Diane Ziemski, creator of the 2007 Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival poster, is not one of those artists who continually return to the lucrative theme of the blues, ever discovering new inspiration in the lyrical imagery and grizzled faces of veteran bluesmen. A new exhibition of the Little Rock artist’s works, currently on display at the Delta Cultural Center in historic downtown Helena, reflects her wide-spread interests and ability to find beauty in the petals of flowers, the flight of mallards, holes in the soles of well-worn boots, and even the culinary skills involved in eating a big mess of flavorful crabs.

A reception in honor of Ziemski will be held at the DCC Visitors Center on Friday, March 7, celebrating the new exhibit, “The Watercolors of Diane Ziemski,” on display through Saturday, April 26.

The reception is slated at 5 to 7 p.m. at the visitors center at 141 Cherry Street in historic downtown Helena-West Helena. Admission is free; light refreshments will be served. The public is invited.

“I choose my subjects by what delights and captures my imagination, from local scenes and flowers, to capturing a moment in the life of a child … I want my paintings to show my love of color, places, and people,” Ziemski says of her painted works. “My husband says I paint the ‘flavor of the month’ because I enjoy painting so many genres.”

An artist for a relatively short time, Ziemski’s reputation around Arkansas has grown over the past six years since she first picked up her brush and began painting after a long career in education. Raised in Helena, the daughter of Patricia Gladin Williams and the late Lee Williams Jr., Ziemski graduated from the University of Central Arkansas at Conway with a degree in home economics and taught at Dumas for 25 years. She later served as technology coordinator for the Arkansas Department of Workforce Education’s Adult Education Section until her retirement in 2002. Only then did Ziemski begin her self-taught education in fine art painting, primarily with watercolors.

“After retiring from a career in education, I began thinking about what I wanted to do in life, but never got a chance to do – that was to become an artist,” Ziemski recalled. “I bought a set of watercolors and an instruction book and began painting. I fell in love with transparent watercolor and have been painting in that medium ever since. I have studied with and taken workshops under many famous artists, thanks to Mid-Southern Watercolorists, but painting as much as possible and reading everything I can find on watercolors have been my best teacher. I recently have begun painting with acrylics on canvas, but watercolors are my main love.”

Ziemski’s work has appeared in the Arkansas Arts Council’s Small Works on Paper exhibition twice, as well as in numerous solo exhibits at public and private galleries around the state. One of her paintings appeared in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Association’s 2008 Arkansas Artists Calendar. Another was selected as 2007 Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival poster. Also in 2007, one of her works was included in the Small Works North America exhibit in Fairfield, Conn., and another was included in an exhibit at the Clinton Presidential Library.

Ziemski has served as treasurer and webmaster of Mid-South Watercolorists and as a board member and newsletter editor for the Arkansas League of Artists.

“I paint each week with a group of local artists whose techniques are as varied as the mediums they use. It is important to me to try to absorb as much art as I can by observing and doing,” she said.

In addition to her watercolors, the exhibit will also include examples of her jewelry and the glasswork of her husband, Larry Ziemski.

Larry Ziemski, who was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, retired from the U.S. Army as a major. He is self-taught in stained glass and kiln glass arts.

Gallery hours at the DCC Visitors Center at 141 Cherry Street and the nearby DCC Depot at 95 Missouri Street are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. “King Biscuit Time,” the nation’s longest-running blues radio program, is hosted each weekday at the DCC Visitor’s Center by “Sunshine” Sonny Payne, from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. “Delta Sounds,” hosted by DCC Assistant Director Terry Buckalew and Payne, is broadcast each Friday from 1 to 1:30 p.m.

For more information, interested persons can call the Delta Cultural Center at (870)-338-4350 or toll free at (800)-358-0972 or visit the DCC online at www.deltaculturalcenter.com. For more information concerning Ziemski, interested persons can visit her website at www.dianeziemski.com

The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.

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