By Lisa Robinson
William (Bill) Irwin was born in San Francisco, California in 1903, son of painter Hallie Hyde and journalist Will Irwin. In 1904, Hallie and son Bill settled in Brookdale on the chicken ranch of Will’s father David and brother Herman, after whom Irwin Way was named. He was raised in an artistic home, and was first taught to paint by his multi-talented mother.
Following his education at Stanford University where he majored in entomology, he pursued art studies at the California School of Arts and Crafts, Académies Moderne and Colarossi in Paris, and after serving in the army during WWII, he earned a masters degree at UC Berkeley.
In 1933, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported of him: “Art Student from Paris Not Above Decorating Interior of Felton School.” In the 1930s, he was one of a select number of California artists to be chosen to paint for the Civil Works Administration for which he painted a mural of a cattle ranch for the old customs house in Monterey and a mural that was to be installed in Washington DC.
He taught art at Santa Cruz High School in the 1930s and at San Francisco State College in the late 1940s. In 1939, he built the Santa Cruz County exhibit for the Treasure Island Fair.
He was a member of the Santa Cruz Art League, the San Francisco Art Association, the Carmel Art Association, and the California Watercolor Society.
He was foremost an artist working in a variety of media, but also a writer, editor, and renowned horticulturalist. He edited the Riptide newspaper, which was published weekly in Brookdale, and wrote and edited the Pogonip Club Bulletin under the name “Nipper” for the polo club of which he was also a member.
As a horticulturalist, he was interested in hybridizing and propagating plants. He was a president of the Monterey Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society and he won awards for his plants.
He died on November 10, 1982 in Santa Cruz.
Pictured here is a watercolor by William H. Irwin from the collection of the San Lorenzo Valley Museum and it is one of the works currently on display in the exhibition Retrospect – An exhibition of Art by San Lorenzo Valley Artist of the Past. The exhibition features 13 local artists and over 30 works. This image depicts the Swarthout home, which was located on the corner of Highway 9 and Mountain Street. The lot is currently occupied by Fosters Freeze. Myron Swarthout also operated a skating rink at that location. When the rink was demolished in 1922, it was reported to be one of the oldest buildings on the main street of the former town of Lorenzo. .
