About
Ron Simmer is a Vancouver-based sculptor, a prolific artist who works primarily with found materials. Organic materials – plant matter, stone and wood – serve as effective media to express concerns about the fragility of our environment. Ron also recycles materials from our consumer culture – skis, snowboards, fire extinguishers, car parts, musical instruments, fishing floats, driftwood and scrap metal – to create fanciful commentary on modern society.
Ron Simmer’s inspiration comes from his working background – fisherman, steel fabricator, construction worker, boat builder, librarian – and his contact with nature through fly fishing, sea kayaking, sailing, skiing and hiking.
An avid beachcomber, Ron has always loved the power and chaos of the sea. He is drawn by the contrast of beauty and harshness of west coast beaches. The flotsam and jetsam of consumer society cast up on the sands provide an abundance of thought-provoking media.
Ronald V. Simmer - Resume
Ron Simmer works in the area of Vancouver, BC mainly with found materials and objects. He searches for discards that speak to him with the promise of sublime creations that will amaze, tickle, surprise or give pause to think. He enjoys the mental game of taking consumer rejects and making the mundane and common into the unique and spectacular. Since we live in a world in which almost everything is commoditized it is his challenge to repurpose consumer products into the unusual, amazing and funny
Ron recycles materials from our consumer culture to create fanciful commentary on modern society. He attempts to take people back to their childhood by creating large scale toys and colorful birds and animals. His art is created to be an interactive physical experience and often incorporates optical illusions. He has been influenced by the pop art movement, beginning with Miro, Rauschenberg, Warhol and Koons.
He works with groups celebrating human creativity and spirituality, contributing art to local festivals and events. On occasion he joins forces in collaborative projects with technicians, designers and other artists to create large scale exhibits. Ron was artist for the BreakingWave team that delivered a two ton wooden wave sculpture made from beach debris to Burning Man in 2012, an interactive international project focusing attention on ocean pollution (see breakingwave.ca).
Simmer completed the $46K installation of 20ft tall steel flowers for the City of Chilliwack at the Evans Road Roundabout in May 2018. He was commissioned by Low Tide Properties Ltd. in 2016 to install his “Attack Beetle” sculpture on the MakerLabs building at 780 East Cordova St. Vancouver. Ron has created public art installations for the annual Peace Arch Park International Sculpture Exhibition, the Vancouver ReVision@Creekhouse Granville Island show, the Castlegar Sculpturewalk, CityArt Mankato, San Juan Islands Sculpture Park, Gallery Without Walls Lake Oswego, and the El Paseo Exhibition in Palm Desert for 2019 and 2013.
Ron participates in local British Columbia and US state exhibitions such as the VanDusen Garden Sculpture Show, Coquitlam Place des Arts, UBC Art in the Garden, the Seattle NorthWest Flower and Garden Show, the West Vancouver Harmony Arts Festival, Burnaby Deer Lake Gallery, and RE Store sponsored events and exhibitions in Bellingham and Seattle. He created two honorarium art installations for Burning Man in 2013 and 2014 at Black Rock, Nevada.
He is an executive member of the Sculpture Society of BC and is head of ReVision, the non-profit society of Vancouver BC area artists devoted to creating art from recycled materials. He is also director of the Burnaby Arts Council. Ron’s inspiration comes from his background – commercial fisherman, steel fabricator, construction worker, boat builder, Librarian – and his contact with nature through kayaking, sailing, skiing and hiking.
Simmer is an Emeritus Librarian (U. of British Columbia) and has lifetime experience managing public and private sector information research teams. He now operates PATEX Research and Consulting Ltd., a professional patent search service. Ron lives with his partner Janice Woodland in Burnaby, BC, Canada.
More details involving his art and activities may be found on his website at www.ronsimmer.com or xarax.ca. Most of the art and installations indicated on the site are designed for outdoor display and robustly constructed of steel, aluminum and resin.
IN RON’S WORDs
“I am disturbed by the downward spiral of environmental destruction and in my art I illustrate a possible future Anthropocene of hybrid flowers and animals made of twisted metal and shredded plastic. I feel it is the job of the artist to present unpleasant truths on such subjects as global warming and reflect the horrors that the mass media does not mention.
Since my teens I have been involved the metal trades and the most natural medium for me is welding, casting and all aspects of metal fabrication. I love the bright, reflective surfaces achieved through powder coating and automotive paints for a pop art effect, but also use patina and natural oxides in my metal work. However I also enjoy experimenting with optical illusions, and have created a series of infinite electronic mirrors with programmed LED and lasers. My ambition is to make an installation illustrating the dilemma of Schrödinger’s cat.
While I love the challenge of creating public sculpture I often contribute fun art to festivals and events celebrating music, spirituality and community – art for the moment. I strive to create organic and beautiful public art works that celebrate humanity in relation to nature. In the theatre of public art there lies the opportunity to touch people for a meditative instant with expanded consciousness.”