Museum Director Heidi Zuckerman on Her Porsche 911, Where to Find Vintage Couture, and Aerial Yoga
Heidi Zuckerman has married her decades-long immersion in the art world with her boundless energy to create a mini multimedia empire, replete with books, a podcast, and a newsletter—all while holding a serious day job as a museum director.
During her 14-year stint as CEO and director at the Aspen Art Museum, she presided over the construction of a new building designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Shigeru Ban, transformed the institution with exhibitions of stars including Rashid Johnson and David Hammons, and made Aspen an essential stop on the art world’s collective itinerary when she founded the summer ArtCrush auction and its attendant festivities.
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In 2021, Zuckerman alit at California’s Orange County Museum of Art, where in the same role she oversaw yet another move, this one to an edifice by Pritzker winner Thom Mayne that doubled OCMA’s size. “It used to get 10,000 visitors a year,” she says. “We got 10,000 visitors in the first 24 hours—and 260,000 visitors the first year.” Admission is now free. “I’m super proud of that, because my core value is that access to art is a human right, not a privilege.”
Her latest book, Why Art Matters: The Bearable Lightness of Being, is a thematic guide to contemplating every facet of life through the lens of art. Says Zuckerman: “It’s really intended to be a helping hand.”
What have you done for the first time recently?
Play a full round—well, nine holes—of golf. I actually did that last night. I started really strong, and I kept saying to my husband, “You know, no one can tell that I just started to play golf.” And he said, “Yes, they can.”
What is the first thing you do in the morning?
I have a standard morning routine: I make my bed, I meditate, I journal, I make a matcha, and I exercise. With my matcha, I like Chafinity—it’s organic and imported, and they’re a local company. I collect chawans, and when I travel, I put the whole kit in an old off-white shoe bag with my sifter and my bamboo spoon.
What do you most crave at the end of the day?
A bath. I did a gut renovation of my house here in Laguna Beach, and the one thing I said I had to have was a Japanese soaking tub, and then, radiant heat in the bathroom. Every night, I take a bath, and then I get out and lie on the ground. It’s pretty great.
What do you do that’s still analog?
So much. I send handwritten thank-you notes. I write in my journal every morning and every night.
What’s the most recent thing you’ve added to your collection?
I got married last summer, and we decided to get an artwork to commemorate that. For the first time ever, I’ve commissioned a painting, by Lily Stockman.
How do you find calm?
I walk along the beach, listen to the water.
What song is currently in your head?
“Don’t Stop Believin’ ” by Journey. It has gotten me through so many moments where I just want to give up. It’s my everything song.
What is your exercise routine, and how often do you do it?
I am a hiker, and I added a weighted vest in the last few weeks. I do it five days a week. You can walk 40 miles of hiking trails from my house.
How do you get to sleep?
I take a bath and try to breathe. I’ve been trying to increase my heart-rate variability. I’m working on it with breath work, and that’s how I’m trying to sleep: five breaths in, five breaths out.
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?
Singing. I’m not [tone-deaf], though my first husband told me that I was.
How much do you trust your gut instinct?
One thousand percent. One of my superpowers, I would say, is intuition. When I tap into my intuition, there is a magic that happens for me, like there’s all this serendipity.
Where do you get your clothes?
I love vintage couture. There is a site called Shrimpton Couture. I got my James Galanos wedding dress there, and I’ve gotten gala dresses. [Owner Cherie Balch] has just got a phenomenal eye.
Drive or be driven?
Drive. I drive a 2006 Porsche 911 4S. I love it: silver with caramel interior.
When was the last time you completely unplugged?
At Sensei Porcupine Creek. We did this aerial-yoga class. We had a strap at our hip points, and we were flying so our feet were on the wall, our bodies were totally off the wall, and our arms were out. I’m a 25-year yoga practitioner, and I had never done it. It was amazing.
What’s your favorite hotel?
The Park Hyatt in Tokyo. I know it’s been around forever, but anytime someone goes, I ask them to bring me back one of the hairbrushes. They just give them away in the room, but it’s my favorite hairbrush.
Last piece of advice that you gave?
“Everything’s going to be all right.” It comes from a Martin Creed artwork that I use as a mantra. We showed it in Aspen. I show it every time I give a talk. It’s this great neon.
If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
The place that I always say that if things get really bad and I disappear, where you can find me is in the Cai Guo-Qiang artwork called Cultural Melting Bath in Naoshima, on the sea in Japan. I find hot water to
be my most creative space. And I love nature. If I could live outside, I would.
What is your email etiquette?
I am pathological about email, and I’m always after inbox zero. But it’s not a good thing to chase.
What is the car you’re most attached to?
Definitely the Porsche. I love that car. Sometimes I’m on the street and I see it, and I’m like, that’s a really beautiful car. And then I’m like, oh, that’s my car, which sounds so dumb, but it happens a lot.
What’s your vice?
The sun. I don’t wear sunscreen.
What kind of music puts you in a good mood?
Eighties music. We just went to a party, and they had this band called Flashback Heart Attack, and I think we danced the entire time.
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