Arts in April

Local Artist’s Dream Comes True With A Solo Show

By Kathleen Reynolds

Arts in April springs to life with photographer and watercolorist Katherine Zimmer’s first solo art show. The Steve Rogers Gallery at Community Center in Yountville will feature approximately fifty of Katherine’s visually impressive and inspirational photographic images through mid-June. The subject matter covers a wide variety, including street photography, landscape, reflection art, travel, and collage. When asked how she is narrowing down the selection of art for the show, Katherine laughed and said, “I’m not narrowing it down! It may be unconventional, but I’m putting a little bit of everything out there.”

The springtime accolades and honors didn’t stop there - the 2026 Yountville Arts Sip & Stroll poster award was also granted to . . . Katherine Zimmer. Yes, there’s something to see here. Blending a hearty marketing background with fierce talent and a life-long love of art has laid the groundwork for Katherine’s well-deserved recognition on her journey of creativity.

Lavished with encouragement from her nearest and dearest, Katherine had an advantage from the start. She and her mom, Eva, often traveled together. Reminiscing of the endless patience, Katherine said, “She was holding my gear and waiting for my inspirations. Mom said it inspired her to see things differently – through my lens.” Katherine’s older brother, Mark, has been a solid source of support, helping keep her grounded and laughing out loud. Now, Dottie, ‘the best cat on the planet’, and her devoted husband, chef Pat Burke, joins KZ on her creative way . . . in the middle of somewhere.

Katherine and I shared a couple of years work experience at the Napa Chamber of Commerce – we forged solid relationships, made friends we’ll have forever, and created memories – in what seems like a lifetime ago. Our recent conversations led me down Katherine’s path. She told me of her early connection to self-expression through art, fashion, and style, her love of family and travel, how she applied her professional modus operandi to curate her own art history and as for the current state of her art affairs, the story is best told . . .

. . . In Her Own Words

“I’m a native Californian born in the Bay Area, Redwood City. Moving around a lot made for some challenges with creating stability and making friends. I learned quickly to creatively entertain myself. I liked to draw and was always happy in art class. In high school I made my own clothes and cut and colored my own hair. By then we were living in Idaho where my mom had family and could raise us easier as a single mom. It was a bit small town for me – I graduated high school and moved back to Northern California and attended Los Altos community college.

“Early artistic influences for me were anything that altered reality with bright color or imagination, like Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and Wayne Thiebaud. For photographers, I was always drawn more to fashion photography for its avant-garde twist on realism and brilliant people like Annie Leibowitz, who created dramatic portraits with vulnerability in authentic moments.

“I fell in love with photography in the early 90s when I bought my first camera. By then I had been working in more tourism-centric businesses like cruise ships and doing marketing for large group incentive travel agencies.

“In 1995 I went to Italy, primarily Florence. I came home from that trip with loads of film which I developed immediately and began showing people. The first comments were, ‘Who are you with?’ ‘Where are the people?’ ‘What did you eat?’ ‘What sites did you go to?’ And then, I realized I didn’t have any touristy pictures. I had pictures of interesting angles of architecture, moody landscapes, bits and pieces of sculptures and candid pictures of strangers in piazzas. I had pictures of high contrast, black-and-white churches and marble and textures on fountains. That’s when I realized that I was a photographic artist.

“Mom and I moved to Napa Valley originally because it’s the closest we could get to Italy without living in Italy. After I moved I tried to photograph the quintessential landscape of a vineyard, I figured out that I would never have the patience for a tripod and hours of waiting for the right light. It took a well-fought battle with perfectionism, but I think I won out by finding my style in the moment and altering it to wherever my imagination took me.

“I came here in 2005 to start my own business in marketing and creativity coaching. My first stop was the Napa Chamber to become a member and utilize their benefits to build my new business. As it turned out when I walked out the door, I was there new director of marketing. I stayed there for seven years, eventually becoming VP of communications and marketing. It was the perfect job for me . . . being able to serve hundreds of businesses in so many different industries and creatively support their journey in economic development.

“My marketing background was the thread that I carried through all my corporate jobs. I’ve had an eclectic background in several different industries, always looking for the positions that communicate outwardly to customers through branding and customer service. Supporting somebody else’s business and enabling them to thrive was almost as exciting to me as creating art.

“Gallery exhibition didn’t interest me because I didn’t want to hang a piece and then not be there to engage with the people who were looking at it. I leaned more towards doing private installations for personal spaces and commercial spaces. I’ve done large artwork for restaurants, shops, and spas. I had 67 pieces in the Meritage Resort here in Napa when it was first built. That was an amazing opportunity. I love working with people to complete their vision of their space through my artwork. That’s a very satisfying collaboration for me.

“In 2003 I met an amazing artist in San Diego, Jill Badonsky. She is a multimedia artist, writer, humorist, and founder of the Kaisen-Muse Creativity Coaching programs. We belong to the same sisterhood of perfectionism and all the artistic insecurities that we continually strive to breakthrough. We hit it off immediately and she has been my friend, teacher and creative mentor for all these years since.

Katherine moved south to San Diego County in 2012, continued working in the tourism industry and returned to Napa Valley to be with the love of her life, Pat Burke, in 2020. Just as Covid-19 hit, the amazing marketing job that she landed right out of the gate, after her return, disintegrated into a poof of shut down. So she signed up for one of Jill‘s coaching courses and became a certified creativity coach.

She continued, “Happily, forced into retirement, I have been finding my creative voice and pursuing my artwork consistently and happily and with by-products of wonderfully organic success.

“The Napa Valley art community is a fantastic group of creative souls who inspire each other and lift each other up. I’m happy to be re-engaged on the board of the Art Association Napa Valley as well as being one of 50 resident artists showcased in the Art Gallery Napa Valley in downtown Napa.”

Katherine has been voted on to the Downtown Napa Association board of directors, and is currently a member of Arts Benicia.

“Yountville Arts is a very engaged, thriving art program. I’m so grateful to have been named their featured artist for the poster and marketing of their annual Art, Sip & Stroll event. Along with being honored for the poster artwork, I was chosen by the Yountville Arts Commission to curate a solo art show in the Steve Rogers Gallery, my first solo show is A Dream Come True!” Yountville Sip & Stroll 2026 is Saturday, May 16, 11am to 5pm.

See more of Katherine’s art on her website katherinezimmer.com and follow her on social media at kz.photo.artist