Bonnie Benschneider Obituary

"B. Woolsey" passed from this earth on October 6, 2006, in the loving arms of her daughter and in the caring comfort of Odyssey Hospice. "B" had boundless energy, always enthusiastic about what she was doing and her next idea; always interested with what was going on in the world. Bonnie went through life exploring the next horizon, always looking ahead with so many expectations. Liturgical art was Bonnie's life's passion. Her dramatic and colorful liturgical works include more than 50 massive contemporary paintings, primarily focusing on the Book of Revelations. In her career, she completed a broad range of commissioned paintings, sculpture, portraits and interior design installations. She attended Iowa State Teacher's College, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Grant Wood's Stone City Art Colony and Walker Art Center and first came to Colorado Springs in the mid-1940s as a Fine Arts Center scholarship student. Bonnie founded the Plaza Art Gallery, the first cooperative artist's gallery in Colorado Springs which exhibited works of artists such as Starr Kempf and Lawrence Barrett. She was a charter member of the National League of American Pen Women and of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. She received many awards for her work, including a Tiffany Foundation Award by the American Academy of Design. She is preceded by her husband and partner in art, L. H. "Ben" Benschneider, who began the Colorado College Photography Institute and was a Time-Life photographer. She will be lovingly remembered by her many friends and her son Ben Benschneider, her daughter Bonnie Olson, her son-in-law Eric Olson, her sister, Helen Gifford, her two grandsons Steven and Nick Olson, and her four great grand children. A Memorial Service and celebration of her joyous spirit will be held on Friday, October 13, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in her former studio home at 2704 N. Cascade Avenue. Flowers may be delivered to Cappadonis Funeral Home at 1020 E. Fillmore.