Happiness is a journey, not a destination… (Souza) Please enjoy my Journey.

Rhonda Polen Wernick was born to Arlene and Leo Polen in Chicago, Illinois. Her father Leo, a Holocaust survivor, instilled in her compassion and a love of life that projects in her artwork. Rhonda was in art classes before kindergarten and won her first award for a painting during one of those classes. Piano started at 6 as did dance. After years of piano, art and dance lessons, she decided on a degree in Commercial Art from Central State University, in Edmond, Oklahoma, now known as The University of Central Oklahoma.

Rhonda worked in Oklahoma as a freelance artist, illustrator and art director before having 2 children. After that teaching private art classes kept her busy as well as publishing 2 books on painting technique; Sophisticated Touch and Contours. The publications of those books led to demonstrating for fine art paint and brush companies at trade shows.

Growing up, Rhonda had always loved dancing with her father at social and family gatherings. That love eventually drew her to a ballroom dance studio in Oklahoma City. They taught her steps, and in turn found in her an artist to paint their t-shirts, studio and sets. Rhonda discovered she was born to dance as well as to paint and first competed in ballroom dance in 1990. The two were a perfect match and led her to paint and illustrate ballroom dancing until 2007. A job opportunity for her husband moved their family to Nashville in 1994, and together they started DancingArt®. For 13 years, Rhonda traveled the US displaying her artwork and novelty items. Her work has appeared in numerous dance publications, on book covers and CD covers, and in a set design for the MGM movie “A Guy Thing”. She is nationally recognized as the premier dance illustrator in the industry. Studios and events around the world display her work as logos and awards. “DancingArt®” has sold pieces worldwide and now provides originals, prints, note cards, and stationery.

 2007 brought to Rhonda a desire to get back to painting a broader spectrum of subjects. This new phase of her art “blossomed,” reflecting her love for flowers, which she photographs on location and grows in her garden. Friendship and pets are also frequent subjects of her latest works, which direct the passion inherent in her dance pieces into portrayals of intimate conversation among friends, family portraits  and the beauty of her garden’s bounty. She also creates realistic images of wine and other beverages. Her technical skill, use of color and stroke, and depth of feeling, combine to produce engaging images.

The Ballroom Dance Center invites you to join us for the Wernick Exhibit being showcased at the Museum of Dance History in Museum After Dark at the Ballroom Dance Center on May 2, 3, and 4, 2025. Her original canvases and prints will be on display and are for sale. You can purchase a piece of art for yourself to take home after the show. You can meet Rhonda at a Meet & Greet with her at the Friday and Saturday shows of Museum After Dark.

Photograph and bio from https://www.dancingart.com.