Brookline High School - Murivian Yearbook (Brookline, MA)

Page 28 text:

HIHET E EH THIRTY-TWO -«( fflctrit (fiarrtrk QHjuratmt A visitor to our Teachers’ Rest Room will see on the walls two paint- ings: one of a quaint New England street, peaceful and sunlit; the other of a fishing fleet at the dock, but heading out as if already anticipating ad- venturous days. These two paintings so different in subject but so like in their power to stimulate the imagination are the gift of a former member of the Faculty who was not only admired for her creative powers as an artist, but loved for her sweetness of nature and her devoted spirit of service. Mrs. Thurston was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father was a northerner, but her mother belonged to a fine old Southern family ; and the little girl Mary Carrick was brought up amid the aristocratic traditions of the Old South. Later she was brought to Massachusetts, where she went to school. As she quite early showed talent for drawing, she directed her course toward the old Normal Art School. Here she made a notable record. After graduation she taught art in the schools, first, of Natick then of Chelsea, then of Somerville. In 1909 she married Charles Willis Thurston, himself an artist of promise. They met abroad and lived for some time in Paris. In 1913 Mrs. Thurston came to be Director of Art in Brookline. Under her enthusiastic management, the work grew and developed in many in- teresting ways; and the accomplishment of the pupils in various lines of artistic creation was a constant wonder to those who passed by the Art Room from day to day. Probably one reason Mrs. Thurston was so successful in stimulating her pupils to creative effort was because she herself was a practicing artist. She went each summer to Gloucester, or Marblehead, or Provincetown, or Europe to paint. In the winter she exhibited her work in various Boston galleries. She knew, then, not from theory but from experience the power- ful joy of creating a beautiful thing. It is a matter of grief to us that Mrs. Thurston felt that her health was not good enough for her to continue teaching with any satisfaction to her- self. She retired in September 1931. In a sense, however, she has not retired, for the spirit of helpful co-operation, the desire for beauty, the en- thusiasm for hard work which she established will be in evidence for a long time, a splendid tribute to her devotion to this school and her contribution to its growth. 16

Page 30 text:

Oran of (Sirhi S’rm ' tarU ' ii 18