Sara Zimmerman “Woman In Raw” exhibit @ Dragonfly
Posted on December 28, 2009
Filed Under North Tahoe Art Scene | Leave a Comment
Truckee artist and illustrator, Sara Zimmerman, will be celebrating her newest artwork “Woman in Raw” on exhibit at Dragonfly Cuisine in Truckee, CA.
“These expressive works represent my recent story of becoming a mom, integrating motherhood into an active and creative lifestyle, and trying to juggle it all while maintaining a sense of self,” says Sara. The exhibit of these large art works will be on display from December 10, 2009 through May 2010 and is open to the public.
The title of the art show, “Woman in Raw” epitomizes Sara’s story of becoming a mom and changing her lifestyle. Pre-baby, Sara was an active artist in the community, having regular art shows, volunteering for North Tahoe Arts, and sitting on the steering committee of what eventually became ACCTT. Additionally, she met with an artist group weekly, played drums in a band, worked at Moonshine Ink, and played outdoors every day.
But pregnancy soon made Sara slow down. “I became so uncomfortable and tired during my pregnancy that I soon stopped all of my activities. After my daughter was born, I wanted to give a lot of attention to her so my activities had to continue being put on hold,” says Sara. “However, these activities defined me. Being stripped of them made me look inward and reexamine who I really am without being labeled by all of the things I do.” The works included in the “Woman in Raw” series mirror the “rawness” Sara felt while examining her core self, without all of the labels.
The Artworks and the Process
Sara’s earlier works are defined by curvaceous images of florals and landscapes on small to mid-sized canvases. Sara’s postpartum reflective time redefined Sara’s art and pushed her to express herself through art in new way. First, Sara started by laying large, un-stretched canvases on the ground, (some span more than 50 square feet!). She then took left-over paint from job sites and friends’ homes and began throwing it at the canvas.
She scraped, jabbed, scratched, and spread the paint over the canvas until abstract shapes developed. From there, Sara painted layer upon layer upon layer until eventually, a female shape emerged from the abstraction. As a result, each painting is not only a whimsical representation of an abstracted female figure and family life, but an artistic rendition of postpartum/ early motherhood emotions and realizations as well.
For more information about Sara Zimmerman or the “Woman in Raw” series, please contact Sara directly at 530-587-7492 or sara@sarazimmerman.net, and see more of her images at www.sarazimmerman.net.
Featured art: “Woman in Solace” and “Jump”
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