Post by Walker, Texas Ranger on Jun 26, 2009 11:16:03 GMT -5
By Stephanie Smith
R. Michael Wimmer began his career as a landscaper, working in the family business for 25 years and also joining the Navy—but he always wanted to make art. Wimmer fell in love with “stuff” during summers spent in Indiana with his grandmother, a garage sale fanatic.
“She knew what she liked,” Wimmer laughs. “She was a sweet old woman who could talk you out of anything.”
He began collecting antiques and eventually became an antiques dealer. From that, he was inspired to use the “stuff” he found to make sculptural clocks using various materials such as wood, metal, paint, and pottery.
One day, someone came along and wanted to rent his clocks to display alongside Tiffany watches in the store’s windows in Palm Beach. The rest is history. Wimmer realizes that his is a backwards start compared to most artists—selling artwork in the corporate arena and then moving into galleries, but the experience has taught him to value his work and not take anything for granted.
More at chattanoogapulse.com/arts/arts-feature/arts-entertainment-out-of-the-hands-of-decay/
R. Michael Wimmer began his career as a landscaper, working in the family business for 25 years and also joining the Navy—but he always wanted to make art. Wimmer fell in love with “stuff” during summers spent in Indiana with his grandmother, a garage sale fanatic.
“She knew what she liked,” Wimmer laughs. “She was a sweet old woman who could talk you out of anything.”
He began collecting antiques and eventually became an antiques dealer. From that, he was inspired to use the “stuff” he found to make sculptural clocks using various materials such as wood, metal, paint, and pottery.
One day, someone came along and wanted to rent his clocks to display alongside Tiffany watches in the store’s windows in Palm Beach. The rest is history. Wimmer realizes that his is a backwards start compared to most artists—selling artwork in the corporate arena and then moving into galleries, but the experience has taught him to value his work and not take anything for granted.
More at chattanoogapulse.com/arts/arts-feature/arts-entertainment-out-of-the-hands-of-decay/