E. Carey Kenney’s paintings depicting the beauty of McDonogh’s campus can be found in offices, libraries, and meeting spaces across campus, but his mural in Memorial Field House is likely the most well-known. The three panels in the foyer of the field house greet visitors and depict life at McDonogh as he saw it — the work program, military service, and the academic program.
Kenney came to McDonogh in 1947 after serving in World War II. An artist, he says he fell in love with the woods, fields, farmland, and intermittent streams on campus and discovered a skill he didn’t know he possessed — teaching. For 33 years, “the Colonel” as he was called, taught students to see the beauty of things.
As his former student, Stiles Colwill ‘70, remarked in the forward to the book, E. Carey Kenney’s McDonogh, “The Colonel not only passed on to us his vision, but also molded us to have visions of our own and helped give us strength to carry them out. This is the greatest achievement a teacher can have. For this and his beautiful works, we are grateful.”
