Mike Zeller, our very own vice president of brand marketing, has an after-hours alter ego. He is an accomplished artist! If you want to see to believe, you have the chance to view his collection Watercolors on Wheels on exhibit at the Metropolitan Arts Council (MAC) Gallery from August 6 through September 7, with an opening reception Wednesday, August 18 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
The exhibit, sponsored by The Peoples National Bank, consists of paintings of classic and antique cars, such as vintage models of Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, MG and Alfa Romeo. Included in Watercolors on Wheels will be several of Zeller’s photographs of discarded great American and British cars like Dodge, Chevrolet and Austin Healey. His complete works can also be viewed at www.motoringarts.com.
Zeller has been a car enthusiast and illustrator from an early age. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve had this love affair with cars. When growing up, my father took me to races, and he did bookwork for a body shop where I’d see cool cars. That body shop was where I had my first encounters with a 1954 Corvette and a Healey 100-4. To this day, they are two of my favorite cars,” Zeller recently commented. “I also love to draw. In the mid- 1970s, I had the great fortune to work with the Penske Team in Indy Car racing, and I’ve been to many vintage races at Road Atlanta and at Goodwood in the U.K.”
A native of Ohio, Mike was a fine arts major at Ohio University. Doodling custom cars in school revealed a passion he continued pursuing as a hobby. After working in Pittsburgh, New York and St. Louis in advertising, Zeller moved to Greenville in 1979 to take a position at another advertising agency. He has been with Jackson Marketing Group now for fifteen years and is the past chairman of the MAC Board of Directors.
“We are very excited about having this unique exhibit at MAC,” commented MAC executive director Alan Ethridge. “Mike is an excellent visual artist and an avid arts supporter. He has been an outstanding board member, and his watercolor renderings of these magnificent classic cars are superb. This is the first exhibit of its kind in our gallery, and we hope that car enthusiasts throughout the area will partake of Watercolors on Wheels.”
The Metropolitan Arts Council is the only organization in Greenville, South Carolina working daily to support every discipline of the arts and is home to Greenville’s only public art gallery. MAC provides support to area arts organizations and many individual artists through its grants program, through its cultural planning process, by advocating on behalf of all artists and arts groups, and by providing cooperative marketing opportunities promoting arts groups that might not have resources available to them.
