As an emerging artist Zimmerman studied oil portraiture under the Russian painter Joseph Edelman, and so when she embraced abstract expression it involved freeing herself from the constraints of ‘technical correctness’ and the necessity of pleasing models and teachers. This shift enabled a rediscovery of the spontaneous, carefree side of her practice resulting in works at once wild, colourful and dynamic.
Strength, perseverance and regeneration are recurring themes, and this reflects both the bold and colourful characters of her childhood and the rugged beauty of the Australian landscape.
Zimmerman now rarely employs the brush, preferring to apply paint generously before using a variety of materials to create a textured base. Multi-layered acrylic and collage combine to achieve interesting surface effects.
Her art draws on a love of Australian nature and the urban environment, and central to the symbolism she employs is an intuitive sense of placement and balance. The conflicting and contrasting elements of the Australian environment inform the three series of works that make up Scape Artist … Evolving Forms.
In ‘The City Grid’ series Zimmerman takes as her subject Melbourne city as seen from above. Works in this series offer new interpretations of suburbia: colourful roof-tops, moving traffic, backyard pools and green garden beds are portrayed with a broad but harmonious palette in dots, lines and swirls. Begun in a state of fever and completed with a feeling of unity, ‘The City Grid’ series is an accomplished artistic contribution to notions of the urban environment.
Zimmerman’s ‘Under the Sea’ series moves from Brighton Beach to the Mornington Peninsula, taking viewers into the shallow rocky waters of Rye Back Beach and into explorations of subaquatic microcosms, kelp forests and cities of rock.
The ‘Sand Dunes’ series involves an imagining of the harsh, dry Australian outback: ‘the ochre hues of a panorama that writhes under sweltering mirages and threatens to explode into the setting sun before dying into the blue, chill serenity of a starlit night – this is my inspiration.’
The deeply tactile nature of Zimmerman’s work was inspired by her firstborn daughter Lara’s obsession with touching different surfaces. ‘It is a fascination that never really leaves us – as adults we still harbor that desire to touch beautiful and interesting objects.’ Zimmerman associates the layered effect and the build-up of textures to a lifestyle characterised by continual interruptions. Acrylic dries quickly, so within an hour of finishing one layer she can start applying the next, and so the depth and texture is formed.
While the skills of the fine artist dominate her creative output, a diploma in Computer Graphic Design and a successful career as a Graphic Designer continue to influence her work.
In 1979 Zimmerman emigrated from Kharkov in the Ukraine, and the freedom of form in her art reflects the opportunities and optimism she has found in Australia. She now lives in Melbourne with her husband and her two daughters Lara Bella and Ariella.
2004 Studio Craft Gallery, South Yarra
2005 Tusk Gallery, South Yarra
2005 Nero Fine Art, Caulfield North
2004 Studio Craft Gallery, South Yarra, Richmond,Hampton
2005Articulate Gallery, Caulfield North
2006Tusk Gallery, South Yarra
2006Castleman Gallery, Black Rock
2006Sorrento Flinders Fine Art Gallery,Sorrento and Flinders
2007Art Melb ’07, Royal Exhibition Building
2007 Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2007Southern Golf Club
2007Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2007Art Sydney ’07 Fox Studios
2007Portsea Gallery
2007Tusk Gallery Camberwell
2008Art Melb ’08, Royal Exhibition Building
2008Art Brisbane
2008Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2008Art Sydney ’08 Fox Studios
2008Mingara Gallery, Cowes
2009Art Melb ’09, Royal Exhibition Building
2009 Canterbury Art Show
2009Glenferrie Road Contemporary Art,Malvern Melbourne
2009Art Sydney ’08 Fox Studios
2009Glenferrie Road Contemporary Art,Malvern Melbourne
2009Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2010Art Melb ’10, Royal Exhibition Building
2010Canterbury Art Exhibition
2010Art Sydney ’08 Fox Studios
2010Balmain Art and craftshow
2010Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2011Art Melb ’11, Royal Exhibition Building
2011Suburban Gallery, 312 New Street,Brighton
2011Group Exhibition, Manyung Gallery,Mt Eliza
2012Canterbury Art Exhibition
2012Group Exhibition, Manyung Gallery,Mt Eliza
2013David Hart Galleries Sunshine Coast
2014Camberwell Art Show, Swinburne University,Hawthorn, VIC
2015April Art In Tune, Brighton Rotary,The School House.
2016 June Camberwell Art Show, SwinburneUniversity, Hawthorn VIC
2015 June, Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza
2016 April, Canterbury Art Show
2016 May, Art Connected, Elsternwick
2016 June, Yering Station Art Gallery WineryCellar Door, Yarra Valley
2016 July, Panoply Gallery, South Yarra | 
