The Paranormal in Florida: The Spirit of the Artist Lives On-and On-and On.

Just north of the megalopolis known as Orlando, is the smaller, less-hurried town of Maitland. This town is blessed with many beautiful lakes, parks, and for its size, is culturally blessed. For in Maitland is the Maitland Art Center. Jules Andre Smith founded the Maitland Art Center in 1937. Smith was born to American parents in Hong Kong. He came to the United States at the age of ten and attended private schools in Boston and New York City. He received a Master of Science degree in Architecture from Cornell University and the 1904-06 Traveling Fellowship, which he used for study in Europe. After the First World War, Smith published 100 of his drawings in a book called "In France With the American Expeditionary Forces".

In the early 1930's, Smith became a winter resident of Maitland. Here he met Annie Russell, a New York actress who was Professor of Theatre Arts at Rollins College in Winter Park. He designed sets for the productions Miss Russell directed at the Annie Russell Theatre, which Mary Curtis Bok (later Mrs. Efram Zimbalist Sr.) donated to Rollins in honor of her close friend. Andre Smith had already added a gallery to his Maitland studio when, in 1937, Mrs. Bok offered as a gift a "laboratory studio to be devoted to research in modern art." This was expanded to the research studio, a complex housing studios and artist quarters that was used from five to seven months each winter season. In 1937 it was only one of three art galleries in the State of Florida. Artists of that era who lived and worked there included Ralston Crawford, David Burliuk, Ernest Roth, Milton Avery, Arnold Blanch, Doris Lee and Harold McIntosh.

An oak tree festooned with Spanish Moss makes a perfect foreground framing for the Aztec/Mayan architecture of the Maitland Art Center, which was originally the creation of artist Jules Andre Smith in 1937. It is rumored that Smith, who passed away in 1959 still inhabits these tranquil and beautiful grounds.

Andre Smith Builds Courtyards and Gardens That Would Become Historic in The Future
The Research Studio was designed and constructed by Smith in stages under his direct supervision. The Studio is a maze of intimate courtyards and gardens that have a very spiritual feel about them as one strolls them today. The stucco buildings are highly decorated with murals, bas-reliefs and carvings done in an Aztec/Mayan motif. The compound is a work of art itself that one critic called one of the "important examples of Fantastic architecture in America." From 1937 until his death in 1959, smith was the Director of the Research Studios and oversaw the activities in its studios and galleries. There are rumors, however, that Smith still makes his presence known to this very day in the stucco buildings, courtyards and gardens now know as the Maitland Art Center.

Historic Status Gained in 1982
The property remained idle from 1959 to 1969, when it was purchased by the City of Maitland to be operated as a cultural center for the Central Florida community. The City maintains the buildings and grounds. In 1982 the Art Center was acknowledged as a State of Florida Historic Site and in November 1982 it was entered on the National Register of Historic Places.

Time for reflection in one of the many garden ponds of the Maitland Art Center. The stucco buildings in the background were part of Smith's compound known as the Research Studio that were devoted to the study and exhibition of anthropology, primitive art, folk art and history.

The Spirit Within
Numerous encounters have been reported by those directly connected with the Art Center. One artist in residence, James Cook heard a disembodied Smith having conversations with a woman, critiquing Cook's work. Smith's ethereal comments caused Cook to make profound changes to his work that brings him a more satisfying and successful approach. Many visitors have expressed feeling a presence when walking the Center's grounds, while others have claimed smelling cigar smoke, although smoking has not been allowed indoors for years, and no smoke is visible--Smith was known to be a heavy cigar smoker. The smoke and the presence are felt by visitors more often between the months of September and May, the months that Smith was most commonly roaming the grounds. In an area where Smith was known to meditate, two reporters investigating Smith's ghostly sightings separately experienced a cold chill. Another artist, Bill Orr, also experienced Smith's presence. As he was leaving the gallery for the evening he heard the breaking of glass. When he turned around toward the sound, he saw a transparent Smith. Orr booked outta there in record time, slamming and locking the door behind him. A receptionist saw a rocking chair begin to rock by itself. Pictures have been heard falling, but upon immediate investigation, no fallen pictures were found. Tape recorders intentionally left on a record mode overnight have picked up strange tapping sounds, and the night after a Smith work was hung, a "thump-step" sound was repeatedly heard--an ominous sound considering that Smith had a wooden leg and used a crutch sometimes!

Smith was buried in the state of Connecticut, far from his beloved work and studio in the Sunshine State. But Smith couldn't have said it better and more prophetically than when he stated in his living years, "I will always be a presence here."

In 1998 I had the good fortune to visit this tranquil and beautiful cultural center with my dear friend Susan Hughes. When in Orlando, try taking a little respite and visit this historic and haunted Central Florida treasure.

The Maitland Art Center (http://www.maitartctr.org/) is located in Maitland at 231 West Packwood Avenue. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 AM to 4:30 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 12 Noon to 4:30 PM. It is closed on Major Holidays and handicap accessible. Phone 407-539-1198.