Doris Lehner Weiner

An artist and a visionary and one hot ticket - Doris “Dottie” Weiner (Lehner) of Boston, Massachusetts passed away at home on December 10, 2021.

A pioneer woman of the times, Doris - aka, Dottie, Auntie, or Grandcracker - never stayed with the status quo. Dottie was born to parents Max Robert Lehner (1896-1956) and Sarah Nowick Lehner (1901-1987) in Boston, Massachusetts on July 2nd, 1929.

As a true trailblazer and trendsetter, Dottie opted for games of bridge rather than college classes. In an animated tale for another time, Dottie met and married her husband Sumner Katz Weiner and their story of love, passionate partnership, art and creativity continued to grow.

Together, Dottie and Sumner embarked on an art-centric journey spanning decades. They explored and supported one another in the pursuit of their vastly different art styles. Sumner stuck to impressionism and realism, whereas Dottie pushed the limits of abstract art developing language elements from scale to virtual canvas. To the initial chagrin of many, they added art studio after art studio onto their Newton home unil one big enough was added to shock any guest. However, this studio evolved into a space for families, friends, and students to gather in awe of the magnificence of their surroundings. This space also allowed many to create long-lasting memories at countless holidays and art parties. Strike that – AHT pahties.

Sumner afforded Dottie the gift of freedom to pursue her individual and unique art journey; enabling the art itself to serve as the driver and destination of her joy. The creativity, magnitude, and individuality of her chosen destination will continue to inspire and amaze all that encounter her work.

Her zealous nature captivated students who came to learn in her studio, where she joyously shared her work and excitement for the creative process. A purveyor of the abstract, she encouraged everyone to explore the language of shapes, and see beyond not only what a painting looks like on the outside, but what is looking back at you. Her favorite saying to her students was “Make it bigger”. Dottie’s drive to chase bliss in her art journey, no matter what the art medium, is the example she hoped others would follow.

She preferred to create in her own means and on her own time. Using the annual heartbeat of shows she was able to explore her abstract journey through a variety of mediums, as a painter, printmaker, sculptor, fabricator, pioneering new applications of these to solve the abstract art puzzle. Her intent was to inspire awe amongst the observers, as measured by her “WOW” meter to gauge reactions in her studio. Various series of hers have been featured in corporate and private collections world-wide and have appeared in many industry publications.

Dottie was preceded in death by her husband Sumner (1919-2001) and sisters Irna M. Lehner Lubin (1921-1993) and Louise Lehner Averback (1926-2021). Her legacy lives on through two children Mark Weiner (Hanka) and Alan Weiner; grandchildren Cara McMahon, Andrew Weiner (Dangaia), and Elizabeth Weiner; and great-grandchildren Nixon, Slater, and Zoe McMahon and Rocco Weiner.

Dottie’s life was lengthened and lifted through the primary care of her devoted son Alan, who ensured she spent her final years in her home continuing to create along this journey amongst all of her creations.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Dottie's honor may be made to an organization that supports arts programs such as Art for Access at Bennington College (https://www.bennington.edu/art-access), Alzheimer's Disease research, or the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284-9168 or online at www.dana-farber.org.