In celebration of Beth Lipman—whose monumental hanging sculpture Living History was recently unveiled in the museum’s Boeing Foyer—WAM presents All in Time, a mid-career retrospective of the artist featuring her work from the mid-2000s through today.
For over 20 years, Beth Lipman has used glass and other materials to create luscious and sumptuous still lifes. These still lifes feature everything from bowls of fruit to prehistoric plants to piles of books. For Lipman, each still life object speaks to identity—of an individual, a society, and of human culture in general. All in Time brings into focus Lipman’s long interest in using glass to explore issues of creation, life, decay, and death—the fleeting nature of human life and human history contrasted with the billions of years of geological time. What is the role of humanity and art in a world and universe that existed long before us? What do we create that endures?
Beth Lipman is a star of the contemporary art world. In 2013, she was honored by a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. That same year, PBS featured her in the Craft in America documentary. In 2018, Lipman was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council. Recently, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Arkansas) and Chrysler Museum of Art (Virginia) have commissioned significant Lipman artworks. She is currently working on a major project with the Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio). Her work is held in permanent collections across the country, from the deYoung Museum in San Francisco to the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
All in Time brings into focus Lipman’s long interest in using glass to explore issues of creation, life, decay, and death—the fleeting nature of human life and human history contrasted with the billions of years of geological time.