Family, friends mourn the death of local artist By META HEMENWAY-FORBES, Courier Staff Writer The Cedar Valley lost a true masterpiece Saturday with the death of local artist and teacher Renate Nadler. Nadler, 71, died at Allen Hospital over the weekend of natural causes, leaving many to mourn the woman who made creating beautiful art her life's work. "She was a very gifted and talented artist and one of the sweetest people in the whole world," said Maureen Newbill of' the Waterloo Center for the Arts business and marketing office. "It's certainly a loss to the center and to all of us who. were fortunate enough to have known her." Nadler taught art classes at the Waterloo Museum of Art for many years. She worked a great deal with the Junior Art Gallery and the youth who were involved there. "She would be working on something and let the kids visit her while she was working," Newbill said. "She was very interactive with the young people." Along with the Museum of Art,, Nadler taught art classes at East High and Hoover Middle schools. Teaching students the beauty and joy of art was her passion, friends said. "Teachers affect lots of people in ways you can't even imagine. She was very giving in her teaching technique and in helping people reach their potential," Newbill said. In 1986 Nadler was commissioned by the Waterloo Recreation Commission to paint a 7-yard by 48-inch mural in the Waterloo Recreation Center, now the Waterloo Center for the Arts. It took her six weeks to complete the piece, which she titled, "Improvisation." The piece still hangs at the center. "It's a very fluid piece with bright wonderful colors," Newbill said. Many of Nadler's paintings were exhibited in Waterloo and other Iowa cities. In December 1987 she was named Artist of the Month by the Waterloo Art Association. Several years ago Nadler was the artist in residence at the Waterloo Center for the Arts. Nadler was born August 21, 1929, in Konstanz, Germany, daughter of Alfred and Fanny Wolf Rothschild. Her interest and talent in art came at an early age, in part because of her parents' talent, she said in a 1986 Courier article. She completed her first drawings before starting school in pre-World War II Germany. Her family was uprooted during the war when they fled from the Nazis, and she and her brother spent a year in a Swiss children's home before they were reunited with their parents. Nadler's fascination with art grew after her family settled in New York where she spent hours perusing art galleries. She attended Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids after the family came to Iowa and took private art lessons with Sister Mary Norbert, who had studied with Grant Wood. She attended Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls, where she earned an art education degree. Also a talented violinist, Nadler played with the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra for 20 years. She was also dedicated to animal rights and was a member of the Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project. Graveside services were Monday at Beth Olom Section of Memorial Park Cemetery, with burial there. Memorials may be directed to Sons Of Jacob Synagogue or the Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project. Copyright Waterloo Courier October 24, 2000, page B4.
