About East Tampa | Neighborhood Events

Taft Richardson grew up in a house very near the one in which he now lives and works. Today, the neighborhood is very different from the close-knit, friendly, and active African American community that existed in the 1940s and '50s. That vital African American community and the nearby Cuban one in Ybor City were largely destroyed in the 1960s by the construction of Interstate 4 and Interstate 275 (which was then still called I-75; the names were switched in 1973). Many people were displaced, homes and businesses were destroyed, and what was left of the neighborhood was split by the highway.

So-called urban renewal in the following years led to a lot of re-zoning that has turned much of Richardson's neighborhood into a noisy, dusty, treeless commercial and industrial area. Across the street from his house, the brick factory starts up its machines early every day, but Richardson has incorporated it into his thinking. "It gets to be like music," he notes. "I work with the rhythm."

While others might be driven away by the changing neighborhood, Richardson sees the potential of the community that still surrounds it. Just as the bones still contain life, the neighborhood, with all its challenges, is full of potential creativity and love.

Taft Richardson understands the nature of change. We can grieve for the way things were—whether an animal that was once alive or a neighborhood that has been changed by "progress"—but we must seek out new forms and solutions.

Richardson's home, gallery, and teaching studio provide an oasis in the midst of this change. Wild cherry and other trees shade the yard and create a sense of peace and protection. Richardson gives the children plants to raise, and they sell the plants as part of the process of learning about economic development, financial responsibility, and the natural life cycle. Sometimes, the children also learn to draw the plants they are growing. Richardson sometimes jokes that the children are learning everything "from art to agriculture." He hopes that when the children grow up they will use these lessons to care for their neighborhood and community.

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