At the heart of the art

SHE IS

Passionate about art and people, a source of knowledge for the

seekers.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLASS

Looking through her half moon-shaped window in the Laguna Art

Museum bookstore where she works, Eloise Woolcott praises the ocean

and palm trees just on the other side of the glass.

Outside lies Laguna Beach, where Woolcott has lived for the past

eight years. On the inside, the walls are lined with precious

souvenirs and filled with books featuring the most recent museum

exhibits, handmade pendulum clocks and artistic journals.

Woolcott waits behind the counter, ready to share the knowledge

that she has gained from the past two years of working in the store

and the previous three years of volunteering in the museum. When

anyone approaches the counter to make a purchase, she bubbles with

enthusiasm, passionate about the item as though she were buying it

herself.

AN INTERNATIONAL MEETING PLACE

Small in size, the Laguna Art Museum bookstore attracts as many as

1,500 visitors per day from as far away as Saudi Arabia and

Australia. Woolcott thrives in this international melting pot and

uncovers commonalities with all visitors through simple conversation.

“I receive so much emotionally, psychologically, intellectually,

spiritually from everyone that comes in here,” she said.

Although her job requires her to unpack and rearrange inventory,

most important to Woolcott is that when the visitors leave the

museum, “they feel better for being here and their day takes on a

lighter cast, a happier cast.”

A WORK IN PROGRESS

Woolcott regards her work and personal life as a road with

detours, but with a definite destination. Dedicating her life to her

four children and her mother, she has had little time for herself.

Now that her children are grown up and her mother has passed away,

Woolcott is beginning to nurture and care for herself.

Surrounded by art, she is allowing her artistic side to come out

for the very first time. Describing herself as a frustrated artist,

she used to cry to her mother that she couldn’t paint or draw,

“I see it, I feel it and I smell the paint, I smell all the

flowers, but I can’t put it on canvas.”

Her mother would console her, “You grow them, and I’ll paint

them.”

Until she is able to paint flowers herself, she is enjoying her

work with the people who have become like a family. And, in a lot of

ways, as she is looking out of her window, she doesn’t even feel like

she is at work.

“I treasure this experience,” she said. “I wake up and say, ‘Thank

you God for the privilege of working in Laguna Beach, the warmth, the

caring of the entire community, and, on top of it all, being able to

represent the museum, this atmosphere.’”

-- Story by Sara Wilson,

photo by Don Leach