La Villita

In 1946, Warren Hunter returned to Texas to open his Hunter School of Art in La Villita, an older, historical section of San Antonio. He started with a total of 6 students. Instruction included commercial and fine art. Many of his first students went on to become successful artists. One was a noted fashion illustrator, Celine Fielden, who later became his wife.
During the day, he taught at the San Antonio Art Institute. In 1950, Hunter was named Dean of the San Antonio Art Institute. As an administrator, he found too many “hard to please old ladies.” (personal communication) There were a lot of administrative headaches and too little time to paint.
As an alternative, he opened the school at 810 Brooklyn Street in San Antonio. Warren expanded the school to include daytime classes. He offered a strong commercial art program, but the State of Texas gradually added more rules and regulations than he wanted to deal with, and after a few years, he reduced the program to drawing and painting.