Dianne Dengel

Dianne was a self taught artist living in Rochester, NY and was known as the artist who, “painted with her fingers and rolled bits of paper.” Raised in a tiny home that her father built with found lumber scraps in 1949, she displayed artistic talent at a very young age. Unable to afford brushes, she developed her skill with her fingers and implements of rolled paper to apply paint in unique ways. With this new found method, she began painting commissioned portraits by the time she was sixteen, and soon was traveling to shows with her mother demonstrating her style.
Dianne’s claim to fame came in 1984 when Fred Rogers, from “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” while going through his fathers’ belongings, found a portrait drawing Dianne had drawn of his father. Fred loved the portrait of his father so much he sent a talent scout to Rochester to visit with Dianne and see if she was interested in painting his portrait too.
Happily to oblige, the television crew came in to Dianne’s small home and began filming for what took two days. She completed half of a portrait on air and Mr. Rogers then commissioned her to do another. He was delighted when Dianne showed him the completed painting of himself surrounded by all of his puppets.
Dianne left her legacy of images filled with love and laughter and colorful memories.