Born 1893 in Wisconsin, Wilmot Emerton Heitland was an illustrator and painter trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For a time, he was president of the American Watercolor Society. He also painted numerous illustrations depicting high society that were published in magazines such as: Collier’s, Women’s Home Companion, Cosmopolitan, and McCall’s, throughout the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Later, Heitland moved on to paint and teach at the Art Club. His paintings can be found in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Brooklyn Museum; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and locally at the Museum of Fine Arts, William R. Hough and Co., Stetson College of Law Library, and the Poynter Institute. Heitland moved to St. Petersburg because of the active Art Club here. He had a solo show of his work at the Art Club in 1963, and served as the exhibition chairman in 1964.