Patricia Zinsmeister Parker
Birth Date: 1934

Artist Gallery
Pat Zinsmeister Parker received her BFA and MA from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio; she was Adjunct Professor for the University of Akron in Ohio from 1978 to 2000; independent study at the Instituto de Allende, Mexico from 2001 to 2008; and independent study in printmaking from University of Akron in 2009. Patricia Zinsmeister Parker's career spans four decades, and her work is best described as narrative abstract expressionism. Her painting methodology is based on a well-honed sense of intuition acted upon with random gestures, which eventually suggest the content of the paintings and prints.  The subject matter (iconic shapes, symbols and color tonalities) comes together in the “soup’’ of pigment, collage and ideas which evolve with the flow of physical activity.  “A major influence in the Cleveland area for over three decades, Parker creates largely through intuition and emotion. She developed her mature style in the mid-1970s, at a time when the local art scene was dominated by hard-edge, geometric painters. Although painters in other parts of the country, including Neo-Expressionists and New Image artists, were working along a parallel path, Parker developed her idiosyncratic, visual vocabulary independently. She creates highly evocative and poetic images by combining simple, quirky forms with gestural brushwork. She typically builds up rich, sensual surfaces with multiple layers of latex-enamel paint, often applied over or around collage items, such as pieces of cut canvas or cardboard attached to the surface. The manipulation of these materials suggests the content and direction of the work. This is derived from the painting methodology of Jackson Pollock. By forging an alternative to rigidly formalist art, she has been a powerful role model for artists throughout the region.” Quoted from Case Western Reserve archives