Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike and Jime Wimmer.
Hi Mike and Jime, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
As an artist all my life, I gained my first recognition at the age of 11 when I won a contest in Hot Rod Cartoon Magazine, “Draw the Hottest 18-Wheeler” contest, and received a check for $50.00. I began selling my art in galleries and art shows at the age of 14 and started my professional illustration career while working my way through college at the University of Oklahoma. I have had the honor of working for some of the largest companies in the world, including Disney, Proctor and Gamble, RJR Nabisco, Kimberly Clark, Celestial Seasons, Hasbro, Milton Bradley, Smuckers, American Airlines, and have painted over 300 covers for almost every major publisher in the United States, as well as creating more than 13 Children’s Books. As a nationally recognized portraitist, I have had the honor of painting the portraits of some of America’s most prestigious citizens, and I have been recognized as “Oklahoma’s Greatest Artist” by Oklahoma historian Bob Burke, with the distinction of having more than 40 historical paintings and portraits hanging in the Oklahoma State Capitol Building.
In 2008 while studying for an additional art degree at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, I met Jime and recognized a kindred spirit of creativity and passion and soon fell head over heels in love. In 2013 we decided to share our lives together and share a commitment to artistic exploration, teaching, traveling, and working out together. We moved to Savannah to teach at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design in 2017.
We share our home in Savannah as a studio, with every part of it dedicated to creativity. Recently, we created a website to share with our collectors the love of nature and the whimsical world of fairies and gnomes and their associated lore and legends. Jime is also a co-founder of “The Savannah Gallery of Art,” that is housed in the former blacksmith foundry John Boyd Smith, whose creations are all over Savannah, at 304 East Bryan Street.
Recently, I have been working on a number of commissions for portraits for universities and corporations while also garnering national recognition from the Art Renewal Center’s 16th Annual Art Salon and the 2023 National Oil Painters of America Exhibition, which will be held in Charleston, SC at the Reinert Fine Art Gallery, March 26-April 1. Jime has been working on personal passions, children’s book project, and private commissions for a cookbook while working and contributing to the aforementioned SGA gallery. All of this activity is happening while we both teach a full load.
To say that our life is filled with ART is an understatement. But the old saying, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life,” holds some truth; we feel extremely lucky to share this life of creation, the walks on the beach, exploring the many places to eat and drink in Savannah, all while holding each other’s hand talking about our next adventure.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Choosing to be an artist is like choosing to be born…you really don’t have much control over it. It is what awakens me; it is my inspiration; it is the standard by which I measure my success and happiness. So, of course, there have been challenges; the biggest one is how to find the way to finance my habit…how to find those who are willing to share their hard-won resources with me so that I can create something that we both recognize as having true value. My greatest obstacles have been my own standards. They force me to take the “hard road,” steep and slippery with self-doubt giant boulders of despair and fatigue that must be overcome or worked around, and often through unknown territory, where I am the one responsible for cutting my own path.
My wife talks about the difficulty of being compared to me or my work. But she needn’t worry. Her intellect and creativity feed me and have inspired me to become more than a mere craftsman but a “True Artist.” I tell her with all sincerity that my greatest achievement has been taking her hand and walking together. She is an endless fountain of ideas, humor, and creativity from which I can quench my thirst or drown. So, it has become much easier sharing this demented craving of creativity with her, a true partner.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I feel that I have answered these questions somewhat earlier, but I guess I am most proud of the fact that I have ‘Lived” the life of an artist. I promise it’s not what most parents want for their kids. There are too many false myths out there about the starving artist. It can be true, but strange enough; I have met many starving mathematicians, oil barons, politicians, lawyers, doctors, etc. What it really tells you is that most people don’t allow themselves to listen to their own voice. They listen to their parents, or teachers, or politicians, or religious zealots…all selling their own vision as the one that should be seen or followed. We are unique in this world, as unique as every leaf on every tree of every jungle. We are here for a limited time, trying to find our place in the sun. Soon to turn brown, withers on the limb and fall to the ground where we find another purpose. I love solving visual problems and haven’t allowed others to put me in a box. I decided early, after watching other professional friends who put all of their resources in one place, only to lose it because others decided to go another way. So, I developed what I call my “Puddle Philosophy” I have my Portrait Puddle, and I have my Children’s book Puddle, and I have a Collectibles Puddle, and a Print Puddle and a Fine Art Puddle, etc., so that if one puddle dries up, I have another puddle to jump to. Luckily for me, one puddle has spilled over to another and then another until it grew into a small lake. All of them blended together to create a greater whole. I have so much more to offer this way and am less likely to “dry up” anytime soon.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I guess the only thing that I should probably talk about is my philosophy, “That if you’re not growing…you’re dying”. I am always learning new skills, techniques, etc. But I am also always pushing myself by working out. I was Mr. Oklahoma while still a teenager because I wanted to be more than I was. I had grown up as “Little Mike” to my older stepbrother “Big Mike” and later to my cousin Mike that I played football within High School, where the coaches also called me “Little Mike”. So, I started lifting weights and mastering my diet and soon grew from 135 pounds to 175 and then to 210 pounds by graduation. I have worked out hard all my life, striving each day to make myself better, to grow, to challenge myself, and each day I am rewarded with vigor, hope, and purpose. Find that person that will help inspire you to become better than you are, knowing that “better” has many definitions purpose can only be defined by you.
Contact Info:
- Website: wimmerswoods.com mikewimmerportraits.com
- Instagram: @wimmerartist @wimmerswoods @myprettylines
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WimmersWoods https://www.facebook.com/mike.wimmer1 https://www.facebook.com/Prettylines
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/mike-wimmer-inc linkedin.com/in/jime-wimmer
Image Credits
©Mike Wimmer
©Jime Wimmer
