Elyn Zimmerman (born December 16, 1945) is an American sculptor known for her emphasis on large scale, site specific projects and environmental art.

Zimmerman's permanent sculpture works, beginning in the 1980s, range from studio pieces and private commissions, to large scale projects for civic, university and corporate sites.

Included among these large scale, public commissions is a fountain to memorialize the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City;[8] the design of the sculpture garden at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; a fountain and seating area for AT&T headquarters in New Jersey; and the plaza design at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC featuring a large pool surrounded by polished and natural cleft granite boulders.

Zimmerman and Kirk Varnedoe began a correspondence in 1975 after he wrote an enthusiastic article about the drawing and photographic piece she exhibited in the 1974 Whitney Biennial.

[18] Varnedoe's deep knowledge of western art history and his widely celebrated talent to convey this information to students, colleagues and friends enriched Zimmerman's understanding of and appreciation for these traditions.

When the National Geographic Society selected David Childs of SOM to design their new headquarters in Washington, D.C., his office sought out artists who worked with stone.

[20] This became Zimmerman's first substantial commission, Marabar (1984), reinforcing her desire to pursue this type of artwork and to learn more about all the aspects of creating outdoor public projects including: construction methods; landscape requirements; sustainable building practices and materials sources.

Following several rounds of negotiations and a public awareness campaign by The Cultural Landscape Foundation, the Society agreed in 2021 to preserve the work and fund its relocation to a new site.

Zimmerman altered the work to fit its new location at American University, several miles north of the original site, renaming the piece Sudama (1984/2023).