Tim Timmerman

oil on wood/assemblage

28

The three images submitted are from a series of work about the twelve apostles found in the New Testament. Each is a symbolic, and metaphor riddled image about each man. The men that I am using as models for these apostles are intimate brothers of mine, and a part of a men’s group I’m in. In each work the apostle is being spoken about but the image also includes parts of these men’s’ stories as well. Each friend was chosen to represent a certain apostle because I felt there was some affinity or correlation between them.

In doing my research for the pieces I was intrigued by the odd symbols, and legends associated with each apostle. In many of the pieces I reference these things, but I wanted the focus of each work to be some primary aspect of the apostle’s character.

The body of the work in total represents aspects of being an apostle, a man, and the nature of what it is to be a community. These men lived, cried, worked, played, often died together, and knew each other inside and out. Within all of those activities they functioned as Christ to the community within and outside themselves; some thing the group I’m in is striving for as well.

I was born in Phoenix Arizona in 1966. My father was from Brooklyn New York and my mother was from a small farm in Kansas, they had met at school in Texas and chose to move to the west for its job opportunities for my dad as an engineer. They also chose the Southwest for the climate, due to the fact that my mother had been a victim of the poliovirus and would have difficulties maneuvering in an area where it snowed.

My childhood was sent in shorts, selling junk I made in front of our house, drawing spaceships, creating clubs I would cohort my friends to join, and melting crayons on the sidewalk. We also had a German shepherd named Gretle who would get car sick but was the best dog in the world. When I was about six my favorite activity (to my parent’s dismay) was letting her drag me across the lawn in my shoes. I was always drawing characters and creating sculptures, recycling anything my parents attempted to throw away. My mother was especially encouraging and was faithful in the grocery store to buy me drawing pads and various art materials. I can still remember what aisle and where in the Lucky’s supermarket were the art supplies. I also remember fondly taking summer classes at the Phoenix Art Museum and sitting in front of paintings and doing versions of them in oil pastel.

I attended Sunnyslope High School, swore I would never live in Phoenix again, and went to colleg e at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth for a year, and then finished my degree in studio art at Biola University in the Los Angeles area. Out of college I worked as a grade school art teacher in C arson, and was also the assistant curator for the Los Angeles’ city art collection, as well as was assistant curator for three other galleries that the city ran. Soon after I got into grad school to get my MFA at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Here I felt my grandparents farming blood blossom. I relished in the rolling lentil and wheat fields and small town environment of eastern Washington. After grad school I worked in Seattle, heading up art programs for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club in the city of Redmond, and also speaking to irate customers as a customer service ph one agent for the Eddie Bauer clothing company. Nine years ago I was hired by Grand Canyon University in Phoenix as their art department chair, gallery curator, and art professor. I have been back in Arizona ever since.

From 1989 to the present I have been faithful making art and speaking of what I know is true through my art. The artwork itself is a place of faith, growth, and healing. It reflects the human condition and spiritual truths. The work through analogy and p arable, faces fears, spells out hopes, and dives into joy and sorrow. The images puzzle, humor, intrigue, and point to the odd elements that make up life; these often disparate events that shape us into who we are. The work is about being. It is my objective to move the viewer into a place of reflection on their experiences and who they are. The artwork is about continuing to grow up within all the difficulties and blessings this life presents.