural 

Beck Lane's art is instantly recognizable. She has a unique style that incorporates visible brushstrokes to create the planes of her figures' faces. If you live in Sarasota and haven't seen Beck Lane's work yet, that's likely to change. Beck will soon be creating a mural celebrating the Florida Highwaymen on the eastern-facing exterior wall of Whole Foods. The mural will be the second in the City's Florida Legacy Art Mural Series. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. 

I recently had the chance to talk with Beck at the ARCOS studio on Central Avenue where she's doing an artist residency, compliments of Creative Liberties. I'm not sure she's getting a lot of work done with all the visitors stopping in to see her paintings and have a chat. But that's fine with her. The life of an artist can be solitary, and she loves to share her art. When she actually has time to paint, she said it feels like a performance because the large windows give passersby a peek into what she's up to. I love that. 

With Beck (and Frida x2 and John Sims) 

Several large -- and I mean large -- portraits of Frida Kahlo can be seen in the gallery. Most of her work is on canvas and ready to go out the door if the right art lover walks in. But the huge portrait of Frida was done on a drop cloth that's been treated with gesso. (Drop cloths are more affordable than canvas, so working on them gives Beck more freedom to experiment.) I'm sure your local frameshop would be happy to put the painting on stretchers for you if there's a place in your home that cries out for this work. (Note: Transport home would require an equally oversized vehicle! Been there, done that.)  

Given the size of Beck's paintings, she is particularly appreciative of the space the gallery affords her to actually see her work in progress. The wall on which she paints in her real-life studio is only 9'x9' so things can get a little tight. She said she often has to back into a hallway and peek around the corner to get a look at what she's creating. Here she can just step back and survey her work to see what needs to be done. 

I asked Beck about her fascination with Frida. She said she's drawn to Frida's story of overcoming the obstacles she faced after incurring life threatening injuries when the bus she was on collided with a streetcar. A steel handrail impaled Frida's hip, and she was bedridden for many months while her injuries healed. Her father made a special easel that allowed her to continue to paint and mounted a mirror on the ceiling. She began doing self-portraits, creating 55 images of herself over the course of her life. Beck decided to honor this legacy by doing 55 of her own portraits of Frida. By her count, she's done 38 so far. 

The Moore family 

Beck's work most often features people who are Black or Brown/ African American. She made that choice very intentionally. Back in the day, Beck worked creating signage for Trader Joe's on Cape Cod. She met a Black woman there one day and suddenly realized, much to her dismay, that all of signs she had created featured white people. Soon the store was filled with images of happy customers and staff of diverse heritage. 

Since then, Beck has focused primarily on this demographic in her work, often using old photographs as a reference. She was told over the years that featuring non-white figures made it unlikely that galleries and museums would show her art. But she had to follow her heart, so she kept showcasing diverse people in her paintings. Happily, times have changed to some degree, at least in the art world. Which brings us to the Highwaymen mural Beck will soon be creating...

In case you're not familiar with the Florida Highwaymen, the informal group consisted of 26 Black artists -- only one of whom was a woman -- who painted landscapes and sold them out of the back of their cars on main roads. Hence the group's name. The mural will celebrate the artistic contributions of these artists and will include portraits of Alfred Hair and Mary Ann Carroll. I would have loved to have been at the Public Art Committee meeting at which Beck shared her proposal. Her presentation didn't feature the typical powerpoint showing her concept. Instead, Beck laid her "sketches" of what the mural would look like on the floor of the City Commission's meeting space. As you can see from the images above, Beck works large. I can just imagine her moving around the paintings as she spoke animatedly about her vision. 

Detail from upcoming Highwaymen mural 

It's worth noting that the City was specifically interested in a mural celebrating the legacy of the Highwaymen for the Whole Foods wall. So you might wonder, as I did, why the City didn't contract with a Black artist to create this work. I asked Beck, and the answer is simple. She was the only person who applied. Beck is sensitive to the optics of a white artist creating what will be a very visible painting honoring the Black Highwaymen. And so she's bringing in two Black artists -- Greg Cruz and Jade Griffin -- to work on the project. Beck also intends to invite Black or Brown/African American members of the community to stop by and help out, even if it's just laying down a brushstroke or two. Her goal is to "remove herself as much as possible from the process." I'm impressed with her sensitivity and approach. And I can't wait to see mural come into existence. 

For more about Beck and her work, click here. Better yet, if you're local, stop by the studio at ARCOS through October 27th. These images truly do not do justice to the impact her work has in person. And of course be on the look out for painting in progress at Whole Foods. Beck would love to add you to the ever-growing list of people with whom she's shared her art.