Boy Scout Mitch McEvoy, 12, of Fowler, talks with National Chair for Boy Scouts of America Dan Ownby as Ownby signs a special patch for him Sunday morning at the Medici Museum.

By SEAN BARRON

Correspondent

HOWLAND — Norman Rockwell incorporated humor, levity, wit and relatable slices of American wholesomeness and innocence in most of his paintings that went a long way toward filling an overriding niche, especially during times of war and tremendous strife.

Even during the Great Depression, welcomed messages of hope and optimism found their way onto the vast majority of the Saturday Evening Post covers he painted.

These idyllic themes course through the many works the prolific painter and illustrator created that also captured the early days of Scouting. Over time, one additional quality seeped into these pieces of art: diversity.

“The U.S. has changed a lot,” Dan Ownby, the Boy Scouts of America’s national chair, observed while visiting the Medici Museum of Art on Sunday to see and critique the vast Rockwell collection the BSA owns. “He was showing the diversity of the world.”

Ownby, of Houston, noted that many of Rockwell’s later works depicting Scouting show subjects that are black, white, Latino and Asian. One such oil painting, “Breakthrough for Freedom,” which was a 1967 calendar illustration for the Boy Scouts of America, shows six Scouts walking and each carrying a flag that represents his country.

Ownby, who also has worked in the oil and pipeline gas industry, made his observations during the special program at the museum, 9350 E. Market St. He also was on hand to meet with several dozen local and regional Scouts.

Besides “Breakthrough,” Ownby cited as one of his favorite Rockwell pieces “On to Washington,” which captures what was supposed to be the BSA’s National Jamboree in Washington, D.C., in 1935 to celebrate Scouting’s 25th anniversary. However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation canceling the event because of a polio outbreak.

The jamboree was rescheduled for late June and early July 1937, an event Ownby’s grandfather attended, he said.

Another of his favorites was “A Good Sign All Over the World,” which captures a sense of international harmony in Scouting, Ownby continued.

Beginning in 1913, Rockwell painted covers for Boys’ Life, the Scouting magazine, and became its art director. In the mid-1920s, the artist started painting the Boy Scouts calendar, which displayed his paintings annually for more than 50 years.

Ownby also shared with the area Boy Scouts and others several stories and facts related to Scouting around the world. Ownby described its status in countries and continents such as Sri Lanka, Australia, Cuba, the Philippines and even Antarctica, where some Scouts once applied to conduct a research project.

“I’ve been there three times,” Ownby said about the Philippines, noting that Scouting there is similar in many respects to that in the U.S.

Scouting also was active in Cuba until President Fidel Castro gained power in the late 1950s, he added.

Ownby, who began as a Cub Scout in Tulsa, Okla., recalled having spent 15 to 20 years focused on international Scouting that took him to many regions of the world. Today, more than 60 million Scouts represent more than 170 countries worldwide, he noted.

While conducting a tour of the collection, Ned Gold, a Warren attorney, praised Rockwell’s attention to detail and cited his love of dogs, which is prominently shown in the artist’s family section of paintings. He also described as “iconic” Rockwell’s 1932 oil painting “A Scout is Loyal” that shows a Boy Scout standing at attention, with a shadow of President George Washington and a bald eagle behind him.

In addition, Gold urged the Scouts to visit the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M., a 140,000-acre spread often referred to as the “mecca of Scouting.” Among other things, Philmont offers gold mining, horseback riding, burro packing and other programs in line with the Old West concept, according to its website.

Also highly intrigued with Rockwell’s sense of realism was Mitchell McEvoy, 12, of Fowler, who’s also part of Howland-based Boy Scout Troop 122.

“He seems like a big part of Scouting. His works are very realistic,” said Mitchell, a seventh-grader at Bio-Med Science Academy in Rootstown. “It’s like I’m looking at a real person, and that’s a very hard thing to do in a painting.”

Mitchell, who joined Scouting in first grade, said it would be “cool to be an artist,” but that the main challenge would be building enough popularity to make his work stand out.

Ownby, who attended Sunday’s gathering in full Scout gear, said he’s grateful that the Boy Scouts of America has shown greater inclusivity and diversity.

“Now, the market is everyone,” he said.

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