A retrospective of Simmons’ work is planned for Sept. 16 through Oct. 16, at the recently restored Troy Hotel, a historic landmark in this county seat town.
Simmons grew up in Biscoe, the child of working class parents. His father, who operated a welding shop, was known for his ability to turn ideas into metal objects. His mother was an accomplished basket maker and craftsperson and fostered their son’s artistic temperament.
Simmons had no formal art education, but was self-taught through books and correspondence courses. During his short life, he worked at his father’s shop, for UPS in Kernersville. In 1976, he began teaching drawing and painting part time at what is now Montgomery Community College, where he encouraged the talents of numerous artists still creating art in communities throughout the Piedmont.
The retrospective is the brainchild of Beverly Dickson, an artist and teacher who worked in Europe and the New York area before moving to Troy with her husband three years ago. Dickson first saw Simmons’ work in the homes of county residents.
She describes his work as naturalistic.
“He wasn’t making a statement of any controversy but encouraging a mood, a feeling, and most importantly a feeling of this area, of rural life, in a way that people would appreciate it,” she says. “It’s like a pair of old slippers, a feeling of comfort. People immediately know what it is.”
Simmons works in oil, watercolor, acrylic, ink and metal, depict images familiar to anyone from rural North Carolina: old barns, peach-packing houses, black waters, long leaf pines, mountain laurel, the flora and fauna of the back woods.
“When you look at his art, you say to yourself, I know where that is. That’s not Italy, not England, not Pennsylvania. That’s North Carolina,” Dickson says. “Zane painted what he held dear to his heart, the local scene and color of this area we call home.”
The nonprofit SBB Exhibition Group includes a cross section of the local community. It has received funding from the N.C. Arts Council and is seeking other donations to fund the retrospective, which will have no admission charge and will include student education clusters in English and Spanish. The exhibit will be accessible for everyone, from children to senior citizens.
The group has the support of Simmons’ family, which has offered the journals, photos and vellum drawings that were part of his creative process. More than 100 pieces of his work have been located in the Southeast, and the group is in the process of photographing them for a 120-page professional catalog.
“We’re kind of like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew,” says Dickson of the effort to search out the art works.
Owners of Simmons’ work who have not been contacted are asked to contact Dickson at 910-576-1122 or e-mail rbdicksonjr@aol.com.
Donations may be made to Montgomery Community College Foundation with a notation “Zane Simmons Retrospective,” at MCC, 1011 Page Street, Troy, NC 27371.
