Renouned Artist Spends Semester at CU

Learn it. Live it. Teach it to others.

That is the personal motto by which Mike Wimmer lives. And that is the motto he brings to Cameron University.

Nationally renowned artist and illustrator, Wimmer is a visiting artist this year in the CU art department.

According to Edna McMillan, art department chair, Wimmer’s visit at CU is a golden opportunity.

“Right now, we have an open faculty position and classes we really need to staff. We invited him as a visiting artist to take care of our classes,” McMillan said. “Mike has been two-fold. He has served a need in terms of staffing classes and in also being a visiting artist.”

With his motto, Wimmer brings a colorful portfolio of experience to the classroom which includes “Simba on Pride Rock” for the “Lion King” sound track cover and an array of clientele such as American Airlines, Harper Collins Publishers, Kimberly- Clark and Procter and Gamble. He created the kinder and gentler “Mr.. Clean,” who in 1998 was voted one of the sexiest men in America by People magazine.

But every success has a beginning.

“I can’t think of a time that I wasn’t an artist,” Wimmer said. “Like all kids, I drew my comic book heroes and my favorite books. More than anything, I think literature has probably affected my desire to be an artist.”

A seed was planted within this young Muskogee boy, and it grew.

“My first true art experience occurred when I was about six,” Wimmer said. “A local neighborhood grocer was also a comic book artist. He had been making his living as a comic book artist in Chicago. His parents, who owned the grocery store, became ill, so he moved back to Muskogee to take over the business. In his meantime, he would draw large pictures of Batman, Spiderman and the Red Ryder. As a kid, I would sit and watch him paint. It fascinated me.”

What Wimmer learned from the grocer at that early age would follow him throughout his life.

Wimmer explained that his first summer job was at a barbeque pit as a dishwasher. He was 12 years old, and his mother, a school teacher, was trying to teach him the value of a dollar. In his spare time, he painted. The following fall, he entered those pictures in a school art show and won $1,700 in prize money.

“I said to my mother, ‘You’re trying to teach me the value of a dollar. This is the value of talent,’” Wimmer said.

Since then, he has been making and selling art.

“From the very beginning, I have always tried to track down work. First, it was local. Then it became regional, and then national,” Wimmer said.

He said that his business began with two agents: one on the east coast and one on the west coast. However, he said, as his clientele grew, he was able to drop his west coast agent and edit the type of work he accepted. With the convenience of technology, he was able to cater to clients all over the world from his Norman home.

“I would take some jobs that paid well to balance against those jobs that didn’t pay well, but were more fun,” he said.

By doing this Wimmer said that he can enjoy his career without  sacrificing his pay. He refers to this balance of work as his puddle philosophy.

“I have my portrait puddle, my children’s book puddle, my advertising puddle and my fine art puddle,” Wimmer said. “So, if it quits raining, and one puddle dries up, I can jump to the other.”

There has definitely been plenty of rain in Wimmer’s career, and the seed of desire that was planted in his youth has not only grown, but blossomed.

“I literally get to pick and choose a little bit more of the work I do now, which, as an artist, is more rewarding,” Wimmer said.

He has learned to utilize his talent well and is now living his dream.

“If you don’t live it, you really don’t believe it,” Wimmer said.

However, his personal motto would not be complete without sharing his experiences with others.

“Any teacher will tell you that we get as much out of teaching as students do. You come to us with new questions, new ideas and energy,” Wimmer said. “It always reminds me of one of my favorite artists’ quote about Picaso, ‘A good artist borrows, but a great artist steals.’ I’m stealing from my students’ energy, but I’m also giving back to them years of experience and knowledge.”

Those years of experience and knowledge are what CU art students need to thrive.

Wimmer explained that life is like a well, and if nothing is put into that well, nothing can be drawn from it when one wants to be creative.

“Do not limit yourself. When you limit yourself in your thinking, you are going to limit yourself in the way you can express it,” Wimmer said.

Students are hungry, and are wanting to put knowledge into their wells.

“I was here for the presentation he made here last year,” Sue Bolton, fine arts major said. “I wanted a chance to work with him, because I think it is really a chance of  a lifetime to be able to work with someone like him.”

But, just filling your artistic well with knowledge alone can not bring life to a piece of art.

“It has to be something experienced,” Wimmer said. Without experiencing and understanding something and making it your own, your artwork will be lifeless.

“It makes you, in a sense, a much more global thinker. You reach outside your little comfort zone,” he said. “I think this makes you a better artist.”

Because Wimmer believes in experiencing and understanding his subject matter, he practices this in his own artwork.

Wimmer said that he finished the material for the “Lion King” about two and a half years before the movie was released and saw the original sketches, the sculptures and the character developments from the beginning. He said that he was sent raw snippets from the film and an actual recording of Elton John from the movie soundtrack. From these early pieces of the movie, Wimmer interpreted and created a majestic “Simba on Pride Rock.”

“It’s a great experience, one that I’ve put in my well, which, in turn, gives me more to bring to my next job,” Wimmer said. “That’s really what teaching is all about.”

And as for that blossoming seed of desire-“Native plants grow best in their native soil,” Wimmer said. “Oklahoma is home.” He said that his business began with two agents: one on the east coast and one on the west coast. However, he said, as his clientele grew, he was able to drop his west coast agent and edit the type of work he accepted. With the convenience of technology, he was able to cater to clients all over the world from his Norman home.

“I would take some jobs that paid well to balance against those jobs that didn’t pay well but were more fun,” he said.
By doing this Wimmer said that he can enjoy his career without  sacrificing his pay. He refers to this balance of work as his puddle philosophy.

“I have my portrait puddle, my children’s book puddle, my advertising puddle and my fine art puddle,” Wimmer said. “So if it quits raining and one puddle dries up, I can jump to the other.”
There has definitely been plenty of rain in Wimmer’s career, and the seed of desire that was planted in his youth has not only grown but also blossomed.

“I literally get to pick and choose a little bit more of the work I do now, which, as an artist, is more rewarding,” Wimmer said.

He has learned to utilize his talent well and is now living his dream.

“If you don’t live it, you really don’t believe it,” Wimmer said.

His personal motto, however, would not be complete without sharing his experiences with others.

“Any teacher will tell you that we get as much out of teaching as students do. You come to us with new questions, new ideas and energy,” Wimmer said. “It always reminds me of one of my favorite artists’ quote about Picaso, ‘A good artist borrows, but a great artist steals.’ I’m stealing from my students’ energy, but I’m also giving back to them years of experience and knowledge.”

Those years of experience and knowledge are what CU art students need to thrive.
Wimmer explained that life is like a well, and if nothing is put into that well, nothing can be drawn from it when one wants to be creative.

“Do not limit yourself. When you limit yourself in your thinking, you are going to limit yourself in the way you can express it,” Wimmer said.

Students are hungry and are wanting to put knowledge into their wells.
“I was here for the presentation he made here last year,” Sue Bolton, fine arts major, said. “I wanted a chance to work with him,because I think it is really a chance of  a lifetime to be able to work with someone like him.”
But just filling your artistic well with knowledge alone cannot bring life to a piece of art.

“It has to be something experienced,” Wimmer said.

Without experiencing and understanding something and making it one’s own, artwork will be lifeless.
“It makes you, in a sense, a much more global thinker. You reach outside your little comfort zone,” he said. “I think this makes you a better artist.”

Because Wimmer believes in experiencing and understanding his subject matter, he practices this in his own artwork.
Wimmer said that he finished the material for the “Lion King” about two and a half years before the movie was released and saw the original sketches, the sculptures and the character developments from the beginning. He said that he was sent raw snippets from the film and an actual recording of Elton John from the movie soundtrack. From these early pieces of the movie, Wimmer interpreted and created a majestic “Simba on Pride Rock.”

“It’s a great experience, one that I’ve put in my well, which, in turn, gives me more to bring to my next job,” Wimmer said. “That’s really what teaching is all about.”

And as for that blossoming seed of desire, “Native plants grow best in their native soil,” Wimmer said. “Oklahoma is home.”