A great way to become a collector / patron is to start with your favorite artist’s books, especially if the artist is also an author. Kathleen Zimmerman’s books encompass both non-fiction and fiction. Zimmerman started writing for exhibition catalogs but then saw it as another creative tool. She found it was a great way to share her art and ideas with others. While the art of the written word was not as inherent to Zimmerman as the visual arts, she found that it could be fun and enlightening.
Her first book was an intimate journal titled China Through an Artist’s Eyes. It was about her first year of residing in China. It is composed of images from her YinYang Series of drawings along with the ideas behind them. Her second book, Look to Nature - Serigraphy contains images of her current collection of serigraphs, what serigraphy is, and the ideas behind these works of art. Her third book, The Art of Contemporary Artist Kathleen Zimmerman concentrates on her visual language as it presents images of her current collection of graphite drawings from A-Z.
Before and during writing her non-fiction books, she wrote a fictional tale titled Magic Circles. It used symbolism and satire to challenge established systems of belief in a serious, yet playful, way. It re-envisioned the creation myth from a female point of view on a simple and personal level, yet presented profound food for thought. It is meant to initially give the illusion of an almost child-like naiveté, but more in-depth analysis revealed layers of meaning. It was inspired by her circle of life drawings and some of her sculptures. She began writing it just as a way to clarify her thinking on life, never imagining that it would become a book with poems!
The readings below are the last two poems from that book. To hear all the readings, go to the menu item Magic Circle Readings.
Magic Farm - Calf, Chicken and Sheep plays with ideas surrounding maternal love and community spirit.
Counting Sheep 2 along with the circle of life drawing Farm inspired the reading above.
Magic Farm - Horse, Rabbit and Grass presents ideas about enjoying life and love in the here and now.
A real horse that Kathleen met in China inspired her to draw Horse which is part of her Home Series (shown above right), and to write Horse, Rabbit and Grass (the reading above). Horse and Kathleen are pictured above just outside of Beijing (above left).
Zimmerman Fine Art Studio