Siu Zimmerman

Work

 

Artist’s Statement

Our culture stresses the language of category, of labels, of things. It doesn’t teach us about the numinous, or encourage us to seek the quiet we need to feel connection to our Creator. Therefore we have to plan time away from the stresses of the outer world. In the art-making process I can move beyond the cognitive and the analytic. Strongly influenced by classical and jazz music, which often lead me, I see art as a lesson in learning how to live; one step leads to the next, with surprises and challenges along the way. There are no clear yes or no answers.

I work in watercolor, printing and collage. Currently, the watercolors are quiet still-lifes and prints are abstract and strongly influenced by musical forms. Since 1997 I have concentrated on collage and the processes of viscosity printing in monotype, and etching with chine colle.

Water, pigment, and a brush. That’s all it is. It blends, flows, becomes bold or ethereal, opaque or translucent, during the duet between the artist and the medium. I try to let the process speak to me, to become free and responsive as is the paint, as open to miracles. Art can’t be forced; we learn to let it sing.

Education

• University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. in Art
• University of California, Los Angeles, M.P.H., Public Health
• Boston University School of Fine Arts
• Rhode Island School of Design

Selected Professional Positions

• Instructor of Printmaking and Water Color, Westmont College, 1995-present
• Instructor of Printmaking, Santa Barbara City College Adult Education, 2002-present

Selected Shows and Exhibitions

• Faculty Show: The Fine Art of Education, Westmont College Reynolds Gallery, 2005
• Faculty Exhibit, Westmont College 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001,2005 at Reynolds Gallery
• Contemporary Arts Forum, 1994, 2003
• Saks Fifth Avenue 2001-2003
• Juried Show: Central Coast Printmakers, 1993-1997, 2003
• Juried Show: Santa Barbara Artwalk, 1997-2003
• Reynolds GalleryThe Art of Devotion, 2002, Reynolds Gallery
• Lacuna Gallery, 2001
• Montecito Country Club, 2001
• Invitational Show: SB County Arts Commission Printmakers Invitational 2000
• Juried Show: Small Images, Santa Barbara City College, 1994-99
• Inviational Show: Cup Show, 1997, Shoe Show, 1998, Art of Dining, 1999
• Invitational Show: Nyback Printer’s Invitational, San Luis Obispo, 1999
• Juried Show: Santa Barbara Printmakers’ Tri_county Annual Show, 1993-present
• Danica House, 1991, 1992

Selected Publications

• Art/Life Magazine

Selected Awards

• Best of Show Santa Barbara Printmakers’ Juried Open Show, 2000
• First Place, Best of the Best-Santa Barbara county Award Winners, 2000
• Juror’s Choice, Central Coast Printmakers Annual Show, 1997

Cover Art

• “Narrative: an Introduction” by Porter Abbott, Cambridge University Press, 2002
• Art/Life Magazine, May 1992

Conference Poster

• Narrative at the Outer Limits, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, University of California, Santa Barbara