Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins; 304; Artist Frank Hopper, Pinecraft, "Twinkle," Tailgating at Sarasota Polo Club

The following is a special presentation of w. we do YOU Tampa St. Petersburg Sarasota sun. Just. Come a minute her name is distinctive. She gave me her singing to. Come whether through a tailgating party tailgating with the big difference. Want to share a soldier's most renowned and gifted artist. And visit the Amish in this from the Gulf Coast Journal. This production is exclusively brought to you through a generous grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. Building strong community leadership partnership and endowed. Dear Journal. We love to find the talented people around the Gulf Coast and we have

found another one. Think of it this way. Anyone flying into Sarasota for the first time. About the first thing they see of Sarasota as they walk the airport concourse are a couple of bright vivid colorful pictures framed on either side. These are pictures that show life as it used to be in Florida. That's the first thing he sees. In other words in that way about the first person he meets. Is the artist Frank hopper. When Frank Hopper paints passion flows from his brush and modesty from his lips. I've. Been doing it all my life. And I can't take too much from the older you get the more you realize of the man upstairs gave you this bird and you can't take too much credit or spiritual or secular omnipotent or ordinary. Frank often pays homage to God in his large scale works.

I've done religious murals. Churches all over the country. I can tell you stories about things that happen. When you know. Scaffold. You actually feel that someone is standing on the scaffold. I have turned around to see. If someone is on a scaffold. It's that strong. Frank discovered he was blessed with an artistic gift at an early age. I used to lie on the floor on my stomach that was my favorite position into comic strips and so forth. He sold his first painting at age 11 and I was paid the staggering fee of $35. Well people now joke $35 as nothing but this was during the Depression a lot of people they didn't make $35 a week. So as I say I thought I had peaked You know I thought it was downhill from there on in but I was mistaken. A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago Frank went to work for the Chicago New York ad game.

He found that financially lucrative and creatively fulfilling and they got to the point where you could meet the commercial standard like well you know but you knew it here you were exploiting your talent to its fullest potential. So thank god Mars and I came down here. If a mural takes three years we use three years. No no compromises no shortcuts. The lady who also fuels Frank's passion his wife Marge. I go. Oh just about. OK. Just. You ready for happy hour. Yeah she's 9 percent of my success. I feel like when when we're not together somebodies half of me is gone and I've never had that feeling with anybody. The couple met at a New Year's Eve party in 1965 while married to other people. We just sat down together and put our heads together the chemistry really started flowing. Well. You know I'd have to watch it.

40 years later the chemistry still flows. It inspired Marge to write a book called Love behind the easel. Kids don't have a good picture of what a marriage is sometimes and I put a lot of humor in it. And what have you and I wanted to do something for my family. You want another. Please this is your pay. When Love fills our household it's only natural that it seeps into an artist's work. Like his latest painting the kiss of life. I wrote her a dear friend and I was stricken with a heart attack and he was very fortunate that a nurse was riding a bicycle in the same vicinity and she came over to apply a CPR she couldn't find a pulse. She brought him back to the hospital. His pragmatic paintings are a breath of fresh air to Frank being true to his subject connects him to Old Masters. You have to keep this insatiable curiosity about life. The only passes away wants him you know so much to see and learn.

He has been honored by religious leaders as witness tribal ceremonies has stood in the presence of some of the most powerful men in the world. And when someone was declared a point of light they would receive one of these posts are made from the painting a thousand points of light signed by myself and the president. You're in that was very very successful. His mural of Ronald Reagan was shipped to Washington just days before the assassination attempt while in transit Frank believed divine intervention graced his portrait and sustained minor damage. A pencil or something punch of the canvas. But here's an eight foot canvas with all this subject matter and that puncher was about that far from where the bullet went up thru his thorax. I spoke of the tragedy of 9/11

inspired Frank to paint ph at Ground Zero. I took Michelangelo Samus but in the midst of all this carnage in the still. Cradling christ she's cradling a fallen fireman. Artistic accolades letters from world leaders and White House invitations all of these have not changed Frank's perspective. Even at age 81 his brushes dipped in humanity and humility. If you reach the point where you think you know it all you're in trouble. That's what's keeping you keep that inquisitive mind. It's a shame that when we grow up we lose this naivete and the freshness that a child has you know it's the same that you lose that especially in the creative field. A frank Hopper's region of life never made his canvas for ever be filled with shades of naivete or eternal love and God.

Some of the most devout and distinctive people of God are those of the Amish and Mennonite sects. There are large populations of those in Pennsylvania and Ohio as depicted in this quaint mural. But this mural is in Sarasota and there are good populations of Amish and Mennonite right here. What does a life of faith and service look like for the Amish. Traditionally it looks like this. With your distinctive dress. Simple plain no bright colors. Their commitment to tradition it appears as if the clock stopped long ago. Most people live by the teachings of the early Christian church. They're called to a

life of simplicity and discipline. And. For years they have also been called South. Not much more than a horse and buggy ride from Sarasota is down town is an area called Pine crab. You're just in time for the fun. Every winter thousands of Amish and Mennonites come here from all over the country. The time to put down the farm tools and connect with the faithful. The Old Order Amish trade in the horse and buggies for three wheeled bike and prepare to have a grand old time. We look for each other so when we come down here. She was here. Ninety year old Noah Gingrich has written a book about the pine craft area that houses 40 Amish first met. He tells us the Amish have been coming here since the 1930s for the same

reasons much of the rest of the world has come for the warm winter sun. The recreation and for this group. For the fellowship. Everyone knows each other. Everyone is a neighbor to each other. If we take. Some have decided not to leave generations of Amish to put down. Permanent roots here. Making pine craft a thriving year round community. An eclectic blend of believers a community with many signs of modern living but always a deep devotion to. Heritage. I mean we are not Amish quilts have long been considered an American treasure and many of them come together right here in Pine crab and not. Even realize that we that we know most of the women like Mary Keeley learned when they were girls.

Every stitch a testament. We were actually right up to using the word again and help each other. It flex in the. Kind of person you are really. Can't you go. Thinking. This. This is more than a livelihood. This is therapy. There's always family new shared confidences encouraging words like the finely crafted quilts woven together over time. These women are part of the tapestry of each other's lives bound together by faith and circumstance are there for each other. Well love the Lord and that's the name that is the. Message. But there's much more than food for the spirit in kind craft. There's the other time too and that makes for long lines at lunch start. To. Eat.

Yoder is a restaurant serves up heaping portions of old Amish family recipes. We make everything from scratch no additives for servers just plain. Cooking and simple it's just. Like your mom and grandma I mean when you were little. Amanda Yoder spend a good measure of her life rolling out the dough for the pies that made the restaurant famous. The Christian charity notwithstanding don't bother asking Mrs Yoder for her pie crust recipe. It's not even written down it's in the head. Part of Mrs. Yoder whose secret to success. She never changes the recipe. They remain a constant. In a changing world. The world this community of faithful struggles to contend with. Yet even as they cling to the old ways. In a society moving at 21st century speed. They know they can find a little slice of

heaven in mine. And Imus restaurant and there are many right here along the Gulf Coast. It isn't an ideal place for a weight watcher. The classic Amish dish you find on one menu is a plate about this size. Covered with mashed potatoes which in turn are covered with buttered noodles which in turn is covered with gravy. And that is listed on the light appetite section that made you a little bit is good. OK. Now. Here is a. Talented woman we'd like you to meet. She can help with the best of them.

We. Use ition mother singer songwriter. Teacher angel a homegrown blues singer with a bio all her own. Just when twinkles not out on the road touring she performs I get a show if it is 5 o'clock here on stage most of the musicians or the staff or family. Every gig is a. Good experience it's a story there's always some kind of you know a tangible or some kind of element that you don't count on in the workplace or. A very broad story. And it leaves it wide open for the addition. Of pretty much what they want to do. The Sarasota native has recorded with the likes of Rod Stewart and Quincy Jones. Not bad for a girl who started out playing cello in grammar school orchestra and later

went on to Sarasota as Booker visual and performing arts high school. Her name might seem unorthodox to some but she reassures it's not a nickname and then they named me twinkle when I was a baby. They had a presentation I guess of the infant a party and some guy said small select out color quite full name twinkle Chessell Ursula. Yo come. She was born into a Sarasota family steeped in the arch. Her grandfather was legendary jazz photographer and musician Charles Pete Peterson. That's my mom's dad Charles Peterson. They call them Pete. And we were tight. He died as a kid but we were super tight who's the sweetest people in the world. He loved music and loved sailing love taking pictures. That's his thing. My mom was always painting or drawing shoes jewelry maker when I was a kid she was writing always creation creation always making something out of nothing.

Hopefully value growing up in such a creative environment it didn't take twinkle long to find her own inner passion. I'm just 10 years old I. Wanted to. Say. Hello when. You're saying. That. Me emotion and connecting with that without being seen. It's like passion of fire and love and. Just everything all mixed up instead of you know it's either or. There's my Alex my band Spirit entertainer a mother of two home town girl at heart. I know I'm a city girl. Having a miss there's a lot of girls in my town. I love it I love the people here. And that feeling reveals itself in a variety of ways.

Most notably teaching music to troubled teens at the Sarasota Community School. This is a school of teenagers that have been through the wringer and it's like an emotionally challenge thing and they like a fair fee boarding school so I started teaching there and I know what I was going to do I never really taught before so I just stayed with them but there are these wonderful teenage kids and I just love them and we connected so easily. Though she has traveled the world and played the some of the biggest names in rock n roll it is on a typical night on this very stage gener own backyard where she finds that familiar twinkle in her audience's eyes can hear the words tailgating.

What do you think of the Cole stadium up north. A football game about to begin rabid fans outside of their grills cooking up their Russian kraut. Well that's one kind of tailgating here is quite another. The moon Sunday. Morning the day of worship for some of your fresh horses. But neither for the Bernhard. There's the preparation. The presentation. Not just. The transportation. On my part. Which all leads to. The competition. This is not Palm Beach or Saratoga this is a whole lot of Sarasota stuff.

Like grasses casual silver spoons are for serving and tailgating becomes an enjoyable find hard. Here's the bill Bernhard and his wife Beth Macaulay are regulars at Lakewood Ranch is Sarasota a polo club to beat his bills weekly food fair with random pallets of e.g.. He takes Randall and bass gallops claim to slime juice so entre green onions jalapeno peppers had sandwiches and dessert and a beverage. And you've got a sideline smorgasbord in the immediate 15 and 20 space area. There's. A whole meal. But let's not forget the friendly competition. No not there. Here. Are you the taste. I and the taste. Hell it's a tough job but somebody has a tail

dinner contest which participants take very seriously. Thank you come to my house for me. Meet Elizabeth Headley sideline specialist queen of culinary critiques and the woman every tailgater wants to bribe. Whether you get the sampling of it would matter the quality of the food the presentation and the creativity of the overall presentation. Today's theme St. Patrick's Day high quality China. When the chips are down contestants might try a little extra to reach the best thank you or even a secret weapon like a tail trader. This is beautiful. I love this granite. With the nuts on the granite. He's doing OK. An outside observer might wonder what's more important tailgating or the game.

Yeah both. You know we're going to watch. This is definitely. The shake map. And strategy. Was really cute there from the other side. Sweet Caroline. They were a little loose but they had the spearheads. The orchids. I was very impressed. Orchid eaters with 1 minute to go in the pub a match the tailgate winner is announced. First place they took it out of the tailgate and

dressed in costume and the China thing is worse. It's not the awards or accolades that make people getting so popular at the Lakewood Ranch community there is a much grander prize. Everything is so busy all week long as I already have an opportunity for it not everybody is right and I don't want to neighbors to get together and make an event happen where you can just enjoy it with one hand. The Champagne should be chatty and bananas foster a far cry from Brock's and friends. Well we pretty well covered the culinary landscape and the artistic landscape and so we wish you a farewell with a brief drop in I wonder if it is a hidden secret in downtown Sarasota a place that the birds love. It's called Red and Blue.

Just stay stay stay stay. It's on your head.

Again and. Again. You can order this or any other volume of a Gulf Coast journal with Jack Perkins on a high quality DVD format for just one thousand ninety nine plus shipping and handling. Call 1 800 3 5 4 9 3 3 8. Or visit our website at. W e d u dot org. You. This w edu production is exclusively brought to you through a generous grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice building strong communities leadership partnership and in doubt to let there be.