Beth Lipman (foreground) at work in the studio.
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Beth Lipman: I just finished a collaborative exhibition, “Glimmering Gone,” with my close friend, the Swedish artist Ingalena Klenell. We’ve been working on this project for the past 2 1/2 years and it has finally come to fruition. It includes three separate but related components we refer to as Memento, Landscape, and Artifact. Fabrication took place in our respective studios in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin and in Edsbjorke, Sweden. We created approximately a third of the work at the Museum of Glass, where we were visiting artists in January 2010, and where the work just went on exhibit.
At the moment, I’m extremely obsessed with an upcoming installation for the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis. The installation is inspired by their collection of Marsden Hartley paintings and drawings. The piece will be half homage to Hartley, half homage to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
Beth Lipman, Still Life with Kudzu, 2010. Glass, glue, paint, wood. H 90, W 72, D 32 in. photo: robb quinn
GLASS: What artwork have you seen recently that has inspired you and got you thinking about your own work?
Beth: Works by Marsden Hartley are a huge source of inspiration presently. He was also a prolific writer and poet, and his writing has led me to revisit Emerson’s writings and dip into William James. Also, Abby Williams Hill, a landscape painter from the Pacific Northwest, was highly influential to the “Glimmering Gone” project. I find both Hartley and Hill’s life stories to be as fascinating as their work. Generally, I’m inspired by history and decorative arts and of course, food. But maybe not in that order.
GLASS: Where is it possible to see you work ?
Beth: My work is currently on view at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Corning Museum
of Glass. “Glimmering Gone,” the collaborative installation with
Ingalena Klenell, can be experienced at the Museum of Glass in
Tacoma through September 6, 2011. Also check out Heller Gallery, both the gallery in New York and their booth at Art Miami. You can also find my work at Cade Tompkins Projects, both the gallery and at the Editions/Artist Books Fair. Alternatively, come visit my studio in bucolic Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin.