Also published Dec. 4, 2014, in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star

River City Art Association and the Vigo County Public Library will feature oil paintings by Della Bender throughout December in the library at Seventh and Poplar streets.

Hidden Getaway by Della Bender

Bender attended Marshall High School, graduated from Terre Haute Commercial College and married Claude Bender on a military base in Florida during WWII. After the war, they relocated to Chicago, and eventually to Seelyville, where she and her husband began a family trucking company delivering clay products.

Throughout those years, Bender yearned to express herself artistically. Her opportunity came when retired Indiana State art professor Evelyn Gertrude James offered plein air classes.

After three years with James, Bender soon was doing commission paintings, receiving accolades, and exhibiting at Brazil banks. Her love of nature and wildlife are apparent in her landscapes done in oil. She went on to teach art at the Glenn Civic Center in East Glenn until her health required her to “lay down the brush.” Now widowed, Bender is spending her “golden years” in Terre Haute with her son and his wife.

Bird’s Eye View by Della Bender

Bender’s artwork also may be viewed in January in the RCAA Artist of the Month gallery in Sycamore Manor and in February in the AOTM gallery in Harrison College.

For details on RCAA membership contact officers Todd Stokes at 812-232-0048 or Mike Bender at 812-251-7724.