35 RONNA ZIMMER’S life in art Ronna Zimmer has been collecting art since she was a teenager. Originally from Buffalo, New York, Zimmer recalls attending an outdoor show where she made her first purchase. “It’s a huge daisy surrounded by broken glass and all sorts of things. I still have it; it’s hanging in my bedroom.” She thinks she may have paid $150 for the photograph. “To me that was a huge amount at that time,” Zimmer says. “His name was Dick Nosbisch and he was an amazing photographer.” The second piece she bought was by artist Bill Gates, a watercolor of a rooster. “All the pieces that I bought through the years I still have. I liked them enough to keep them. They might have been reframed and re-matted but I’ve still got them.” Her early childhood exposure to art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery provided a foundation for appreciation. When designing her Wilmington home 32 years ago, Zimmer asked for vast expanses of wall space for hanging art. Inspired by the Albright-Knox installation of Lucas Samaras’ “Mirrored Room,” she finished her powder room walls and ceiling with mirrors. “My mother was very into the arts,” Zimmer says. “Every time we would go to any city we would go into the art galleries. I brought my children up the same way — art and music. They’re in their 30s, my two sons, they laugh about it now.” In Europe, Asia, Scandinavia, northern Africa, Central and South America, the Zimmers bought regional art directly from the artists they met. “We’ve traveled extensively and I always try to buy art that was done by people from the different areas we’ve been in.” On the board of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University for eight years, Zimmer served during a pivotal time in the museum’s history. In 2006 she went to Art Basel in Miami with Raymond Nasher. While there she bought a few things, lunched with Dale Chihuly and his wife and toured the glassblower’s botanical gardens installation. “I just want one of those at my house,” she laughs. Her advice: “Get things that you like, not things that you think are going to go up in value.” 250 & 260 Racine Drive, Wilmington www.ShopRacineCommons.com — Retail ShopS — Froggy Pond • Lula Balou • Toad Hollow Permanent Vacation Skate & Surf Shop Lion Arms Gear — SeRviceS — Asian Relaxation Center • Beautiful Flowers by June Essence Nails & Spa • Momentum Cycle • Passion Salon Timeless Tans • Wilmington Wellness Studio — ReStauRantS — The Fuzzy Peach Frozen Yogurt Bar Islands Fresh Mex Grill • Might as Well Bar & Grill Nikki’s Restaurant & Sushi Bar Blue Surf Café www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM “My mother was very into the arts,” Zimmer says. “Every time we would go to any city we would go into the art galleries. I brought my children up the same way — art and music. They’re in their 30s, my two sons, they laugh about it now.”
December 2104
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