50 Over 50: Always a Contender - Cindy Zimmerman's Big Vision
- Kristine Schomaker
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
At 75, Cindy Zimmerman is developing a workshop on making artist books for Banned Books Week at San Diego Central Library. They're also working on Mobile Monument, rolling activist art for protests, parades, and exhibitions, amplifying words purged during the first weeks of the Trump administration.
They're more clear now that they decide what to do based on the guidance of their inner voice.
What's actually hard about being an artist at this point in their life? Too little space.
Someone just turned 50 and wants to start making art—what do they tell them? Look at all the little detours and seeming dead ends along your life path, and that is where you will probably find the experiences, skills, and passion that you need to get started.
Do they try to keep up with what matters in the art world? They have lots of contacts after all this time, in real life and virtual. They also cast a wide net to see what is going on beyond their network.
What do artists their age bring to the table that younger artists don't? Self-knowledge, big vision, historical grounding, and hopefully they are kind, nonjudgmental, and generous with other artists.
What are they working on next? They really want some time away from the service aspect of their work, the public presence. Want to make some weird, visionary paintings. The idea of "doppelgangers" based on reading the book by Naomi Klein. Drawing two characters with both hands at the same time.
What keeps them going when everything feels impossible? Stepping back, resting, dreaming, contacting a higher power than themselves. Crystals, aromatherapy, lotion all over their body. Lunch and a few laughs with another woman artist. Going on retreat.
What do they wish they'd known when they were younger? That they might never be the champ, but they are always a contender. They are in the game. They always will be the real deal.
Dedicating work to a higher cause can be a pull factor, so you don't have to push it out all by yourself.
Sometimes they think they can't do a big project. Then they remember they have so many people to ask to join in and help. On the other hand, small goals and fallow periods are part of the equation.
Their work through the years could be boiled down to painting and placemaking—stories from their life, real and invented. Contrasts drive it. Born the oldest of eight Catholic girls in fundamentalist Oklahoma, they learned to live in variable realities. At 30, migrating to California, they oriented themselves by creating an imaginary mashup of the two very different cultures.
Contributing to community-based art has kept them grounded and inspired. Service and solitude, contemplation and celebration, observation and invention. It's a life in the arts, with all its ups and downs and detours, and they are grateful to live it.
Cindy Zimmerman is a Southern California painter and placemaker with an MFA from UC San Diego Visual Arts Department and a BFA from Oklahoma University. Other professional credits include: member of Feminist Image Group, Adjunct Emeritus at various community colleges, co-founder of Fern Street Circus, museum worker, and K-12 resident artist.
Recent work includes Mobile Monument, rolling activist art amplifying words purged during the first weeks of the Trump administration; In the Land of…, a show of artist's books on the theme of censorship at the San Diego Central Library with Feminist Image Group; and Rain Grotto at Desert Dairy, an immersive, contemplative, permanent space for an artist residency in 29 Palms.
At 75, they're developing workshops on artist books. They want to make some weird, visionary paintings. They're drawing two characters with both hands at the same time.
They might never be the champ, but they are always a contender. They are in the game. They always will be the real deal.
Look at all the little detours and seeming dead ends along your life path—that is where you will probably find the experiences, skills, and passion that you need to get started.
Connect with Cindy: Website: cindyzimmerman.work Instagram: @cindyzimmermanartist
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