Jeff Zimpel is an interdisciplinary artist whose art practice promotes the importance of life-long learning through an exploration of mark-making and an interrogation of the space where painting and photography meet. He develops site-specific installations and invites creative participation based on these art experiences.

Ultimately, an ecological approach to living and making underlines both the social and studio aspects of his art practice. Jeff’s work begins with the premise that every person is a mark-maker in multitudes, yet we have much to learn from marks made by the animate world around us: for instance, earth pigment-based paints tell us stories of place, brushes wash up on the shores of Lake Michigan, and nontraditional surfaces encourage divergent approaches to composition.

Jeff’s residency at Saint Kate grows and extends An Ecology of Marks, his ongoing community-based project that brings together a range of mark-makers to amplify and document the hope embedded within any given mark. In many ways, Jeff’s practice unearths an ecology that is already there: The Residency will evolve to reflect the contributions of hotel guests and visitors who enter Jeff’s studio and choose to collaborate and participate in his process.

Jeff is currently the Instructional Designer for Arts@Large in Walker's Point. He holds an MFA in Art & Social Engagement from UW-Milwaukee (‘21) and a BFA in Graphic Design from Cardinal Stritch University (‘09). He has previously taught art and design at the secondary and collegiate levels, and completed residencies with Arts@Large, Cedarburg Cultural Center, and Create Space MKE through Cardinal Stritch University.