Anne Worsham Richardson

For years, local brides were rarely surprised — and usually delighted — to receive a framed Anne Worsham Richardson print as a gift. If not a Carolina Wren, then owls or ducks or cardinals.

If an artist’s success can be measured in her work’s sustained popularity, Mrs. Richardson Paszek earned the designation. Even as artistic styles have changed, her watercolor depictions of magnolias or a dove or a woodpecker still can be found in traditional parlors throughout the Lowcountry and beyond.

But Mrs. Richardson Paszek’s legacy goes beyond her art work. She inspired young artists. She was a founder of the Charleston Artists Guild 60 years ago to help artists and promote the visual arts. That was before Charleston came to be known for its extensive and varied community of artists — before art walks were part of the regular social scene.

She didn’t just paint birds. She appreciated them. She and her husband, John P. Paszek, maintained a bird sanctuary on Elliott’s Cut in Riverland Terrace. She studied birds. And she gave lectures about birds.

Anne Worsham Richardson died Sunday at the age of 92. She will be remembered for painting nature’s lovely features and thereby working to make her world a lovelier place.