Mary Ellen Wild Woodhouse Munckton (left) meets Elaine Jenne Eckels Landacre
Connecting through Art
In showcasing the works of teacher and students, the Coronado Public Library’s current art exhibit encompasses multiple themes: that art is for a lifetime, that San Diego’s scenery is timeless, that teachers can make a difference.
“Art through the Generations” features not only the works of Esther Painter Hagstrom, who taught art at Coronado High School from 1939 to 1951, but also the works of nine of her students who went on to become accomplished artists. Watercolors, prints, oils, pencil drawings, wood carvings, pastels, ceramics and acrylics remain on display in the library’s gallery through the end of May.
Going beyond just paintings on a wall, “Art through the Generations” is about connecting with people. In preparing the exhibit, Hagstrom’s granddaughter, Suzy Hagstrom, a journalist in Point Loma, tracked down her grandmother’s students to ask them to participate by loaning their works for the display.
“This was the grandmother I never knew,” Suzy Hagstrom said, “so it is very rewarding to learn about her from people who met her, who spoke with her, who took art lessons from her.”
In a big surprise during her research, Hagstrom met two retired teachers who knew her grandmother as a colleague.
Mary Ellen Wild Woodhouse Munckton, 94, of Coronado, taught music for the Coronado School District during the 1940s. Elaine Jenne Eckels Landacre, 93, of San Diego, taught third grade at Coronado Elementary School from 1943 to 1949.
Munckton and Esther Painter Hagstrom visited Coronado’s elementary and junior high schools regularly to provide music and art instruction to pupils and teachers alike. “Esther Hagstrom was my supervisor in art,” Landacre recalled.
Landacre and Munckton each contacted Suzy Hagstrom after reading newspaper articles about Esther Painter Hagstrom. Munckton was the first. In the year 2000, she saw a 1939 photograph of Esther Painter Hagstrom in The San Diego Union- Tribune‘s “Who We Are — Faces of San Diego 2000” project. Munckton wrote Suzy Hagstrom a letter, and the two have stayed in touch ever since.
Landacre contacted Hagstrom recently after reading about “Art through The Generations” in The San Diego Union- Tribune‘s March 3Arts & Culture section. Before Landacre’s telephone call, Hagstrom thought that Munckton might be the only retired teacher alive who knew her grandmother as a co-worker.
Remarkably, both teachers have Esther Painter Hagstrom’s art hanging in their homes. Munckton owns three small etchings that were given as Christmas gifts during the 1940s. Landacre owns a “still life” oil painting that has decorated her kitchen for more than 50 years. “It was so long ago,” Landacre said, “I can’t even remember how I got this painting.”
Landacre with her Esther Painter Hagstrom’s Oil Painting
Details about Landacre and Munckton are available on a Web site Suzy Hagstrom created for “Art through the Generations.” (The screen entitled “A Colleague” is devoted to Munckton, while the screen entitled “Another Teacher” focuses on Landacre. Photographs of the teachers and Esther Painter Hagstrom’s art accompany the written narratives.)
Munckton with Esther Painter Hagstrom’s Prints
On May 1 Suzy Hagstrom took Landacre to Coronado to meet Munckton in person. Landacre brought a 1944 photograph of Coronado Elementary School’s student body and teaching staff. The two teachers spent an hour talking about their work in Coronado, Esther Painter Hagstrom and art. Then Suzy Hagstrom took Landacre to the Coronado Public Library to see “Art through the Generations.”
Besides arranging a meeting for the two teachers, Hagstrom organized a reception for her grandmother’s students. The event took place April 6 in the Coronado Public Library’s Winn Room. Some classmates of the nine artists participating in “Art through the Generations” — as well as the general public — attended. Munckton went to meet some of the students because some of these visual artists are also musicians who took music lessons from Munckton.
“The reception was like a mini-Coronado High School reunion,” said Christian Esquevin, director of library services for the Coronado Public Library. “Some of these artists hadn’t seen each other for more than 50 years.”
The artists are: John Clampitt of Coronado, Coronado High School class of 1954; Sarah Mott Durand of Ashland, Oregon, class of 1948; Lois Drake Ferguson of San Diego, class of 1953; Patty Murphy Jepson of Coronado, class of 1948; John “Jack” Minchin of Encinitas, class of 1948; Dolores Bridges Mote of El Cajon, class of 1945; Doris Klindt Naccarato of Coronado, class of 1951; Hildegarde Jaeger Stubbs of Encinitas, who finished high school in Santa Monica; and Celeste Walkup Usler, of Puyallup, Washington, class of 1951.
When the “Art through the Generations” exhibit is dismantled on May 31, the paintings and other works of the artists will return to their respective homes. However, the works of Esther Painter Hagstrom will remain at the Coronado Public Library to be part of its permanent collection.
The library accepted Suzy Hagstrom’s donation of her grandmother’s art, Esquevin said, because of Esther Painter Hagstrom’s ties to Coronado, contributions to the town’s art community, her influence on several generations of students in Coronado’s public schools and the beauty of her local landscapes. Her depictions of the Hotel del Coronado’s “rainbow fleet” of small sailboats rented to guests during the 1940s, he noted, are of special local historical significance.
Learn more about the art exhibit at the Coronado library here.
