Al Black

Al Black was born in 1947 in the state of Mississippi and moved to Fort Pierce in the 1960’s. He honed his craft of sales at a Typewriter company. Founding member of the Florida Highwaymen Alfred Hair noticed he had a talent for sales and recruited him in 1964 to be the sell paintings for the group. Black was an exceptional salesman who was said to never have come back without a painting sold. His sales methods worked better than anybody thought possible and he trained the other Highwaymen to sell using his approach. but he also started honing another ability which was painting his own art. He learned from the highwaymen and eventually began painting his own works which he still does to this day. Al Black was sentenced to prison in 1997 until his release in 2006 which he stated “saved his life. While in prison he was  inducted in the Florida Artist Hall of Fame in 2004 for his work with the Highwaymen which had experienced a resurgence of interest during this time.