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 Global nomad and full-time professional artist Conni Tögel was born in Winfield, Illinois, on July 24, 1965 as a daughter of German immigrants. Her parents, Heinrich and Lisa Scherz, immigrated to the United States in 1961 and later became American citizens.
Since then, colors and spirituality — with a big dollop of fun – has been her oxygen, breathing life into her art.
Conni is the youngest of three kids, with two older brothers, Michael and Martin. In 1973, her parents accepted a missionary appointment to Germany, where she spent the next twenty-four years of her life.
From the age of four, Conni's favorite pastimes were drawing, coloring and dreaming. Her most celebrated possessions were her box of 64 Crayola crayons — the one with a sharpener in the back of the box!— and her coloring books.
Her teenage years were spent in a small village in Germany (population 206 at last count). She spent many hours picking wildflowers and berries, building fairy homes out of moss, sticks and acorn cups in the forest. Wintertime, she sledded down the old mountain road. In her village, Conni loved helping local farmers harvest hay and baking bread in the community wood-burning stove.
During her years in Germany, Conni traveled to many countries. In 1990 she spent two weeks drawing and painting in the beautiful French countryside. Other trips took her to Italy, Wales, England, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Norway.
Her travels coupled with her gift for close observation developed her fine sensibility for colors, atmospheres, and situations, honing her ability to create artwork that appeals to the emotions of the viewer.
In 1989 Conni married Peter Tögel, an Austrian marketing specialist living in Stuttgart. Four years later, she graduated in 1993 from the Kolping College of Applied Graphics in Stuttgart, Germany. Her reputation as a graphic designer grew, as she created magazines, logos, signs, catalogs, ads and corporate identity packages. In late 1995 the couple and their first child, Jamie-Lee, and moved to the United States. One year later, a second daughter, Holly, was born in Denver.
In the spring of 1999, Conni started showing her paintings. While Conni was pregnant with their third daughter, Annie-Mae, that summer, the Tögels moved to Augsburg, Germany, but by the following summer, they had decided to make the United States their home once again.
The family packed up and moved back to Colorado, where Conni spent the next five years sharpening her skills and techniques as an artist while raising her three daughters.
Her studio in Colorado Springs was a sunny room on the second floor of the house, with a view of Pikes Peak and the aspen trees. Here she created her beloved watercolor fairies, wizards and landscapes.
In 2005, Conni and her family purchased their new home in Upstate South Carolina near Lake Hartwell. They have established a small sheep farm on five acres, where she has a separate studio/gallery.
Conni's drawings, oil and watercolor paintings have been published in several magazines and are found in art collections around the world. Some of her work is included in the collection of famous music producer Quincy Jones, as well as that of a President of the United States. She is listed in MARQUIS’ Who’s Who of American Women, Artprice, as well as the American artist reference website AskART.com.Awards: - Best of Oil / Acrylics, Atlanta Dogwood Festival, 2009
- Second Place, 7th Annual Whalehead Club Arts Festival – “Under the Oaks” , 2008
- Third Place, 3rd Annual Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival, 2007
- Third Place, Historic Pendleton Spring Jubilee, 2007
Recent Press Quotes: - The Daily Advance about Under the Oaks Festival, Corolla, NC: "The show was juried and one of the top prizes went to Sheep Incognito artist Conni Tögel, whose paintings are inspired by nature and the environment. However, her main subject is sheep. Togel's unique exhibit drew a steady crowd of visitors."
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