Artist
Beth Lipman
Philadelphia 1971
Lipman translates the opulence and expressiveness of earlier European painting, especially seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes, into glass. Dazzling but fragile, sometimes with broken pieces, they symbolize the frailty of life on earth. Lipman has received numerous grants including from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation; residence programs include stints at the Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, and at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, where she has served since 2005 as arts/industry coordinator of the artist residence program. Earlier, she served as education director for UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, New York.
Collection Highlights
InEarth
Beth Lipman is known for glass installations that blend conceptual themes with traditional techniques. Her work draws inspiration from earlier art, in particular seventeenth-century Dutch still-life painting and its symbolic vocabulary. Lipman’s choice of material is significant: glass is a suggestive substance, malleable enough to precisely imitate forms while presenting a ghostly, translucent aspect as though the object had been drained of some essential vitality.