Join the Bainbridge Public Library for the January 2020 First Friday Art Walk, featuring artist Pipper Watkins
The Bainbridge Public Library is dedicated to spreading the joy of reading and the discovery of ideas with not just our local community, but with visitors from near and afar. In addition, the library is fortunate to house beautiful local works of art both inside and outside the building. Each month the library celebrates a local artist (or artists) with an exhibit, which opens monthly on the Island’s First Friday Art Walk tour, and includes a reception hosted by the featured artist.
Pipper Watkins will host a reception opening her exhibit, “TREES” on January 3rd, 5-7pm for First Friday Art Walk.
“Here in the Northwest we are surrounded by green. Tall trees and the understory. A diverse ecology ranging from dry to very, very wet. We who live here become oblivious to it all, not aware of the diversity of plant and animal life surrounding us.
My goal with this series is to show trees in a way that can’t be ignored. One must look, and look again. Thoughts may lead to questions. Will questions lead to answers?”
As the child of an Air Force pilot, Pipper has lived in Rapid City, SD, Guam, and Rome, NY. When she graduated high school, her father retired and they returned to Oregon, where her family had been for four generations. She graduated from Oregon State University, met and married her husband, Doug, and soon after began teaching 3rd and 4th grades in the Corvallis, OR area. After the birth of her first child, Pipper began painting scientific botanical illustrations in watercolor, following the Japanese aesthetic, rather than European—many of those works are in the collections of the Corning Glass family, a relative of Karen von Blixen-Finecke (aka Isak Dinesen), and a vice-president of BBC television. Pen and ink illustrations were also done for a book on heathers. In addition, Pipper taught art at the community college level and served as president of the Corvallis Art Guild, as well as a member of the Corvallis Art Center jury, deciding which artists would show each year in the main gallery. Pipper also studied Ikebana with a Japanese master and is a graduate of the Floral Design Institute.
In the early 1980s, Pipper and her family moved to the Portland/Vancouver area, where her husband, Doug, began his own business in landscape/grounds maintenance, in 1993 they relocated to Bainbridge Island, where Doug continued his business, with Pipper working alongside him. Doug also had a Masters in Wildlife Management, and they spent a great deal of time outdoors, observing and documenting Washington birdlife—while Doug studied the birds, she painted small water colors of her surroundings in her travel journal.
Pipper’s paintings are influenced by her travels as a child and her life outdoors. Her current exhibit is done on 24×30 professional grade canvases, using a medium of acrylics and modeling gel. She focuses on close-up representations of indigenous species with unusual textures and character.
In addition to concentrating on her painting, Pipper owns and operates, Pipper’s Flowers, where she strongly believes in adding the natural beauty of flowers to every occasion. Both her paintings and flower arrangements are done out of her home studio here on Bainbridge Island.
Pipper’s paintings are available for sale at the Bainbridge Public Library throughout the exhibit. Although she does not have a website for her paintings, if you wish to inquire about purchasing her work directly, contact her via email at pipper@pippersflowers.com.
You can view Pipper’s exhibit throughout the month of January in the meeting room during regular library hours and on the library website, www.bainbridgepubliclibrary.org.
As always, thank you for supporting your Bainbridge Public Library and local artists. If you have interest in exhibiting your work, feel free to contact Linda Meier, art coordinator, at lindameier2000@gmail.com
***Library content and images provided by Linda Meier, Bainbridge Public Library and Pipper Watkins
