Janet "Wendy" (née Wendt) Warner (American, 1926-2025) was a painter, patron and naturalist born on June 22, 1926 in Buffalo, New York, to the late Henry W. and Edith Marianne Ihde Wendt. She attended Buffalo Seminary in Buffalo, NY and earned her Associate Degree in Sculpture from Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers (now Bronxville), NY where she had studied with Concetta Scaravaglione. She also studied with Jean V. MacKay Henrich at the Art Institute of Buffalo and under Robert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) for several years alongside fellow painter Estelle Lutz.
Wendy gravitated to watercolor to depict the light and seasonal changes in her landscapes, although she also painted in oils and acrylics. She was a highly accomplished artist who started her career in sculpture before turning to watercolor and oil painting. Her subject matter typically includes impressionistic landscapes using the transparent watercolor method. In addition to our regional landscape, she found quiet inspirational places to paint in Vermont, Arizona, and Montana. In her lifetime, she created more than a thousand paintings, drawings and sketches.
Wendy’s art, which won several awards over the years, was featured in many exhibitions throughout the Western New York area including the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, in which her work is part of their permanent collection (5 works). Others exhibitions include: The Kenan Center, Lockport, NY, the Anderson Gallery, the Albright Knox Art Gallery, both in Buffalo, NY and the Chautauqua Art Association. She participated in more than 75 National juried exhibitions to include: The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH; Hoyt Center for the Arts in New Castle, PA; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Watercolor Society and Washington Watercolor Club at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Her art is in numerous private and corporate collections in the U.S., Canada and Germany.
Wendy was a longtime Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts board member and worked on many local art events. She also provided camaraderie among Western New York artists and was a member of the Buffalo Society of Artists. She was instrumental in supporting numerous exhibitions at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, including such major retrospectives as Bruce Kurland: Insight into Still Life in 1983 and Robert N. Blair and the Watercolor Tradition in Western New York in 2000, and An Alternative Course: The Art Institute of Buffalo (1931-1956) in 2006. She was also an avid conservationist, and her love of hiking and horseback riding took her to remote spots that provided the inspiration for her work. She married Murray W. Warner on March 27, 1948, and children included, Sandra Warner and Steven C. Warner. Wendy Warner passed away on April 6, 2025 at Shenango Presbyterian Senior Care, New Wilmington, PA.
(Sources: Brief biographical information, burchfieldpenney.org; Obituary, New Castle News, online obituary, obituaries.ncnewsonline.com, "Janet Wendt Warner (Wendy), June 22, 1926 - April 6, 2025".)
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