Murals a mystery in MHS old commons

Post date: Feb 28, 2017 8:55:22 PM

Luke Seidel

Reporter

They loom over us. Hanging on the walls, blending into them. Our school houses very few works of art, but the most notable are those in the Old Commons. Every painting in the Old Commons lacks a visible title. The three in particular that I've researched, examined, and criticized are the oldest and most enormous. They’re as wide as my house is long. The amount of space they take up on the wall is surely equal to the square footage of a luxurious loft apartment in downtown Fargo.

For your sake, and mine, I've nicknamed these unnamed works “Past, present, and future.” The paintings focus on historical moments, and figures from the distant past in one section, the activities at Moorhead High in another section, and the development for the future in the last. “The Scream” by Edvard Munch is another abstract-expressionist piece that has similarities, even a similar color scheme to “Past, present, and future.” These oranges, greens, greys, and browns, flow through the older areas of the building. The piece doesn’t depict much depth, but a flat feeling of dimension. This flat sense of distance remains constant with expressionist pieces. “Past, present, and future” focuses on people, the students, teachers, general people of our community, and the world. Almost every face in the crowd stares forward, out toward the audience and viewers. They look to the future, to the new opportunities at their feet, the new life ahead of them.

As I stare at these three colossal, humongous paintings, questions race around my head. “How did they hang this piece?” “Where did they have the space to paint this?” “How many hours did this take?” Well, very few, If any of my questions were answered in my quest for information about this piece. Mr. Carlson, an art teacher at MHS, was unable to identify the piece, or any other information on their history. Even the Administrative Office had no information or way of finding any of the details on this piece. The only “water mark” or clue left to me are the names of the artists. While students at MHS, John Robert Carlander and Douglas Allan Eckheart created the piece. Both of these men went on to become art educators. Eckheart started teaching at Luther College in 1968, and retired there in 2009. His painting, “Ohio Cathedrals,” holds a striking resemblance to the paintings at MHS. Carlander, the only surviving collaborator, taught at Concordia College from 1969-1972, and lectured across the country after that. Currently, he is director at the Red River Art Center.

“Past, present, and future” still burns in my mind simply because of the pure mystery. The answers are so close, but unattainable. Although most of the patrons of MHS don't notice this piece, it will stay hanging on the wall, a fixture of the high school, it will stay and most likely die with the building. A captain must go down with her ship, as “Past, present, and future” must die with MHS.