A:LIST A Project of the Hyde Park Art Center

Beth Lipman

Artist Information

Currently Resides: Sheboygan Falls, WI

Contact Information:

Email: bethlipman (at) mac (dot) com
www.bethlipman.com

Medium(s) Worked in:

Photography
Sculpture
Glass
Installation

Teaching Certified: No

Available for commission: Yes

Artist Representation

Heller Gallery, NY, NY

HPAC Exhibition

2007, Interiority

Artist Statement

My work pays homage to still life paintings from the 17th - 20th centuries. The first true still life- a composition that depicts inanimate objects as the main subject- were painted at the turn of the 17th century in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy but the tradition of depicting objects dates back to the first century. Still lifes can be contemplated on a purely atheistic level, or they can be interpreted on a political, moral or theological level and were usually influenced by economic or socio-cultural events.

There is a direct parallel between the tradition of still life painting and art made from traditional craft processes. During the 16th and 17th centuries, still life paintings were considered inferior to paintings of political and religious genre. Craft has been considered subordinate to painting and sculpture.

Mimesis- the ability to capture an object’s exact likeness- is one of the most outstanding qualities of the still life. Instead of striving for illusionary perfection, I use the glass process of sculpting and blowing to record of my ability to control the material at that moment. It is a relinquishing of the moment.

The use of glass creates a tangible third dimension, capturing the painting’s polished quality; it foils the viewer’s eye; it frustrates efforts to claim and own what is seen. Its clarity and absence of color captures the essence of an object and offers a counterpoint to trumpe l’oeil (deception of the eye) found in still life paintings. Glass makes perishable objects everlasting.

In its most recent manifestation, the glass still life is reduced to a photograph. I make the glass, create the composition, and use photography to capture the moment. The print is scaled to the actual size of the objects. Afterwards, the glass is destroyed or recycled. The still life is returned to the two-dimension and the glass becomes unattainable.

Artist Bio

Since earning her BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Lipman has exhibited her work widely and has received numerous awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship, and a American- Scandinavian Foundation Travel Grant. She has participated in residencies at the Studio of the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Arts in Millville, NJ, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Arts/Industry Program in Kohler, WI, and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA. In 2008, her installation, “After You’re Gone,” will be on view at the RISD Museum in Providence, RI.

Her work has been acquired by numerous museums including the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her work has been acquired by the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and can be found in many private collections. In 2007, Lipman designed Earthly Pleasures, a collection of exotic fruits and pods, for Steuben Glass. Since 2005 she has coordinated the Arts/Industry Residency program at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI.

Press

ArtDaily.org, “The RISD Museum of Art Presents After You’re Gone, an Installation by Beth Lipman,” August 29.

Lena Bonnevier, VF Kultur & Noje, “Granslos Passion for Glaset,” September 16, Vecka 38

Barbara MacAdam, Art News, “Shattering Glass,” June 2008, page 139

Blanch Craig, Contemporary Glass, 2008

John Drury, GLASS, “What Remains,” Winter, pg. 57, 2007

Mary Louise Schumacher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Collective Vision,” Cue, May 27

Benjamin Genocchio,The New York Tiimes, “Really? It’s All Made of Glass?” In the Region, Dec 30, 2007

Georgette Gouveia, “Katonah Exhibit Views Glass in a New Light,” NYjournalnews.com, Dec 3, 2007

Neil Watson, Ellen Keiter, Shattering Glass: New Perspectives, Katonah Museum of Art, checklist, 2007

Jane Milosch, Susanne Frantz, From the Ground Up, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, exhibition checklist, 2007

Robin Tierney Washington Examiner, “Flights of Hand: Supreme Craft,” Weekend, March 10 & 11, 2007

Blake Gopnik, Washington Post, Here & Now, Sunday, March 25, 2007

Audrey Hoffer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “National Treasures,” Cue, March 25, 2007

Mary Louise Schumacher, JSonline.com, “More on Last Suppers in Art,” video, March 30, 2007

Eve Zibart, Washingtonpost.com, “At the Renwick, Beauty Grounded in Nature, April 13, 2007

The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation: 2005 Awards, catalog, 2006

Leslie Umberger, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Beth Lipman: Still Lifes in Glass, Checklist, 2003

Additional Information

Misc:

Designer, Steuben Glass
Instructor, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA
The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
UrbanGlass Abroad, Coldigiocco, Italy
Pratt Fine Art Center, Seattle, WA
Jewish Museum, NY, NY
Bard Graduate Center for the Decorative Arts, NY, NY
New York University, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
Parsons School of Design, NY, NY
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ME (2009)
Arts/Industry Coordinator, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheobygan, WI