Jana Zimmer – Art and Cake

Jana Zimmer
Santa Barbara, CA
Age 77

What keeps you excited in the studio?
Lately it has been how to work with my art to help work through generational trauma

Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
I started making collage because I never learned to draw. I then became a printmaker, mostly monotypes, occasional lithography, but always had a collage element or literary, historical reference included. I would like to move into abstraction but cannot quite get there. I dont feel the emotion or the meaning.

What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
As a former lawyer, using words for 40 years to seek justice and peace, I now think our only hope is to find ways to touch each others’ hearts and souls through imagery, made and shared.

What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
I never considered myself a “real” artist because I didnt study art in school, and didnt even really begin to make art until I was in my 50’s. And I lacked encouragement- I didnt have the courage, and no one gave it to me. So I would say to ‘aspiring’ artists- just find ways to start making art. Even if you are only making it for yourself.

Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
I think we can find the artist inside us as long as we are breathing. It “matters”, I suppose, to do it younger, if art is a career, with all the accoutrements of finding representation, trying to make a living from it, being accepted by gallerists, etc. But when we are older, I think it is about doing it for ourselves. If others appreciate it, or want to buy it, or we get public recognition, that’s good, but if it doesnt happen, it doesnt seem that important.

What can we look forward to from you next?
I published an art/memoir (Chocolates From Tangier (Doppelhouse Press, 2023) and was using it to work with young people from traumatized communities. I have been making alot of digital collage, alot in response to ugly world events that have retraumatized me and challenge me in my identity. If/when the war in Israel/Gaza calms down, I hope to continue to work on building bridges and understanding, through art, making art in community. I have been appointed to work on the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) effort to fight anti-semitism and islamophobia. I hope it can begin work soon, but dont know. In the meantime I am looking back at my own life, re-examining through images I have created and continue to create. I want to get back into collage materials, though digital work, and I want to become less “literal”.

janazimmer.com
@janainsta46