CONNIE SIMMONS
Connie Simmons began her career as an entertainment lawyer in private practice, working with film companies such as New Line Cinema and Miramax. She left private practice in 1990 to serve as vice president at Columbia Tri Star. Connie was part of the management team that launched the Food Network in 1993 and she served as its Executive Vice President. Connie spent her first years in Texas, first in Dallas and then in Austin. She received her BA in History at the University of Texas at Austin. She then moved to New York City and received her JD from Columbia Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband Jim Krugman.
Connie began painting with her grandmother in Dallas, Texas as a young child and then put her brushes down for many years. She began painting again at the Art Students League in New York City and started studying with David Dunlop at Silvermine Art Guild in New Canaan, CT. Connie is interested in the effects and sensations of light and color observed in landscapes, cloudscapes and seascapes. Her works are inspired by an interest in the history of art and painting, especially the works of J.M.W. Turner. Manet said when he was discussing his small still lives that he painted at the end of his life that “A painter can say all that he needs to say when painting flowers and fruit – and even clouds.”
SIMMONSART INC. Productions with DAVID DUNLOP
CONNIE SIMMONS and DAVID DUNLOP began working together to create programming about art, art history, painting and creativity after Connie took one of David’s painting classes at Silvermine Art Guild in Connecticut. She left his classes so inspired by his approach, inspiration and encyclopedic knowledge, and they found that they had similar goals. They formed a partnership to try to capture this approach and to create a new type of art programming that would explore art and creativity in a series of DVDs and television programs.
Connie is the President of SimmonsArt Inc. and she and David have produced many series and art programs. She produced and directed two Seasons of the PBS Series entitled Landscapes through Time with David Dunlop, which began airing nationally in June, 2008 and several different series of other arts programs. She and David were both awarded a 2009 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Special Class Series and they were both also nominated for a 2009 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Special Class Series. Landscapes through Time with David Dunlop has been broadcast in over 88% of the US and in 92% of the top 10 demographic markets.
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DAVID DUNLOP is a modern-day old master whose luminous landscapes draw from both Renaissance techniques and contemporary science. His paintings have been shown internationally and are held in the collections of major corporations including Aetna Insurance, Citibank, Colgate Palmolive, Delta Airlines, GE Capital Corporation, IBM, Mobil and more. Galleries and institutions have granted David solo shows since 1981.
David’s reputation as a painter who combines artistic skill, knowledge and enthusiasm prompted The Metropolitan Museum of Art to invite him to lecture on 4000 years of landscape painting in 2005. He has been a visiting artist/lecturer at multiple institutions, including the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT; Caramoor Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT; and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ.
David graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College of Wooster, Wooster, OH, and has an MFA from The Pratt Institute, NY, NY. He is on the faculty of the celebrated Silvermine School of Art in NewCanaan, CT, where he teaches painting, gives workshops and leads groups of art students to Italy, France and Japan. David lives in Wilton, CT, with his wife, Rebecca Hoefer.