pippengerart.com

Working on some new pieces, one using no color at all, just variations on black and white. Have started two new pieces in the House series as well. I spent yesterday putting together an installation that will go to Gorman School in Dayton. I have been working on it over the summer, assembling the components which are made from recycled materials. So far I have created a very colorful “pole” forest with some wind and sound components to accompany the forest. I hope to start installing this week!

I have a busy fall ahead; classes start soon and I will be filling the heads of college students with lots of world art history. I have been tweaking my course to add in some things I felt were needed for a full first exposure to art (most of the students I teach have had little experience with art; I like opening their minds).

In addition there are several shows coming  up in the very near future, lots of happenings at my main gallery The Cannery Art and Design Center, as well as at Really Cool Stuff where I sell my cards and small art items. The Holiday Gift Gallery is gearing up at the Dayton Visual Arts Center soon as well. Best yet, we will be bopping over to DC to see our son, who graduated from Georgetown last May and is working in the capital city. We – my family – have all lived in the DC area  and it is a favorite place for us. A friend told me last week that Mark Rothko’s chapel paintings are on view, so I have to see them. Best part of course, will be spending time with my son! I miss the guy!

Working on a new series of collages based on statuary, mostly French I think, though I have not done all the research yet. These statues are known as “mourners” and I find them captivating. The shapes of the figures and the attitudes they convey are very moving. I have finished a preliminary drawing and am currently transferring the image to canvas so I can start the collage. The start of a new piece is always exciting!

http://www.artid.pipart – check out another sales venue where you can easily purchase my work! At this point I have listed only two new pieces, but I will be adding more in the next few days, so stay tuned! It’s a very easy site to navigate too.

Right now I am watching the Georgetown/WV basketball game with my son, who is a senior at GU. At 6′6″ tall, he tells people when they ask him if he plays basketball that he is not tall enough for his college team! Go Hoyas (no disrespect to any WV fans!). It’s nice to have my Hoya home for spring break.

Best to all you art and basketball fans, and I will talk to you soon!

Well, I am taking a little break here from grading art papers to write a quick post. Making art is my joy and my job, but I also teach, so art history papers are a priority at the moment! I did manage, however, to create a couple of new collages for an exhibition to open later this month. Sacred Ground is all about the land as sacred space and the exhibition opens at the Marianist Environmental Education Center in Beavercreek, Ohio. I will post more information soon, and at an earlier time of day! It’s late at night at the moment, so I am bidding goodnight!

Hurray…it was a good productive day in my studio, where I worked on a piece I am calling “The Water Carrier”. It is based on a detail from a stained glass window at Chartres. Lots of color and texture. It’s currently drying and then I will add the finishing touches and apply the glazes. I am planning to enter it in an exhibition called “Sacred Spaces”. I will finish it tomorrow and then start laying out a new collage!

For any of you who read my posts or check my latest work, you are probably wondering what has happened to me, since I have not posted in months. I always have such good intentions to maintain a steady stream of commentary and actually was doing pretty well – for awhile.

Well, I am still here and still making art. I just haven’t photographed and posted any new work; I am still making new work. Actually I have been quite busy making work so I will practice my photography skills and post some. I did a series of “Peace” symbols and am working on a new series called “Oxford Faces”, based on photos I took in Oxford, England last April. I am continuing the “Medusa” series and am working on three pieces having to do with the land as sacred space.

I am teaching a lot right now, which accounts for some of my busyness: four art history classes and a studio class. I love doing this but it does take time! It is important to me however to keep up with the history of art as it places me in context with my predecessors. It also informs my work, and I hope, enriches and improves it. I am proud to be a part of the history of artists, however small. I also feel I am doing my part to develop new art appreciators, collectors and patrons. So I work hard to balance art teaching and artmaking! Anyone who is an artist understands the dilemma of time management (as do most of us I am sure).

Well, that’s it for today. I promise I will be back soon to update you on things art.

I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean I have been idle! It is always a decision between working in the studio or communicating about working in the studio, and honestly, making art usually wins. I just finished a new piece that I had been working on for a show here in Dayton; I was having trouble resolving it, so I nixed it for that particular show to work on it further. I finished this collage yesterday and I think it is much better now. As soon as I photograph it (using my new light system) I will put it up for all to see.

I am almost finished with the Medusa shown in “Works in Progress”. Poor Medusa … she got put on hold while I finished other projects that had firm deadlines.  Now I can wrap her up and return to another Medusa that is on the canvas ready to start.

I have a show coming up in November for which I plan to have all new pieces. I sketched the first one out yesterday, so that project is started. And last night I worked on another idea that I have been making notes on for quite some time. More on that later.

Just a reminder that all my work is for sale, and that you can find it here as well as on pippengerart@etsy.com.  The Etsy site at this point is primarily notecards, but the Etsy advantage is Paypal!

Feel free always to contact me with questions, requests for workshops, art sales, etc. I’m always here! And please, support your local arts venues. Where is the richness of life without the arts?

I am in the midst of an ongoing project for a local non-profit called Clothes That Work. This wonderful organization helps men and women prepare for job interviews and new jobs by helping them put together an interview outfit. If a client of CTW is hired for a new position, he or she can return to CTW to choose some work wear. It is an amazing organization and has helped many a college grad, single mom, laid-off worker, those coming off assistance, and countless others.

And I have the fun fun fun opportunity to create clothing themed collages for the Boutique and offices of Clothes That Work! The staff wanted to juice up their surroundings so I have embarked on this ongoing project. I am creating collages as I have time, scheduling them with my other work. I have finished just one so far, which I am showing here. (Remember this is a pip-shot photo, so excuse the glare. I just got notice that my new lights have shipped, so hopefully my photography will improve along with the equipment!).

   The Red Shoe, 20″ by 20″

To make these pieces even more fun, they are hung from brass hangers!

Stay tuned for more info on Clothes That Work and the art that works with it!

Does this look like an artist’s studio or what? It definitely looks like mine!

  Pictured here is a snapshot of a current collage in progress, part of my Medusa series. This piece will be 48″w by 36″h. On pieces of this size I often work on the easel; sometimes I work flat, depending on the collage itself. You may notice that some of the paper is still hanging off the canvas, or appears to be in the wrong spot. Many times if I plan to use a particular piece of paper I will stick it on the canvas with a spot of glue so I don’t lose it!