Carl Schmalz, Jr.

1926 - 2013

Kennebunk, Maine - Carl N. Schmalz, Jr., 86, of Kennebunk, formerly of Pelham, died Feb. 22 at Seal Rock Healthcare Facility in Saco, Maine.
Born Dec. 26, 1926, in Ann Arbor, MI, he was the son of the late Carl N. Schmalz and Esther (Fowler) Schmalz of Belmont, MA.
Mr. Schmalz earned A.B, A.M. and PhD degrees in Fine Arts from Harvard University. He was awarded an honorary degree by Amherst College. He studied watercolor painting with Eliot O'Hara in 1943 and 1944 and began a long teaching career while instructing at the O'Hara School at Goose Rocks Beach in 1946 and 1947.
As assistant professor at Bowdoin College from 1952 to 1962 he taught both the history and the practice of art, while serving simultaneously as curator and ultimately as associate director of the Walker Art Museum.
He moved to Amherst College in 1962, and was made full professor in 1969. In that year he also inaugurated the popular summer Watercolor Workshops that he ran for twenty years in Kennebunkport, ME. He retired from Amherst College at the end of 1994, but enjoyed teaching watercolor painting at Rock Gardens Inn, Sebasco Estates, ME since the early '90's. He also taught at the Heartwood College of Art in Kennebunk until his recent hospitalization.
At various times he held a wide range of public service positions: Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Portland (ME) Art Museum of Art; member of the Executive Board of Interfaith Housing Corporation, Amherst; President, Board of Trustees, Amherst Day School; Art Consultant, O'Hara Picture Trust; Chairman, Board of Assessors, Pelham; Expert Witness; Pelham Arts Lottery Council member; Consultant on Undergraduate Science Education, National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Schmalz was the author of several books on watercolor painting and of articles in professional journals. He taught classes, jurored many exhibitions, and lectured on the subject of watercolor painting throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and Bermuda. His work won him election as a charter member of the Watercolor U.S.A. Honor Society and national and regional prizes. His watercolors were handled by galleries in Maine, Florida, Bermuda and Boston, and his paintings hang in numerous public collections and in hundreds of private homes. He painted landscapes in Britain and Europe and loved Italy especially. Apart from the Indian sub-continent, he painted on each of the globe's continents. In recent years his particular focus was still life.
He leaves his wife, Dolores T. Schmalz; his son Mathew N. Schmalz and his wife Kristin, his daughter Julia I. Schmalz and her partner Janice. He is also survived by two grandchildren, Anna Teresa and Katherine Dolores Schmalz; two brothers, Robert F. Schmalz of State College, PA., and David H. Schmalz of Amsterdam, Holland. A second son, Stephen Theodore Schmalz predeceased him.
A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11AM on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at Holy Spirit Parish - St. Martha's Church in Kennebunk.
Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be directed to the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. PO Box 7004, Cape Porpoise, ME 04014.
Arrangements are in care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer Street, Kennebunk. www.bibberfuneral.com
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