Wading through the rejection, Celia Zimmer, art education major at Cal State Long Beach, has finally reached her aspirations. At the Dutzi Gallery in the Film and Electronics Arts-2 building, her photo series, “Lighting Fires” will be on display exclusively from Feb. 21 to Feb. 25.
“I feel so special,” Zimmer said. “Every artist dreams of being able to show their work in some way and just sharing it with the world even at a small venue. A little bit of the dream comes true.”
“Lighting Fires” includes photos of a family lighting and watching fireworks on the Fourth of July.
“I think with this series I’m really communicating the true beauty in this family and their passion for being together and the medium in which they work,” Zimmer said. “Their art is just putting on an amazing show and having a really good time with these fireworks. They give me great opportunities to see how giving, loving, fun and happy they are.”
Zimmer likes to find beauty in seemingly mundane situations. She said there is beauty in man-made things such as fireworks and likes to capture them with her camera lens.
The pictures she has taken for this exhibit are darkly-lit scenes with bright flashing firework lights that show in streams of neon. Exploring through the eyes of the camera is so different from exploring through my own.”
Zimmer said her favorite photograph in the series is “Lighting Fires 4” because of the way the brothers in the picture mirror each other in their stance and arm placement.
The bright glowing streaks of fluorescent yellow and orange from the firework display do not appear in real time, but once a picture captures the moment it is visible and visually gorgeous.
Next year she will be student teaching at a local high school and achieving her dream of equipping youth with the love of art she holds dear. She is not settling for her art career as it is so far, however, she also plans on submitting her work and hopefully getting a space off campus in an even larger gallery someday.
