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Welcome to my blog! I love to write as well as capture life in photographic images. I use this space for whatever comes to mind... random ideas, wobbly ruminations, haikus, imperfect poetry, rants, and various projects. I hope that some of these words resonate with you in some small way. "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."
"No Moon" for Yountville ArtsI'm so grateful to have amazing opportunities like this! To be able to collaborate with an artist friend who inspires me and get work together to create a shared vision for a community art event. On so many levels, this is fantastic! AND, I got to do it with TWO other artists! The Wright from the Heart exhibit produced by Yountville Arts and co-sponsored by the Yountville Chamber of Commerce gifted local Napa Valley artists with this wonderful opportunity. This is the third annual Heart of Yountville art show and, I think, the best yet! Wright from the Heart is a unique gallery exhibit that pairs artists with writers for an intriguing visual journey. The ultimate exhibit launches as part of the annual Napa Valley Mustard Celebration. 60 artists and writers co-created to bring 30 truly unique works of art to the Steve Rogers Gallery at the Yountville Community Center through March 28, 2025. The Opening Reception is Thursday, January 16th. In this piece, I was the artist, working with my wonderful friend and amazing artist and writer, Morrie Warshawski. The exhibit has us create an audio recording for viewers to hear. He came up with some fan fantastic ideas with the random images that I never would’ve thought of…. and I loved them! So together the imagery came together as you see it, and then he wrote the poem around that. His words are lovely and thought-provoking and fit perfectly. We would both like to say thank you to Yountville Arts and the Yountville Chamber of Commerce for producing and sponsoring such a unique opportunity. It’s not very often that we get to engage with another artist in true collaboration. And it’s even more special when it’s a friend whose work you admire and inspires you. Thank you for envisioning this idea and inspiring us!"
Artwork Info: “No Moon” Artwork: Katherine Zimmer Poem: Morrie Warshawski
"Wright or Wrong" for Yountville Arts
The Wright from the Heart exhibit produced by Yountville Arts and co-sponsored by the Yountville Chamber of Commerce gifted local Napa Valley artists with this wonderful opportunity. This is the third annual Heart of Yountville art show and, I think, the best yet! Wright from the Heart is a unique gallery exhibit that pairs artists with writers for an intriguing visual journey. The ultimate exhibit launches as part of the annual Napa Valley Mustard Celebration. 60 artists and writers co-created to bring 30 truly unique works of art to the Steve Rogers Gallery at the Yountville Community Center through March 28, 2025. The Opening Reception is Thursday, January 16th. In this piece, I was the writer, working with my wonderful friend and amazing artist, Sunshine Moeschler. The exhibit has us create an audio recording for viewers to hear. "Wright or Wrong" - the collaborative artwork from Sunshine Moeschler and Katherine Zimmer "This was such a great opportunity for creative discovery and collaboration! We decided to take the theme literally and dive into what "wright" w-r-i-g-h-t means. It's fascinating... the word originates as a builder of things, often out of wood... a maker... which fits so well with today's popular art and craft mash up of makers. It was also a noun for the town person who created things like furniture... they called him a "wright". So Katherine played with that and contrasted it with the other "rights" r-i-g-h-t and write w-r-i-t-e and how they played together, positive and negative, building an artist's creative journey. Sunshine took the opportunity to explore more of her amazing hand painted paper and collage techniques. Building and layering a fantastically bold, colorful image of hearts, and tears, and patches, and drips, and bonding of imagery. It perfectly mirrors the artist's journey in visual form. We are so grateful to have been able to combine our processes and work so closely together to create this artwork. We'd like to say thank you to Yountville Arts and the Yountville Chamber of Commerce for producing and sponsoring such a unique opportunity. Thanks for supporting our art! Much love from Katherine and Sunshine!"
Artwork Info: “Wright or Wrong” Artwork:
I'm Nervous
Creativity Takes Courage
I love this image of one of many cement street barriers, placed early in 2020, as borders for restaurants to create "parklets" to serve their customers outside during the different distancing phases of the Covid-19 pandemic. This "barrier" in Escondido, CA (north San Diego county) is one of many placed all along their historic center on Grand Avenue and painted by local artists and community members. I put barrier in quotes because it's ironic that we use a barrier to help bring people back together. This one is also very symbolic, in particular, for it's message, "Creativity Takes Courage" combined with it's placement on a cement barrier. For me, "courage," requires the will to place what you want to do above your fear of doing it. Sometimes that is a simple leap of faith, sometimes that is an agonizing jump off of a cliff. Either way, the barriers we create for ourselves often seem impenetrable like a block of cement. Common barriers... do any of these sound familiar to you? Yep, I'm pretty good friends with all of these demons on different levels. You can't make them go away, and that's ok. It's way more fun and interesting to have gentle conversations with them and let them hang out in the fringe... and say "So what! I'll do it anyway!" One of the most impactful things my creativity coaches have taught me is how to use these negative influences to better my work, to motivate (aka nudge) instead of paralyze, to identify the really good parts and celebrate my successes. The most important thing is small steps. ---------------- This photo image was taken by Brenda Townsend, a good friend of mine and local San Diego arts leader. Thanks Brenda! The Art of Mindful Gift Giving - finding creativity and inspiration during remarkable timesNourish and Flourish Magazine caught up with Katherine Zimmer, one of our favorite creative contributors located in Napa, California, to see how folks on the West Coast are managing and staying positive during this challenging time. She is a photographic artist, writer, and successful corporate marketing professional with decades of experience in tourism, nonprofit, and digital information industries. She has intertwined her training as a personal brand strategist and creativity coach throughout her marketing career to enhance the teams behind the brands. In the face of the pandemic, she has also had to refocus her career path to follow her dream of creativity coaching and helping people realize their inspired paths. We asked her to share her thoughts on mindful gift giving for the holidays and other occasions. Here is what she had to say.
The Art of Mindful Gift Giving I think we can all agree that this year has been remarkable, devastating in some areas and bringing gifts in others. Our lives have been significantly altered, no doubt, mine included. I have always been a creative soul and have known that I need to express myself creatively and consistently to keep my sanity. When I don’t, I flounder and move toward mindless spaces that are closer to existing than thriving. My artistic outlet is primarily photography with occasional spurts of writing. I also poured a lot of creativity into the corporate marketing jobs I’ve held for decades, but my life in the working world was transformed in March along with so many others. Most of you have told yourselves that you don’t have a creative bone in your bodies. Luckily, this gift is not contained in our bones. Our expressive “bones” are in our senses: our hearts, eyes, ears, noses, stomachs, and touch–where we feel things. One of the amazing gifts that 2020 has brought to me is watching so many people discover creative ways to cope with the chaos and their life-altering decisions, many of which we have no control over. After going down the rabbit holes of Netflix, Amazon, and Zoom, we came up for air, slowed down, and looked around. What we saw was inspiration! The idea of taking small steps toward change grabbed our attention. You are crafting, cooking, baking, photographing, painting, building things, and redecorating your homes. You’re learning a lot about interesting things like astronomy, mixology, gardening, butterflies, music, and reinventing who you are. And you’re getting to know your kids (and pets!) by exploring the world through their eyes. Exercise found renewed meaning. It’s fun again to bicycle and stroll and do yoga when you have time to be aware of your environment. Then the completely unexpected started happening. Your friends across town brought you vegetables from their gardens, and you reciprocated with a favorite bottle of wine and fresh baked cookies. The kids up the street left painted rocks on your steps, and you delighted them with big smiles and waves from a distance. Your brother found his calling playing the ukulele from the neighbor’s yard sale; you collaged its vintage case. Our porches, stoops, and mailboxes are now gift receptacles for magical things that warm our hearts. I hope you didn’t think I was going to just offer up a shopping list of mindful gifts to buy for this holiday season! I’m very confident that you have a new awareness of what your loved ones are doing and needing. They’ve been finding their inner artists over these crazy months as well. Being present and engaged with their creative spirits will give you insightful ideas. It’s okay if you don’t make the gift yourself. Giving a thoughtful gift, one that connects you to their heart’s inspiration, is just as wonderful. Looking for gifts in smaller, unique places will give you the gift of being the conduit from the artisan’s creative spirit to your gift recipient’s heart. Bringing appreciation to the personal artisan creations all around us is what this beautiful magazine issue is all about. Seek out a maker’s market, small local art gallery, bakery, vintage shop, a garden store, or the neighbor’s seed exchange stand. Discover treasures that make you smile while thinking of the person you’re shopping for. Or simply thumb through our pages and go shopping online through the maker’s eCommerce stores and have that special gift delivered directly to your loved one’s front door. It’s that easy. I’ll leave you to ponder a favorite quote from Lewis Hyde’s book The Gift: “The spirit of an artist’s gifts can wake our own.” Whether that gift is the creative talent or the result of it in the form of an object to give, if it resonates, it will wake your spirit. • • • Nourish and Flourish 7
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© 2025 Katherine Zimmer
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