Elmore’s Landing: Roadside Art, by the Yard
By Bruce Collier August 14, 2003 Issue

Elmore’s Landing, located on the south end of Highway 331, has stood in all of its conspicuous glory for about 13 years. Before that, the many works of artist/owner Joe E. Elmore could be seen at Patrone’s in Grayton Beach. Before that, he and they could be seen in a lot of places.

A California native, Elmore used to roam the west, crisscrossing Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, then east up the Atlantic Coast and down to the Florida Keys. Like many people hereabouts, Elmore began as an occasional visitor, then became a permanent artist in residence.

“I sculpted and painted in the 1960s and ‘70s, then just did woodcarving and sculpting. Now I’m back into painting again, too.” Self-taught, he took his work with him, and also made art on the spot. Elmore seems to share Michelangelo’s famous philosophy of sculpture—that the sculpture already exists in the raw material, and the sculptor’s job is to carve away the excess to reveal the hidden image. He put that philosophy to a unique test.

“I used to tell people to choose a piece of wood, whatever they liked, then bring it to me. If I could complete a sculpture in 30 minutes, they’d buy it for $100. If not, they’d keep it and pay me nothing.” Elmore used to work with mallet and gouge, but laid them aside in favor of his current tool of choice, a 16-inch electric chain saw. The saw is quicker, and with practice can become a delicate and efficient sculpting tool.

“I’d tell them to watch while I worked. I’d look at the wood, then make a few cuts. I’d tell them, ‘see, there’s the eye!’” In short order, a face or figure would emerge before the customer’s eyes. Elmore calls it the “spirit of the wood.” Judging from the orderly clutter of art on the Landing grounds and in the gallery interior, Elmore has found a lot of very spirited wood.

As we tour the grounds, Elmore identifies various pieces and varieties of wood. Several large sculptures, notably a bison, are crafted from California redwood. Elmore estimates the age of the wood as between 2000 and 2800 years. Perhaps the largest single piece on the grounds is a tall head of a Plains Indian, complete with feather, carved from cypress. If you have ever driven on Highway 331 South, you’ve seen it. Much of the wood is scavenged or purchased from logging companies. Elmore also works in concrete, alabaster, lava rock, clay, and metal, and paints in acrylics. Most of the work at the Landing is Elmore’s, though he does display the metal work of local artist Glen Thompson and the unique blues/jazz paintings of Patterson and Barnes.

A stroll inside the colorful painted gates of Elmore’s Landing will take you into the company of carved and painted bears, mermaids, sailors, Greek gods and goddesses, paintings of fish, fowl, and local life executed on fruit crates, carved cedar bowls, and an entire wall of “wood spirit” faces. In addition to work displayed outside, a wooden building houses a small interior gallery. As you step onto the porch to enter the gallery, a glance to your right will put you face to face with the Paddle Family, a collection of anthropomorphically painted oars. There’s a lot to take in, and Elmore does not confine his work to Elmore’s Landing. He also has a gallery in Gulf Place. If you’ve ever sighted any of those giant papier-m‚ché lobsters, crabs, and sport fish leaping appetizingly into the air over certain well-known local dining establishments, then you’ve seen the offsite handiwork of Joe E. Elmore.

Summer with its tourists is Elmore’s busiest season, though he accepts the apparent truth that art is not a “necessity,” and that lean times can mean lean sales. Still, the grounds at Elmore’s Landing are dotted with signs urging support for local art and artists. Elmore looks forward to next spring and the publication of a state-sponsored book on Florida folk artists, which will feature his work. He has had his share of fame in the art community, but is amused by the nature of artistic celebrity.

“It’s funny,” he says, “how some musicians get famous playing other people’s songs, and how artists do their own work and nobody cares.” Laughing, he asks, “An artist couldn’t get famous doing somebody else’s art, could he?”

It seems that as long as trees keep growing and power tools work, Joe E. Elmore will keep on making his own art, steadily adding to the population of what has to be one of the Emerald Coast’s most unusual front yards.

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