2025 Ohio Watercolor Society Jim Brower Lifetime Achievement Award

Cathy Welner

Richfield, Ohio

Cathy Welner was born in Syracuse New York to James and Viola Panto of Sicilian and Italian descent. An only child, Cathy grew up in a multilingual extended family home with her parents, grandparents, an aunt, an uncle, a cousin and a dog that understood the language. Cathy‘s mother, a beautiful and extraordinary woman who loved to paint and draw, was a great inspiration to her daughter. No surprise then that art and music always filled the house, and Cathy was encouraged to take singing, dancing and Saturday-morning art classes as a child.
 
Upon graduating high school Cathy attended the State University Of New York at Cortland, (SUNY) from which she graduated with a BS degree in Education. She also met her future husband there. After marriage and a brief stint of teaching, they started their family and eventually had three children, David, Sharon and Lauri. As they grew, Cathy decided after a time to pursue her interest in art and began taking classes with Lowell Ellsworth Smith of Hudson, Ohio as well as other local, national and international artists available at the time.  As her own style began to emerge, she was encouraged to start teaching. And so the Journey began!
 

Joining the fledgling Ohio Watercolor Society shortly after its inception, Cathy was elected to signature membership in 1980 and subsequently served as Treasurer in the early 1980s. She has been a frequent exhibitor in the annual juried exhibition (Watercolor Ohio) and elected to the selection committee in 1983. During her years participating in Watercolor Ohio, Cathy has had two paintings selected for purchase for the OWS Permanent Collection; and among other awards she was given the Gold Buckeye Leaf Award in 2020 for her painting Winter Woods.

Besides membership in the OWS, Cathy’s associations with art and in particular with watercolor painting has led to exhibitions locally, nationally and internationally since the 1970’s, and she has won many awards and honors. She was elected to lifetime membership in the Whisky Painters of America and in 2024, to signature membership in the American Watercolor Society. 

Cathy was a freelance artist for the American Greetings Corporation, based in Westlake, Ohio; and she is a member of the Hudson Society of Artists (Hudson, Ohio) where she founded (and chaired for 43 years!) Hudson Art on the Green, a juried fine arts and crafts show that features works of over 140 exhibitors.

While Cathy’s artistic talent is undisputed, the most enduring legacy is probably her devotion to teaching. Cathy has taught workshops around the country and for several summers on Lake Como, Italy. Closer to home, Cathy was on the faculty of The Department of Continuing Education at the Cleveland Institute of Art and for many years has taught workshops and classes at The Cliffside Artists Collaborative (Hinckley, Ohio), which is committed to art education and to the encouragement of young artists planning a career in art.
 
Cathy says, “I would never have met some of the people or gone to some of the places I’ve been if it wasn’t for this wonderful world of art.  What a blessing!”