Since it opened last fall, the Iola Elementary School has incorporated the history of schools that came before it.
District officials moved a historic bell thought to have hung in a tower at the very first Iola school. The bell spent decades at Jefferson Elementary School. It was restored and now sits in front of IES.
Historians led by Donna Houser installed pieces of art with photos of all the district’s former elementary schools in the hallway of IES.
Now, another piece of history has moved to the new school.
A painting of a one-room schoolhouse by the late local artist Gary Hawk has been lovingly restored by his grandson. It hung at Lincoln Elementary School for nearly 50 years and will now be prominently displayed in a conference room at IES.
Michael Smail of Overland Park, an artist in his own right who will have a showing at a Chanute gallery in June, was asked to restore the watercolor painting.
Michael is the son of Hawk’s daughter, Deb Smail. He grew up helping his grandfather at his art studio.
“My first job was to frame all of Grandpa’s prints. I spent my whole life with him. When I was a child, he had me in cowboy boots, calling people in to see his demonstrations and helping sell his artwork,” Michael said.
“I pretty much modeled my entire career after Grandpa. My style is very different — I’m obviously not as country as he was — but I’m chasing the art dream. To touch one of his paintings and get a chance to restore something he did, that means a lot. It’s special.”
AT LINCOLN, the painting hung in the hallway to a small room just past the office. The room often was used as a nurse’s station.
Several of the Hawk family members became teachers who worked for USD 257. One of them encouraged administrators to save the painting.
IES Principal Andy Gottlob credited Superintendent Stacey Fager for a commitment to recognizing the district’s history. They secured the painting and asked the Hawk family for help.
The back of the painting was damaged and the old frame was in poor condition. Some of the colors also had faded.
“A watercolor is very susceptible to light and it has sustained some damage,” Michael explained.
“There’s definitely some sun bleaching that’s occurred to this piece, so that’s why I went with a black frame and white mat, to help rejuvenate some of that color and make it appear brighter.”
For the project, Michael used Hawk’s mat cutter, which his grandmother gave to him after Hawk’s passing on Jan. 1, 2022.
During the restoration process, Michael explained he didn’t touch up the painting but rather, “I dissected it.”
He carefully removed old tape, cleaned the surface and used acid-free materials for the backing and mat, noting that Hawk would not have understood the effect of such material at the time he created the piece. He custom-built the frame, a skill he learned while working with his grandfather as a child.
On the back of the painting, they found a note dated Feb. 13, 1977, explaining the painting was donated to Lincoln School by the Parent-Teacher Association as part of a Founders Day celebration. An article in The Register on Feb. 17, 1977, also reported the gift.
“The two ladies responsible for picking this painting as a gift were Charmaine Campanini and Sally Huskey. The painting was framed by Bob Hawk. Further to the artist, the painting is to be on permanent display at Lincoln School,” the note read.
Michael and Deb added to the note, explaining the restoration process.
Gottlob planned to hang the painting in a conference room at IES.
THE PAINTING features a red, one-room schoolhouse in a rural setting, showing a barbed-wire fence with a wooden gate, a swingset and trees.
According to Deb, the schoolhouse isn’t modeled off any particular building but likely inspired by the Deer Creek School at Carlyle, where Hawk attended school with a teacher named “Miss Kincaid.” That school building was white, not red.
Because of the date, she realized the painting is one of Hawk’s earliest commissioned pieces. He worked for corporations such as Hallmark, American Greeting Cards and Boeing before he decided to become a full-time, professional artist in 1976. He painted his most iconic piece, “The Saddle,” in 1977 and became nationally recognized for his Western-themed work. Many of his pieces can be found throughout the local community.
Michael pointed out he was born in 1978, making it even more special to be able to work on a piece “that predates me by a year.”
It was an honor to restore his grandfather’s work, Michael said.
“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t say, ‘I want to be an artist.’ He made it look easier than it is.”
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