Aleta Pippin's dynamic and lyrical abstract acrylic
paintings are all about color and texture. Large areas of vibrant hue,
which are applied to the canvas in multiple layers, express the passion
and joy that she feels about art and life.
"I've always loved color," Pippin professes. "It
enlivens the spirit. When I first began painting, I would put every
color I owned on my palette. Sometimes I had 40 different hues in front
of me. I would use all of them. Even though I limit the number of colors
I use now, the ones I do choose are strong and powerful. I also love the
translucent quality that results when colors are placed over each other
in many layers."
Pippin focuses on the process of painting rather than on
creating a particular style of work. She experimented with various ways
of applying paint to canvas until she discovered a way to pour it that
felt compatible with her personality. Wearing old painting clothes,
Pippin creates an armature upon which to place the canvas. She selects a
limited palette of liquid acrylic paints and begins pouring them on the
canvas. Three or four coats of paint are applied to the surface before
the painting is completed and ready to be attached to stretcher bars.
"It's a spontaneous, serendipitous process," she points
out. "I work from a place of intuition. Images are not preplanned. They
appear on the canvas. There's angst and satisfaction in working this
way."
Although Pippin created outstanding drawings as a young
child growing up in the California desert, she didn't try her hand at
painting until the early 1990s. She married after high school and
devoted her creative energies to raising children and developing a
career. By 1984 she opened her own business, Front Office Business
Centers, which provides executive business services to professionals in
Houston, Texas. Her company was listed repeatedly as one of Houston's 50
largest women-owned businesses.
Pippin has been honored with the Working Woman's
Regional Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. While her professional
business life was extremely successful and rewarding, she began to feel
the desire to explore different environments and face new challenges.
She and her husband moved to Santa Fe in 1991 and continued to supervise
the operation of her company through occasional visits to Houston and
frequent phone calls to her business manager.
Because she was no longer responsible for many of the
day-to-day tasks of running a company, Pippin discovered she had a lot
of free time on her hands. She decided it would be fund to take an
acrylic painting class that was advertised in a local newspaper. After
that class finished, she enrolled in others that encouraged her to
explore both acrylics and oils.
"Some of my first work was in portraiture, but I decided
I really wanted to move into abstraction," she comments. "I was
fortunate to be able to study with New York artist Alex Shundi, who came
to Santa Fe to open up an art school. I had a burning question for him.
I wanted to know when an abstract painting is complet versus just paint
thrown on a canvas. Alex helped me see my work better and gave me
much-needed confidence."
Pippin delved into painting with the same dedication and
commitment that catapulted her to the top tier of the Houston business
community, but within four years she began questioning everything that
she was doing in life. Entering the ministry seemed as if it might
provide the answer to her existential dilemma. She enrolled in a
ministry program in Kansas City, Missouri. When it didn't work out as
expected, she began writing books.
Pippin has authored several self-help books including
"Sit Still and Succeed: 11 Natural Laws to Create a Meaningful and
Wealthy Life" and co-authored one for baby boomers with writer Robyn
Mulhearn called "Yikes!! My Butt's Falling, Humorous 'Tails' of Aging
Baby Boomers."
"I was looking for my purpose in life," explains Pippin.
"Four years ago I came to the decision that I can focus on whatever I
want and that can be my purpose. I originally went toward the ministry
because I didn't feel that art was as important a form of communication
as the ministry. Now I see how the arts move us energetically and that
they are a vital part of our lives."
Painting is about far more than artistic expression for
Pippin. It's also about sharing the spiritual side of her being with
others. "My paintings are my attempt to communicate the natural beauty
of our world," she muses. "A Painting is a particular snapshot in time
and provides you with the opportunity to glimpse an entire world. You
can view what's on the surface of the painting or you can look deeper to
see other worlds. My goal is to communicate the organization and beauty
that exists in our universe underneath the appearance of random chaos."
