Musicians, artists, and more
Posted Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:22 PM

My letter from May 28 with the list of artists in Sea Cliff School brought several comments and reflections.

The student artists often had adult mentors in school and in the community. In fact, many people have noted that we lived in a village where its variety (now called diversity) provided mentors for almost anything from auto and boat mechanics to sculpture and writing.

Peter Rose ('59) who spent most of his life as a writer for major sports and outdoors publications, sent this note:

"My dad, Richard Rose, was a water color painter who went to LA Art School after graduating from Northwestern, although just for himself (and for his family), as others you mention in your post. However he brought his artistic ability to theatre stage design, theatre costumes, ballet sets, and later in life in San Francisco, to department store displays. He took Kevin Costello under his tutelage when Kevin was an aspiring artist. I recall Kevin coming over to the house to tell him about his European trip. Interesting that he became an electrician and was able to put food on the table.

 
"Also, I like Lullaby of Birdland, and recall going into the city for jazz in Greenwich Village, and going to Madison Square Garden for a Sarah Vaughn concert. Zoot Sims and Gerry Mulligan tooting up on the bar at Times Square. Lullaby, of course, often heard in those days. Like you, I still am very fond of the jazz from that period and before.
 
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Among my papers I have a portrait in broad confident strokes that Richard Rose did of me during a school event or maybe at a village festival. 
 
Pete Lawlor's mother Mary ran a small gallery long before the  1970s turned Sea Cliff into an upscale arts and crafts center. Alfred Lansing who wrote the best seller Endurance, about the Shackleton voyage to Antartica lived in Sea Cliff with his wife Barbara and son Angus.  Vladimir Epanchin (father of Nik, Alex, and Paul) often provided free lessons in photography for many of us (he was a physician but also a fine photographer).  Dave Schweers' father Harry was an accomplished piano player who would play for the sheer joy as well as at clubs.  Rhoda and Charles Burton who lived on 17th Ave, a Friends School teacher and engineer respectively, hosted in their basement an ad hoc science club in the mid 1950s.
 
William Hedlund, father of David Bostrum ('57) and his brother Cookie taught several of us how to build simple radios and rectifiers and he opened the doors of amateur radio for us with his station above Tilley's boathouse, talking to people around the world.  (David, a good artist, also became a display designer in NYC). 
 
Henry Salloch (father of Roger, '59) taught many students in Sea Cliff the techniques of playing medieval instruments, particularly the block flute (recorder). Henry was also an accomplished water color painter and block printer and weaver.
 
The grumpy old bookseller and waiter Mark Thompson opened his store on lower Sea Cliff Ave. about 1951 and kept it open 7 days a week from 3-5 and 7-9 until he died in the 1970s. Despite his gruff manner, he never failed to give away a book to any student who wanted one and couldn't pay. I worked in that store for many years and saw this happen often with words like, "Well, you can't afford that, but if you want it, you take it and bring it back when you're done." 
 
That list only scratches the surface. At school and in our communities. I know from having talked to so many of you that whether you know it or not, you have been passing on what we received from people whose names will fade with us. People who have never heard of Sea Cliff will benefit from the generosity of its residents for a long time.