She Did It Her Way: Patricia Zinsmeister Parker

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Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, Wallflower, mixed media on canvas, 2021, 48 X 36 inches. On view in A Painter’s Painter, through January 31, 2025 at Bonfoey Gallery.

On December 3, 2024, family of Patricia Zinsmeister Park posted the following on Facebook: “To all of Trish’s countless friends [ . . . ] Trish left this world on Thanksgiving day of this year, in Liestal Switzerland. She chose to ‘move on’ via Voluntary Assisted Death. Trish left a wide and deep mark on those that knew her, loved her, and admired her compellingly original and prodigious body of work. She will be missed.”

A Painter’s Painter, Parker’s exhibition of new works at Bonfoey Gallery, had opened just weeks earlier, November 14, 2024. The show has been extended through January 31. Parker was among Ohio’s most accomplished painters of the last 50 years. Among scores of other exhibitions, she was curated into no fewer than 11 May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art, winning multiple awards including the top Painting prize in 1982. As a young arts professional, Grace Carter wrote this reflection on her relationship with the iconic painter and educator, focusing more on Zinsmeister’s personal kindness than her professional accomplishment. — Ed.

“I want to send you on a studio visit,” said Liz Maugans, director of YARDS Projects and, at the time, my boss. I was in my first year of college and had landed my dream internship helping Liz in the Worthington Yards gallery, where we were preparing to open a new exhibition: Material Cleveland. I was stoked to be writing my first-ever article for CAN Blog, about how the exhibition would feature artists working with locally-sourced media. Liz connected me to one of the exhibiting artists, Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, and the next thing I knew I was driving to her home studio in North Canton to meet her for the first time.

Patricia welcomed me into her house, which was bursting with color and personality at every turn. Works by the likes of Guston, Picasso, and Warhol casually adorned the walls. She led me down a precarious spiral staircase into her studio, where we hand-selected pieces to include in Material Cleveland. “What do you think of this one? Do you think it’ll work for the show?”, she’d ask me, as I stood dwarfed by her larger-than-life canvases. To tell the truth, I had no idea how to answer that question. I was just starting out in my career, but Patricia was one of the first people who took me seriously and treated me like a professional.

Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, Girl in the White Tutu, mixed media on canvas, 2021, 48 X 36 inches, on view in A Painter’s Painter, at Bonfoey Gallery through January 31, 2024.

After resurfacing from her studio, we made our way out to the backyard, where we chatted and [enjoyed] the beautiful summer afternoon. Patricia told me stories about making art and collecting art, and asked me questions about where I wanted my career to go.

A couple of years and a pandemic later, I was interning at the Kent State University School of Art, writing articles on alumni. I reached out to Patricia, an alumna of the school, and asked if we could feature her on the blog. We reconnected and I received even more incredible stories that spanned her lifetime–from when she first began taking Saturday art classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art, to her being the only female painter represented in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s The Invitational: Artists of Northeast Ohio exhibition in 1991, to her co-founding of the Artist Archives of the Western Reserve. When asked to reflect back on her career, she said, “I’ve been at this game for many decades, and art has not only shaped my life experiences but also the way in which I perceive the world. I could never say that I chose to pursue art, but rather that art chose me.”

Another couple of years and a college graduation later, I reached out to Patricia again, this time to ask if she’d consider showcasing a retrospective of her work at Summit Artspace. She enthusiastically accepted and thanked me for supporting her career. Me! When all I could think was how I should be thanking her for bringing what I knew would be a hit exhibition to my place of work.

Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, Big Love, mixed media on canvas, 2024, 40 X 30 inches, on view in A Painter’s Painter at Bonfoey Gallery through January 31.

My last article on Patricia was to celebrate her solo show at Summit Artspace, titled I DID IT MY WAY. It wrote itself in minutes as I parsed through my old interviews with her. My colleague at Summit Artspace, Natalie Grieshammer Patrick, had the opportunity to visit Patricia’s studio like I had a few years prior in preparation for the show. “I feel incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Patricia,” Natalie said. “She was a legend in the local artworld and broke many barriers as a woman artist working in a male-dominated medium and style when it was rare to gain recognition. She had a vibrant, bold vision and a dedication to experimentation and playfulness in her practice for several decades. When visiting her studio to plan her 2023 summer exhibition at Summit Artspace, we had the loveliest time together that I will always remember.”

Since I DID IT MY WAY closed at Summit Artspace, Patricia kept in touch with Natalie and I, updating us on new work and upcoming shows until her passing in November.

I reached out to Meg Harris Stanton, owner of the former Harris Stanton Gallery and current curator of the Summa Health Gallery, to ask if she could share a bit about working with Patricia. “Pat was an extremely prolific artist and worked in many media. She often incorporated the titles of her works into her paintings. They were always funny and sometimes enigmatic. She was the only artist we worked with who brought us full scale 8.5 x 11 photographs on glossy paper of her recent works so we amassed quite a portfolio over the years. I always enjoyed my trips to her home/studio in Canton to view her latest creations and select pieces for her exhibitions. She was an art collector as well, and she gave me enthusiastic tours of her private collection. The intensity of her colors and her exuberance I’m sure were inspired by her time spent at her home in Mexico,” she said. Anderson Turner reviewed the 2017 exhibition at Harris Stanton, Emerging Stories, which featured Patricia Zinsmeister Parker and Wendy Chazen.

I crossed paths with Patricia across different jobs over the years as I was working to cement myself as a “northeast Ohio arts professional.” Every time, my conversations with her reminded me why I should stay on this path–because I love learning how creative people create; I love finding the words to tell their stories to the world. And her story is, without a doubt, an incredible one. A successful art career spanning decades, in which she forged her own path through the barriers placed upon female painters. And while Patricia will, without a doubt, be remembered for her formidable achievements and her everlasting mark on the arts community in northeast Ohio, I will always remember sitting on her back patio in the summer of 2019 and talking about art and life. I’ll remember her graciousness, her supportiveness, and the way her personality matched her paintings–bright, bold, and radiant. And based on my conversations with those who knew her, they will remember the same.

A Painter’s Painter: Works of Patricia Zinsmeister Parker
Extended through January 31, 2025
Bonfoey Gallery
1710 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115