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aka MIAMI'S ANDY WARHOL!!!
"Truth is not fragile, it stands up to questioning, you can question it all you want and it will still be true..."
BIO!
(Compiled from different sources on the web!)
Lewis Van Dercar was a locally known Florida artist, sculptor and reputed Magus ( meaning magician - often called "Warlock" ), and occult witchcraft figure in the Miami area for many years and in the Tampa - St. Petersburg area from 1973 until his death in 1988 at the age of 75. In 1973 Lewis moved to an area called Quail Hollow in the present day Wesley Chapel, but at the time was considered the town of Zephyrhills. He lived in a geodesic dome house covered by ivy that he built himself on 14 gated acres of property and surrounded by tropical forest, his animals, sculptures and other works of art. He used this home and property as a studio and showroom. The grounds were used as a sculpture garden and display area. He spent the latter part of his life creating the most incredible pieces of art right here in Zephyrhills. He also held Friday night open houses where friends, artisans, metaphysicians, witches and the curious would come to visit from near and far. There was far more to him than his artistry.
Lewis VanDercar, called himself a “creator”. Some people called the former artist crazy; others said he was a genius.
He called himself, in turn, a warlock; Magus Supreme, pro tem of the Supreme Order of Magi; and someone with mysterious powers, specifically ESP and the power to levitate. He hinted about incarnations and said an alien entered his body as a young man. He said he had a pet poltergeist, and then tried to sell it through a classified ad.
“It was difficult to tell whether it was all tongue in cheek or not,” said David, Vandercar's son, now a physician and married to Candy Vandercar, a Pasco County Judge. “He would vacillate back and forth.”
His classified ads in the Miami Herald were frequent:
“Sale: Swamp colored UFO. Must qualify.”
“Free Cruise to Bahamas, Bring oar.”
“Electric car. $25,000. Extension cord extra.”
He sold roc eggs in one ad. He said he rediscovered the ancient secret formula to make and impregnate the eggs of rocs, mythological birds.
A woman bought the eggs and had them shipped to her Chicago home. Later, Mr. VanDercar admitted the eggs were really a bunch of garbage piling up in back of his home. He didn’t want to haul it away, so he covered it in plaster. He didn’t tell the lady, but sent her a check for the shipping costs.
Then there was the time police found a skull, embedded in concrete, on the beach. The skull turned out to be plaster. In the concrete was a bottle with a note: “The creator and the created are one. Hate makes it ugly. Love makes it beautiful. Let us all be lovers.”
Said Mr. VanDercar later: “There is some sense of the ridiculous that can be carried to such an extreme that it becomes beautiful. Take the time I predicted that a great extinct primitive bird was going to appear at midnight in the park. The newspapers exposed it as a hoax. Even so, at midnight, 150 people showed up in the park to see the bird. That was beauty.”
His Miami home studio at 331 NW 18th St., was open always. People continually passed through and stayed for long philosophical talks with the artist.
Mr. VanDercar, who never got beyond eighth grade, learned from them. “They gave him a very broad background in terms of knowledge,” his son said. “He knew a lot about a lot of different things.”
Born in Detroit, Mr. VanDercar entered the Navy during the Depression to help support his family.
In the late 1930s, he became an animator, drawing Popeye cartoons from a Miami studio. He entered the Merchant Marines in World War II and later worked as an aircraft engineer. He returned to Miami, where he worked construction jobs and ran a plumbing shop.
Then he learned he could make a living from his hobby, painting and sculpting. He decorated an exterior wall of his house with faces of every age and culture, Greek gods, sea monsters, heroines, gargoyles, Moses, faces from Egypt and India and China, and many other places.
He also created mountains for resorts and amusement parks, and built a gorilla’s lair for Monkey Jungle in South Dade’s Redland. He made a giant dragon, 100 feet long and 30 feet high for a Merritt Island Park.
In 1984, he returned to Miami for a short while to repaint a reconstructed limestone bridge at Arch Creek Park. He painted the concrete and iron used to rebuild the bridge so it would look like limestone, too. He was still painting days before his death.
“He spent 30 years and died doing what he liked,” his son said. “Not many people are able to do that.” Said Mr. VanDercar once: “Many people think what I do is ridiculous, but not intelligent people. Most people are fearful and they don’t enjoy life because they’re afraid to take a change and do what they want. So intelligent people admire your courage.”
The Dragon of Merritt Island
In 1971, sculptor Louis VanDercar built “Annie,” a concrete dragon that stood guard over the Indian & Banana River lagoon on the southernmost tip of Merritt Island, Florida. Twenty tons of concrete and steel were brought in to ‘Dragon Point’ by wheelbarrow, as the only access was a wooden boardwalk. The skeleton was created with steel rods and sheets of steel, then covered with concrete to create the 65 foot long, 35 foot high dragon statue.
VanDercar was an ingenious sculptor.With skillful imagination, he created the dragon with a hollow belly, complete with tables, chairs, and electricity. Hieroglyphics were painted on the inside of Annie’s belly but unfortunately, these ancient Egyptian symbols were ruined by vandals.
Stairs climbed up the dragon’s neck, and children looking out the eyes could see the sun rise on one side, and set on the other. On the fourth of July, smoke billowed from her mouth. Charity events and birthday parties were common by the dragon.
Children and adults alike remember Annie as a true Space Coast landmark, and a site for visitors not to miss. It is said at one time fishermen caught red fish up to 30 pounds off Dragon Point, and boaters from as far away as New England used Dragon Point as a meeting place.
Erosion, salt spray, and hurricanes finally took their toll on the dragon statue and in August of 2002, Annie collapsed in the Indian and Banana river lagoon. There are no plans to rebuild the dragon.
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