obituary
Connie L. Zehr, age 87, passed away on Friday, April 4, 2025 at her home in Horseheads, NY after battling a lengthy illness.
She was born on January 17, 1938 in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Donald Zehr and Bernice (Stivers) Zehr. Connie was a life-long artist who led a full, interesting, and accomplished life. She was raised on her grandfather’s farm in Indiana, growing up in Indiana and Ohio. At the age of 16, she moved with her family to India in the early 1950’s where her father served on a US agricultural assistance program following India’s independence. In 1960, she earned a BFA degree from Ohio State University, where she met and later married David Elder, also an artist. The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1964, where she later became one of the key artists associated with the “Light and Space Movement,” building a reputation as an installation artist using sand as her primary medium. Starting in the late 1970s, she then began teaching art at the university level, first at California State University, Fullerton as a visiting artist. She ultimately joined Claremont Graduate University in 1981 where she became a professor in the art department, department chair, before retiring in 2009 as a Professor Emeritus.
In 2010, she moved to Horseheads, NY where she quickly integrated into the area’s art scene. She was a member of the State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, NY for many years. She continued making artwork until shortly before her death. Her work has been featured in hundreds of group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Taipei Fine Art Museum in Taiwan, and as recently as 2022 her work was exhibited in the Copenhagen Contemporary art center in Copenhagen, Denmark. An extensive collection of her papers, journals, and sketchbooks was archived by the Smithsonian in their Archives of American Art in 2021.
Connie is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Eric and Angie Elder of Corning, NY, her granddaughter Lauren Elder of Schaumburg, IL, and her partner Cornelius "Pepsi" Lyon of Elmira, NY. In addition to her parents, Connie was predeceased by the father of her children, David Elder in February of 2023 and her youngest son, Chris Elder in January of 2012.
Inquiries may be directed to Mr. Eric Elder (Trustee of the Connie Zehr Family Trust) at: elderberrys@hotmail.com.