A little bit about Degroot Studios
Below a paragraph from the Book “Artists of old Florida” Jeffrey Willson was the protégé of Michael L Woodman who was taught by John DeGroot his process of making Mosaic Pool Art Tile or simply Pool Mosaics. It is still done the same way that John Degroot did in 1955.
A legacy business like few others. Jeff Willson is the the third owner of a 65+ year old business, however, with only three owners this business has never been bought or sold, handed down. At this time In addition to this, Jeff has started working with his protégé, a rustic artist here in rural Tennessee, Krista K.
Additionally, to see Jeff and Krista’s work please go to https://mosaictileartisan.com
“John W. De Groot was the son of a government printer, born in Washington, DC. A scholarship student at the Corcoran Art Gallery, he went on to study at the Art Students League in New York. In the late 1930s he worked for the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a writer and illustrator. He painted two murals for the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Section of Fine Arts. An ardent sailor, he moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1940, where he opened the city’s first art gallery. He readily obtained contracts to paint murals for a number of beach hotels. Looking for other marketable products in this part of the country, he hit upon the idea of creating murals from small hand-cut and hand-glazed tiles. These proved to be great success, and De Groot would serve up swimming pools decorated with anything from swordfish to hot dogs. His largest work adorned the facade of a five-story building. Unfortunately, as the facade deteriorated, it was impossible to save the mural, and the facade was demolished in 2012.” Source https://artistsofoldflorida.com/artist/john-degroot-fort-lauderdale/
