Alexandra Oakes trudged her way through Saturday morning’s rain, eyes scanning over moss-covered tombstones on her way to a blue registration tent.
The 25-year-old Florida Oaks Gateway College art junior was one of about 30 professional and aspiring artists who checked in for the first day of “The Art of Death,” a free event where painters swapped a studio for Gainesville’s Evergreen Cemetery. The event is part of the cemetery’s 170th anniversary celebration.
Participating artists have a week to paint the cemetery's landscape. They’ll then frame and submit up to three of their favorite works to be judged at the Thomas Center starting Oct. 26.
On Halloween night, winners of five categories — art, acrylic, oil, watercolor, pastels and drawing — will be awarded certificates and ribbons. Artists will also compete in writing their own obituaries.
The practice gives artists like Oakes the chance to slow down and absorb the atmosphere of the historic cemetery, she said.
“A lot of people nowadays will be at really beautiful places, and it becomes a common place,” Oakes said. “So, I like to stop and take it in and actually feel the history and feel the things around me.”
Oakes nearly died after almost drowning when she was about 5. She remembers flipping upside down on a pool float stuck under the water. As she struggled for air, she reached a point where she felt calm, she said.
“Have you ever seen those videos of water, but from upside down, and the light filters through?” she said. “I saw that and kind of calmed down, and then I remember going black.”
That’s when she said her 7-year-old brother pulled her out.
The experience gave her a newfound appreciation for life, she said, and she’s now working toward becoming an art teacher.
“I think life is very beautiful and should be taken in strides, no matter what age you are,” she said.
Cemetery coordinator Karen Pruss also hopes the event will help the public recognize the space is more than a burial ground, she said. It is a “wondrous” place for birdwatching, biking, walking, enjoying nature and learning about history, she said.
The cemetery is also the final resting place of many prominent historical figures who shaped the Gainesville community. There are veterans ranging from the Second Seminole War to Afghanistan buried on the grounds, Pruss said.
Figures who shaped and defined the history of the University of Florida are also buried in the cemetery: John James Tigert IV, a former UF president; Dr. James Robert Cade, who invented Gatorade; and William Augustine Shands, a former Florida state senator for whom UF Health Shands is named.
Birds chirped and butterflies fluttered beneath the old oak trees as 23-year-old Arthur Smythe roamed the graveyard for the perfect scene to paint.
Smythe, an aspiring artist who occasionally sells his work in downtown Gainesville, makes art ranging from abstract to realism. He was especially excited to use his style for the contest, he said.
“Honestly, I’m hoping to capture the life that lives here more than the actual graves,” he said, “because even after death, life presumes."
Tina Corbett, the 68-year-old owner of Lanza Gallery and Art Supplies, and 77-year-old Karen Miller, who has professional work featured in the SB Gallery, are both looking forward to incorporating the large oak trees, graves, sculptures and wildlife in their paintings.
On the south side of the cemetery, 36-year-old aspiring artist Misti Rucks chose a spot where the rustic oak trees arched over some tombstones, making a beautifully curved shape to paint on her canvas, she said.
Before starting her work, she stood with eyes closed and called to her mediums for guidance — one of them being Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, she said.
For her, painting was another way to channel the “divine” and “reach a meditative state,” she said.
An important stride in Rucks’ life, she said, was quitting her job as an instructional designer at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to become a full-time psychic medium.
She wasn’t satisfied working a traditional job and wanted to help people find direction in life and connect with loved ones, she said.
Despite a cemetery’s eerie stereotype, artists were able to find personal motivations to discover life and beauty.
By noon, the rain had cleared and the sun pushed through just enough for light to beam through the clouds.
With brushes in hand, the artists continued through the afternoon adding colors of life to their paintings in a place surrounded by death.
To see each artist's final pieces of art, the community is welcome to come to the Thomas Center for a free award reception on Oct. 31 from 5 to 8p.m.
Mia Driaza is a contributing writer for The Alligator. Contact her on LinkedIn @MiaDriaza or @miadriaza.ufl.edu
