B U S I N E S S + C U LT U R E 63 The Creative Process Reflection on the Past, Present, and Future As a child growing up in Butler, Pennsylvania, Ronald M. Zaccari spent hours cultivating his passion for the arts. “My mother felt that the arts were important and the foundation of my education,” said Zaccari, who had a career as a public school art teacher, art professor, and higher education administrator. “She gave me all the drawing materials that I needed from paper, pens, and paint. I would spend hours in the basement mixing plaster or carving something out of wood.” Though he has retired from his professional career in education, Zaccari’s passion for art and the creative process has not slowed down. As part of his largest art exhibit—Faces, Vases, and Places: A Retrospective—Zaccari provides a glimpse of his work that spans five decades. The exhibit includes more than 310 pieces of sculptures, paintings, drawings, and an extensive collection of giclée collages. The exhibit, which is on display in Valdosta at the Turner Center for the Arts through Oct. 31, represents Zaccari’s art from 1968 to present. “The exhibit is not just my past work, there are a lot of pieces that I have never exhibited and those that I created the last two years,” Zaccari said. “There are also some construction pieces from a culmination of different materials like copper and wood. I have done some of these in the past, probably 20 years ago, so not new but more of revisiting.” A focal point of the exhibit includes a 7-foot aluminum painted sculpture titled “Head of a Woman.” With the large sculptures, Zaccari starts with an initial drawing and then creates a maquette, which is a small preliminary model. “The maquette is built to scale,” he explained. “This gives me a working model to use as I have the actual pieces cut and welded together.” Known for his steel and aluminum sculptures displayed in private homes and businesses throughout the region, Zaccari’s largest sculpture, which weighs nearly a half ton, is on public display in Jennett Hall on the campus of Valdosta State University. The 13-foot steel piece of art was commissioned by Jerry and Kay Jennett and is titled “Woman with a Multi- colored Hat.” Zaccari wants the exhibit to represent more than a display of his work. “I want this exhibit to be didactic,” he said. “I will teach the art process, using the pieces as a visual representation. I will have some of my Ronald Zaccari’s “Woman in a Multi-Colored Hat,” is on display at Valdosta State University.