A spare bedroom in the Boston home of Joe Cronin is something of an art gallery, with more than 20 landscapes and seascapes on walls — all painted by the 50-year AASA member. An avid painter since age 10 when his mother dispatched him to the city’s renowned Museum of Fine Arts to stay out of trouble,
Cronin relied on his hobby as a stress-relieving diversion during his career as a chief state school officer in Massachusetts and Illinois and a college president. Those roles demanded the same concentration and attention as his avocation. Cronin, 80, has signed off on more than 100 acrylic paintings on canvas, 25 of which have been sold at charity auctions to benefit Boston Children’s Hospital and other groups.
A custom painting has been promised to each of his 19 grandchildren upon their graduation from college. “I like to acknowledge the fact that they hung in there for education,” says the retiree. With five down and 14 to go, Cronin is stocking up on art supplies!
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