Kathleen Zimbicki: December 2019
Artist, teacher, curator, tireless champion of the arts and working artists, Kathleen Zimbicki has exhibited locally, nationally and in 11 countries internationally. From 1976 to 2003 she became well-known throughout the region as proprietress of Studio Z Gallery on Carson Street, South Side. She was awarded the first lifetime achievement award from Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA) in 2006. A 2004 Master Visual Artists: Preserving the Legacy (MVA) honoree in 2004, and curator for subsequent exhibitions, Kathleen was the driving force to revive MVA for its sixth exhibition in 2013. In 1986 she designed costumes for the World Premier of Pittsburgh Ballet’s “Don Juan.” A member of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) since the '70s, she was president in 1993, and again in 2010, during its 100th year anniversary. She steered the organization during the year-long celebration with more than 70 exhibits in galleries, museums, and various art spaces throughout the city and region. Zimbicki is the only living artist honored in a 100-year survey of American Master Watercolor Painters.
Kathleen is a popular teacher at PCA, and has taught students at TouchStone, Sweetwater Arts, Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Mellon University, among others. Zimbicki was also selected as one of the top 50 cultural forces in Pittsburgh by the Post-Gazette in 2002. She has served on 11 boards, including those of the Three Rivers Arts Festival; Touchstone Center for Crafts, Farmington, Fayette County; Artists' Equity; and Pittsburgh Society of Artists, for which she was president from 1984-88.
Art has been her life, she says. Her medium is watercolors and most of her works are "fantasy-related." When she isn't painting, Zimbicki spends time with her husband, four children and eight grandchildren.
