Earwood, Margaret, Belle Glade. Everglades Cranes, 1944.
Exhibited, Pepsi Cola Painting of the Year. Oil on canvas 24 by 30 inches.
Margaret Earwood came to Belle Glade in 1946 with her husband Henry O. Earwood, the newly appointed city manager. She was the first art teacher in the public school system in the Glades, teaching art at Pahokee High School in Belle Glade for over twenty years. A charter founding member of the Lake Worth Art League, she designed the city of Belle Glade’s seal. Active in Florida state-wide art education, Earwood was coordinator for an all-day workshop of some forty Florida art teachers at Palm Beach High School in 1953. Her early art education was in Pensacola with Manuel Runyon. The Pensacola News Journal, January 16, 1955, published Earwood’s moving tribute to him. “A tribute to the memory of M. G. Runyan whose recent death in Pensacola left a vacancy which cannot be filled. A pioneer of Pensacola…For sixty odd years Mr. Runyan maintained his artist’s studio for the art world to visit, to receive instruction, inspiration and friendly, helpful criticism. Mr. Runyan was first discovered by this admirer about 1934. When browsing in historical Pensacola one afternoon, I notice his studio slogan, climbed the stairs, and found a smiling, kind, friendly face. Busy at his easel, he looked up, invited me in, and we were friends before I left. Many visits followed for I was a struggling young artist, trying to get a start. This kind friend took me in, gave me his helpful criticism, saw that my pictures were exhibited, and set me on the right track, as he had so many others.” In addition to her teaching at Pahokee High School, Earwood taught weekly adult art education classes, from September to April, with an annual Adult Painting Class Exhibit at the Belle Glade Civic Center. In 1963 she was chairman of the Florida Arts Education Association. The Palm Beach Post noted, “about 28 of her former students chose a career in art.” Died: October 1987, Belle Glade. Education: with Manuel G. Runyan. Membership: Pensacola Art League; Palm Beach Art League; Lake Worth Art League; Florida Federation of Art; The Norton Art Gallery; National Art Education Association; Florida Art Teachers’ Association; Artists Guild of the Palm Beach Art League. Exhibits: Okaloosa County Fair, Woman’s Club of Crestview booth, October 1939,a collection of watercolors, charcoal drawings and oil paintings, On Shoal River, The Court House at Crestview and The Richbourg Lane; Palm Beach Art League, members “five and ten” Christmas exhibit at Norton Gallery, December 1944; Palm Beach Art League 27th Annual, Norton Gallery, March 1945; Palm Beach Art League, Christmas exhibit, Norton Gallery, December 1945, eight decorative bird and flower studies; Society of the Four Arts, tropical design contest, third award, hibiscus; Belle Glade Woman’s Club at Country Club of the Everglades, November 6, 1946, in celebration of National Art Week, one woman exhibit, Florida landscapes, bird and flower paintings; Miami Beach Art Center, 2100 Collins Avenue, all watercolors and etchings exhibit, January-February 1947; Palm Beach Art League 29th Annual Members’ Exhibit, Norton Gallery, March-April 1947; Palm Beach Art League, 30th Annual members exhibit, February-March 1948; Palm Beach Art League 32nd Annual, March 1950, watercolor, Spring is Here; Belle Glade Garden Club Flower Show, March 19-20, 1952, twenty oils and watercolors; Palm Beach Art League, 34th Annual Members’ Exhibit, March 1952, Night Blooming Cereus; Lake Worth Art League at Strait Museum December 1952; Palm Beach Art League, 35th Annual Members’ Exhibition, March 1953; University of Florida second annual Summer Art School, exhibit, July 1953, Coburn Park, Tarpon Springs, first prize; Lake Worth Art League 7th Annual Members Exhibit, watercolor and allied media, March 1955, popular prize for White Glory; Artists Guild of the Palm Beach Art League, Norton Art Gallery, December 1955; Lake Worth Art League, second annual exhibition of abstract and imaginative art, Strait Museum, January 1956; Palm Beach Art League 38th Annual, March 1956; Lake Worth Art League 8th Annual Members’ exhibit of watercolor and allied media section, March 1956; Lake Worth Art League, Abstract and Imaginative Art Exhibit, January 1957, Boat Yard; Lake Worth Art League 10th Annual, March 1958; Lake Worth Art League, at Strait Museum, March 1967, honorable mention for an oil, Slim’s Boat Shed.
