Colors and Code: Featuring VADA and COMP Senior, Si Si Zimmerman
A step inside the four walls of Baker College senior Si Si Zimmerman’s senior studio is like a step into a world of curved lines, each one arched along another and containing endless possibilities. There are paintings bursting with color, drawings composed solely of black ink on stark white paper and sculptures molded into shapes that have yet to be named.
As as a senior, Zimmerman is now wrapping up her degrees in both computer science and visual and dramatic arts.
Zimmerman said she had always loved art growing up, but only started taking art classes at Rice when a professor suggested that she try one out during her sophomore year. Her semesters can often get a bit hectic, with schedules including 19 credit hours or more, because no classes overlap between her two majors.
According to Zimmerman, she’s glad she made the choice — art is a way for her to step away from her desk and take her mind off coding. Being a senior VADA major, it seems, has its own perks as well.
“Senior studio is one of the first classes where we’re just doing our own work,” Zimmerman said. “In most of the intro classes, you’re doing more still lives or a set project. In senior studio, you do whatever you want to do.”
Zimmerman said she is excited to steer away from the set structures of intro classes and explore her fascination with the abstract world.
“I wanted to do more abstract art because I haven’t explored that as much,” Zimmerman said. “It’s just [something] about these biomorphic forms and how they sort of look like a lot of different things, even though they’re kind of abstract. It’s all about experimenting with different techniques and materials.”
However, Zimmerman didn’t always know she wanted to work with abstract art — her influences come from the art department’s focus on contemporary arts. She is currently considering exploring the bridge between the physical and the theoretical by dabbling realistic elements into her abstract forms.
“Abstract art is fun because there aren’t really limits on what you could do,” Zimmerman said.
After graduating in the spring, Zimmerman said, she would love to combine both art and computer science in her career. Although she’s not entirely sure how she would do this, she is certain that art will continue to play a large role in her life.
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