Richardson (Paszek), Anne Worsham
Richardson taught herself to paint while growing up, eventually settling on birds as the primary subjects of most of her works. She received permits to create a wildlife sanctuary on James Island, South Carolina, where she rehabilitated birds and other wildlife and used them as models for her paintings.
Artist. Richardson was born October 22, 1919, in Turbeville, South Carolina, the daughter of George T. Worsham and Jessie Phillips Worsham. She was a graduate of Clarendon County High School.
Richardson taught herself to paint while growing up, eventually settling on birds as the primary subjects of most of her works. She received permits to create a wildlife sanctuary on James Island, South Carolina, where she rehabilitated birds and other wildlife and used them as models for her paintings. There she also raised several orphaned deer and released them back into the wild. She often lectured about her efforts and opened her home to many schoolchildren and other educational groups to share her love for nature. Her desire was that her paintings would give others an appreciation and respect for life and instill in them the need to protect natural resources. Anne and her husband, Johannes Peter Paszek, founded the Birds I View Gallery on Church Street and ran it for forty years, making it one of the oldest continuing art galleries in Charleston. Her work was exhibited in the Gibbes Museum of Art, New York’s Kennedy Galleries, the California State Museum, the Morton Arboretum in Chicago, and even a castle in Glucksburg, Germany, at the behest of Prince Friedrich Ferdinand.
She was the first female painter of birds to be selected by the National Wildlife Federation to receive the “Art Print of the Year” award. President Gerald R. Ford and Senator Strom Thurman invited Richardson to the White House to hear Melanie Gause Harris read “A Profile: Anne Worsham Richardson, Every Day a Celebration” into the Congressional Record. Richardson was the official painter of the state bird (Carolina wren) and flower (yellow jessamine), and the state butterfly (tiger swallow-tail). In 2012 she was honored to be one of that year’s Inspiring Women by Women in Philanthropy and Leadership for Coastal Carolina University. Anne was one of the seven founders of the Charleston Artist Guild, and she served as its treasurer, vice president, president, and director. Richardson died on September 2, 2012.
“Meet Anne Worsham Richardson.” Anne Worsham Richardson: Birds I View Gallery. Accessed June 12, 2012. http://www.anneworshamrichardson.com/artist.htm
Richardson, Anne Worsham. South Carolina Hall of Fame Files. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, S.C.
“Wildlife Artist Anne Worsham Richardson Dies.” Post and Courier, September 4, 2012
