Newportant People III
Newportant People III | Heydt's series of books entitled “Newportant People” features portraits of local – artists, restaurant workers, fishermen, house painters, eccentrics. Heydt works at capturing people in the most comfortable environments, such as the bartender Ricardo Ribera, called “Five O” at the Clarke Cooke House, artist and Ben Butler in his studio or the late Joseph Jarvis theatre in a ticket kiosk at the Jane Pickens Theatre. The term “Newportant” is a sort of homage to Heydt’s longtime friend G. Brian Sullivan, the man about town called “Doctor Love.” The two have been friends since the 1970s, when Sullivan introduced the “Newportant” concept on buttons and on Saint Patrick Day maps reading “The Fifth Ward is Newportant.” “Newportant people are people who add to the character of Newport and perhaps allow Newport will realize its own character,” Sullivan explained. Heydt has published books of his watercolor prints, scenes of Newport and other locales. But this book hones in on people, and his interest has yet to wane. “I don’t know if I’ll live here forever,” he said. But if I’ve lived here long enough, I probably end up including everybody.” | James J. Gillis