Ernest Wenner was born on the Malung, Minnesota homestead of his parents Andrew and Ellen. Malung was near Roseau, Minnesota, where Wenner attended high school.

After graduation, he attended the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks. He earned Bachelors degrees in art and education.

Later, he enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Minnesota and received an Owatonna Art Research Fellowship from the Carnegie Research Foundation.

A jack-of-all-trades, Wenner was commissioned for work in a variety of mediums: commercial art, design, lettering, typography, book and production illustrations, architecture and engineering drafts, scenery designs, dioramas, sculptures, and paintings, among others. One of his commissions was from the federal government, in which he produced a large mural map in the foyer of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Lignite Laboratory building in Grand Forks.

His work was exhibited at the San Francisco Exposition and the 1933/1934 Chicago World’s Fair.

In 1947, he became head of the Department of Engineering Drawing at UND.

- Ben Nemenoff

Bibliography:

• Barr, Paul E. North Dakota Artists. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota Library, 1954.