Interact - Matt Zimdars

September 18, 2024 – January 20, 2025

Since 1996 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts has been creating art that challenges perceptions of disability. They were the first – and remain the only – combined visual and performing arts organization nationally or internationally to offer full-time, daily practice of professional-level theater and visual arts to support the creative growth of artists with disabilities. Interact’s vision of radical inclusion blurs the boundaries between who “can” and who “cannot”. They continually push the boundaries of traditional art forms by including unique perceptions of their artists. The artists experience the audience’s appreciation, which brings about a healing and unifying effect. They expand the meaning of “accessibility” for artists with disabilities by playing an active role in the creative process. The Interact Center exemplifies the idea of community integration by supporting artists with and without disabilities working side by side every day.

Currently, over 70 visual artists call Interact their studio. Their gallery aims to advance the recognition of their work through exhibitions, partnerships, and collaborative opportunities.

Are you interested in viewing or purchasing artwork from this UI Health Care exhibition? You can! View the artwork.

Photo credit: Matt Zimdars, “Untitled,” 2024, Archival giclée print on 100% cotton rag paper, 8” x 10”

MZ-doctor-foot
Matt-Zimdars-Portrait
Matt Zimdars has been practicing at Interact since 1999. He uses his art practice to catalog his visual interests, from severe weather to future dream homes to, most recently, nostrils. Zimdars's "nostrilogy" series puts noses of all shapes and sizes in the limelight, using collage and experimental bookmaking processes to explore his favorite body part. Paging through fashion magazines, clothing catalogs, and photographs submitted by friends or that he takes himself, Zimdars cuts, tapes, and glues. His assemblages of words and images are instinctive and precise, each one an amused portrayal of its subject.

Zimdars has presented work throughout Minnesota, including the Interact Gallery, the Thorpe Building during Art-a-Whirl, and Franconia Sculpture Park. he has presented work nationally in exhibitions at Lyndon House Arts Center, Western Wisconsin State College, Make Studio, and Art Enables.

View more of his work here. (Link: https://gallery.interactcenterarts.org/collections/matt-zimdars)