Panhandle Slim brings 'art for folks' to Pensacola Beach Easter Sunday
- April 3, 2015
- / Mike Ensley
- / entrecon
“Panhandle Slim” can’t be sure what he’ll bring to The Shaka Bar on Pensacola Beach this Sunday for his Easter Sunset Art Show and Sale, but he guarantees there will be lots of art.
“I'm not really sure myself. I'll load my vehicle up with what I’ve got around my place,” he said. “I do have a big Pensacola Beach sign painting and a big Weeki Wachee coming for sure. I will load up a variety of paintings - you can believe that. Frida Kahlo, Sun Ra, Martin Luther King Jr., Sly Stone, Jesus, and many others will be coming to Pensacola with me.”
Panhandle Slim, whose real name is Scott Stanton, is a native of Pensacola and former professional skateboarder and musician.
He became inspired to paint when he visited a gallery and couldn’t afford any of the art he liked.
[sidebar]
Want to go?
Panhandle Slim Art Show/Sale during Easter Sunset
The Shaka Bar
649 Pensacola Beach Blvd
Pensacola Beach, Florida 32561
Show begins at sunset
Free admission
[/sidebar]
He’s been described as a folk artist, but he prefers to refer to himself as an “artist who paints for folks.”
Stanton’s folksy work is usually composed of a portrait and quote from someone he finds interesting. It’s painted on discarded pieces of wood or over thrift store paintings. Some of it has been exhibited around the nation.
Despite his renown, Stanton decided that he wanted his art to be accessible. He keeps his prices low, and every so often, puts pieces up in public places and announces their locations on Facebook for fans to find.
“It’s fun watching where they end up, and I’m thankful people like getting them,” Stanton said. “Everybody wins.”
Stanton says his ideas for paintings come from everywhere.
“We live in a world that has information coming at us nonstop,” he said. “Most of the time I have to decide what not to paint vs. what to paint.”
But one good source of inspiration is there for him everyday.
“I start out by reading the paper in the morning and that gets me going for the day,” Stanton said. “Editorials are always a spark to get me interested in a subject.”
While he now lives in Savannah, Ga., Stanton proudly calls Pensacola his “hometown” and still comes back several times a year.
“Pensacola is home,” he said. “What makes it so special is the fact that it has a culture of its own. I've been many places and Pensacola is unique.”
And it’s the variety of people in his hometown that really fascinates the artist.
“The religious fundamentalists, the wealth, the poverty, the beach, the westside, the eastside, the rednecks and so on. Take them or leave them — we sure have some individuals in Pensacola and that is culture,” Stanton said. “They are individuals, but they are 100 percent Pensacola. You take Joe the Subway artist or Morning Joe and they are the same person. Loud, proud and right in their opinion.”
[caption id="attachment_20969" align="aligncenter" width="850"]
Samples of Panhandle Slim's work.[/caption]
Stanton doesn’t like giving advice to artists. He considers himself lucky to be allowed to do what he does with what others would throw away.
“I still can't believe it myself that painting on wood and found materials has taken me on such a great adventure,” he said. “I guess I would say to an aspiring artist: listen to your gut feelings and create something if you want to. Confidence is a hard thing to get in this world because we tend to hear the one voice bringing us down and not the majority of voices building us up.”
Stanton says his ideas for paintings come from everywhere.
“We live in a world that has information coming at us nonstop,” he said. “Most of the time I have to decide what not to paint vs. what to paint.”
But one good source of inspiration is there for him everyday.
“I start out by reading the paper in the morning and that gets me going for the day,” Stanton said. “Editorials are always a spark to get me interested in a subject.”
While he now lives in Savannah, Ga., Stanton proudly calls Pensacola his “hometown” and still comes back several times a year.
“Pensacola is home,” he said. “What makes it so special is the fact that it has a culture of its own. I've been many places and Pensacola is unique.”
And it’s the variety of people in his hometown that really fascinates the artist.
“The religious fundamentalists, the wealth, the poverty, the beach, the westside, the eastside, the rednecks and so on. Take them or leave them — we sure have some individuals in Pensacola and that is culture,” Stanton said. “They are individuals, but they are 100 percent Pensacola. You take Joe the Subway artist or Morning Joe and they are the same person. Loud, proud and right in their opinion.”
[caption id="attachment_20969" align="aligncenter" width="850"]
Samples of Panhandle Slim's work.[/caption]
Stanton doesn’t like giving advice to artists. He considers himself lucky to be allowed to do what he does with what others would throw away.
“I still can't believe it myself that painting on wood and found materials has taken me on such a great adventure,” he said. “I guess I would say to an aspiring artist: listen to your gut feelings and create something if you want to. Confidence is a hard thing to get in this world because we tend to hear the one voice bringing us down and not the majority of voices building us up.”
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