Cosmic Cow

     Cosmic Series was created after two inspirational events, a trip to Thailand where Kathleen encountered a lovely mud encrusted cow and a series of podcasts concerning the latest theories about the universe aired in which Kathleen listened to. The cow inspired Kathleen by its shear aesthetic beauty and by the fact that it just happened to look up at Kathleen in the most endearing way. This cow seemed to embody the warmth and tenderness that have made many cultures consider cows sacred. In Vedic literature, the cow is a symbol of abundance and fertility representing both the earth and the sky. To Hindus and Buddhists, cows symbolize patience and holiness and are considered India's most sacred animal. The podcasts inspired Kathleen by providing her with information she could grasp about the nature of light and dark matter, the relationship between space and time as well as the bazaar behavior between matter and antimatter. Both these events caused Kathleen to begin a series of drawings using the cow to communicate these three different aspects of our world. They became her Cosmic Series, using the well-known term, each titled to go along with the idea behind it. Thus LightDark, SpaceTime and MatterAntimatter came into existence.

Cosmic Series- LightDark, digital archival print, copyrighted by Kathleen Zimmerman

     LightDark was the first of these three drawings and is shown above. It was the basis for serigraphic print that was just printed at Modern Multiples in Los Angeles, California. In both Kathleen's digital archival and serigraphic prints, she added a block of yellow ink to visually portray the notion of enlightenment that goes along with this series' overall meaning. While LightDark is a portrait; it goes beyond illustrating the particular cow that Kathleen saw but tries to capture the essence of cows in general. By the use of contrasts, waves and a variety of tones as well as the illusion to the starry night sky and the bright day sky, this work of art is meant to communicate a sense of the nature of light and dark matter that makes up our world. 

Cosmic Series - LightDark, design for serigraphic print, copyrighted by Kathleen Zimmerman

     Above is an image of the digital archival print of LightDark. The serigraphic print's image size is 14 x 18 inches centered on a piece of 22 x 26 inch Coventry Rag paper. It is too big to be scanned at Zimmerman Fine Art Studio so is not shown here but it will be in exhibition soon. We will update this post with the details of where and when. Kathleen is currently refining the scans of SpaceTime and MatterAntimatter so that she can produce serigraphs of them as well. As soon as SpaceTime and MatterAntimatter are finished we will post them on this blog.     

Cosmic Series - SpaceTime, digital archival print, copyrighted by Kathleen Zimmerman

Cosmic Series - SpaceTime, design for serigraph, copyrighted by Kathleen Zimmerman

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Summer Arts Festival in Essex, Connecticut

Kathleen will take part in this years' Summer Arts Festival in Essex, Connecitcut. She will be exhibiting a number of her recent serigraphs, some intaglio prints, her first wood block prints and have limited edition digital prints available so patrons are sure to find just the right piece for their home. This Art Festival is a great way to meet the artist and talk to her one on one about her work and living a creative life. The festival will take place on the lovely Essex Town Green at 12 Main Street, Essex, Connecticut and is free of charge. It is being hosted by Spectrum Gallery, who will be showing Kathleen's WoMan Series at their gallery location at 61 Main Street in Centerbrook, Connecticut from May 25th through July 8th.  This is the first time this pair of serigraphs will be shown and available for purchase publicly.  The opening for the gallery exhibition will be Friday, May 25th from 6:30 - 9 pm in which Kathleen will also be in attendance. Come visit the coast of New England this summer and enjoy the view both inside and out! 

Note: Kathleen's Cosmic Cow Series - Light Dark is shown on the promotional postcard at the lower left hand corner in the image above. The intaglio/charcoal print is on exhibit at the Earth & Fire Gallery on 2 Main Street in Essex, Connecticut from April 25th through July 15th along with several serigraphs and a chine colle titled Farm Series - Horse Barn Hill.  

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Global Warming

Kathleen's three-dimensional visual statement concerning global warming, Bear Hug, is shown above. This plaster and wood model for a large scale fountain combines a figurative element of a polar bear hugging the earth, much like a mother does her pregnant belly, with a grid pattern and repeated circular bases. The small circle symbolically represents the sun while the large circle and grid pattern represents man-made civilization on earth. In the large scale fountain the small circle would slowly rotate as water seeps out from beneath the bear cascading down into a shallow pool. The large circle with the grid pattern would be submerged under water but clearly seen from above. Underwater red lighting would be installed to illuminate it at night and give it an hautingly beautiful glow. 

This sculpture lead Kathleen to create a pair of graphite drawings titled Bear Hug 1 & 2, which also used a circular format. She used chopped images of the two sides of the sculpture giving us two different views of the same image or idea that work together. Kathleen used these drawings as the basis for the pair of silkscreen prints, shown above. The main difference between the drawings and these prints is the addition of a vibrant red to the prints. The red dots and the red around the eyes is used to enhance the feeling of the warmth of the sun and the need to stop the destruction humankind is doing to the environment. 

Kathleen also sculpted a complementary piece to go along with her Bear Hug sculpture titled Wave. In this sculpture, a small boat is held high by a massive wave with seemingly noone at the oars. If we look inside the boat, a symbolic couple is lying there looking upward as if asking for help or guidance. This sculpture is envisioned as a set of four pieces to be placed in the four directions north, south east and west in relation to the fountain to symbolize humankind's oneness with nature and the universal effects of global warming on earth. One view of the plaster model of Wave is shown below.

While Global Warming might not be the happiest thought, it is our reality. As changes happen to our world, we can either deny humankind's negative impact or accept what we have done and do what we can to fix it. 

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Taos Art Insurgency: The New Protagonists

     Greg Moon Art of Taos, David Anthony Fine Art and Wider Nightingale Fine Art host this national juried exhibition in conjunction with the Taos Spring Arts Festival. The show will run from April 21st – May 12th with an Opening reception on April 21st from 4-8 pm. Kathleen Zimmerman is honored to be among the thirty-two artists choosen from across the nation to show their work in this thought provoking exhibition.  

“ Unquestionably, Taos has been a center for artists and art lovers for over a century. From the arrival of the first members of the Taos Society of Artists to the seminal movements of Modernism, Abstract Expressionism, and Minimalism which flourished here, this little mountain town has been far from soporific in promoting the riches behind every museum and every gallery door. Exhibits such as the outdoor PASEO event and the Harwood Museum of Art’s “Orale! Kings and Queens of Cool” have driven even more life into the town’s 7000-foot high atmosphere, rocking lowbrow and pop-surrealist artists, and techno, installation, performance, and projection forms. And with a burgeoning, reinvented springtime schedule of festivals, craft fairs, gallery walks, and literary and musical events, a new national juried exhibition is poised to begin in April 2018. The Taos Art Insurgency: The New Protagonists will introduce the next wave of artists that will be leading Taos into the new millennium.”

— David Anthony Fine Art

     Taos, New Mexico is at the top of Kathleen's list of all time favorite places due to its appreciation for art and its environmental appeal. She has visited Taos many times, especially when she lived in the neighboring state of Colorado and would someday like to call it home. But for now, she is just thrilled to be showing in this historically and currently important art mecca. Block Head Series - Sea (Otters), above and Dog Daze Series - Spirit Guide (below) will be shown at Wilder Nightingale Gallery, Landscape Series - Inner  will be shown at Greg Moon Art of Taos & Landscape Series - Outer will be shown at David Anthony Fine Art so please visit these galleries if you are in the area. For those who are interested in seeing all the artwork that was accepted into this exhibition the links to the galleries are listed below. Also we thank all three galleries for their vision in creating this exhibition. 

http://www.wnightingale.com/artists/163

http://gregmoonart.com/art/1201/Taos_Art_Insurgency/Landscape_Series_Inner

http://davidanthonyfineart.com/taos-art-insurgency/

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Home

What makes a home? Is it just a temporary safe haven... a place to raise one's offspring... a permanent sense of belonging... a place to protect... or is it a ever-changing location dependent of the food supply and outside forces that determines a home? In her Home Series, Kathleen plays with these ideas as she thinks about what a home is to her. Having been born and raised in Colorado, then moving to Connecticut where she raised her children, then residing in China for a number of years makes her wonder where home is, especially as her children move out on their own. So this question is one that she thinks about and brought about the creation of her Home Series. In this series, she plays with ideas concerning what makes a home by looking at three different species 'homes'.

In Bird, she thinks about how Birds make their homes high in the tree tops, cliffs or even power lines to create a temporary safe haven to raise its offspring. Do they see their nests or their flock or the sky as their true home?

In Dog, she thinks about how Dogs make their home in underground dens, dog houses or with people to create a permanent sense of belonging and give them a place to protect. Do they see these places or their pack or a wider territory as their true home?

In Fish, she thinks about how Fish make their home in a coral reef, river or even a bowl to create a contently moving existence in search of food and determined by outside forces. Do they see these locations or their school or water in general as its true home?

As Kathleen pondered these questions she found that 'home' can mean many different things but for her it seems to be more of a state of mind then any one location. What do you think? 

Exhibitions: Kathleen's Home Series' graphie drawings were first shown at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery in her solo exhibition in 2014. Then the graphite drawing of Dog was exhibited at the Mytic Museum of Art located at 9 Water Street, Mystic, Connecticut during their Home juried exhibition in 2015. Now the newly printed serigraphs will be on exhibit at 2018 Essex Town Green Outdoor Summer Arts Festival. It will occurs at Sat, June 9 (10-5pm); Sun, June 10 (11-5pm) Essex Town Green, 12 Main Street, Essex CT. 

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