What inspired you to pursue art?

I’ve always loved art and going to museums since I was a kid. Seeing someone’s thoughts, experiences, feelings, or vision translated through a piece of art right there in front of you can be pretty powerful and at the very least thought-provoking. We all remember some of the most famous artworks for this reason. I wanted to have that power of expression too.  In my late teens, I was further inspired by a lot of the CD and poster art many of my favorite bands had and tried my best to come up with works for my own band that were as visually and intellectually thought-provoking, including the packaging. Music magazines too, with innovative designs such as David Carson’s RAYGUN magazine. These things made me want to go to college for graphic design. So, I did!

How did you develop your artistic skills?

When I was a kid, I took some art classes at Silvermine in New Canaan, and then privately with a painter who was a patient of my dad (who is a doctor). And it just reinforced my love of art, learning how to actually do that. From there I continued my path to art college and a career in the arts (more on that below). I continued to sketch and experiment with new mediums and ideas more recently, which has led us here.

What was your first significant piece of artwork?

I think one of my early oil paintings would be the first I was proud of and felt like was a real painting. I was young and no one has seen it. It’s still life and currently hanging in my kitchen, so I suspect it will stay unseen for now. I still enjoy looking at it though and I did it in one of those classes when I was about 13, if not even younger. Each time I see it it reminds me of those beginnings of my art experience and reflect on where I am now with pride. 

Did you receive formal education or are you self-taught?

Besides those early experiences, I spent senior year of high school working intensively with my art teacher to build a strong portfolio to apply to art schools. It worked. My freshman year of college I was at Hartford Art School, which is a great school and was an amazing experience. But I always wanted to go to Parsons in NYC, so I applied and transferred there after freshman year and finished my BFA there with a Communication Design degree in 1994. From time to time, I will still drop into a local one-off class or open studio session to try and learn more and to inspire new pieces and directions if I’m stuck in a creative block. 

How has your style changed since you started?

Well, the internet came to be in 1994 right after graduation, so my focus on print graphic design quickly segwayed into a web design career. I loved the interactivity of the medium, and I’ve always loved coding, so it was a happy marriage of art geek and computer geek and I could do that for bands I loved, including my own. I spent about 20 years doing website, email and interactive ad design for bands, tech corporations and magazines. And then, I moved into a career in nature conservation and leading volunteers in park improvement projects. Spending so much time outdoors got me sketching again daily, with the subject matter mostly informed and inspired by nature. From there, a cheap set of watercolors and watercolor postcard paper I picked up at an art museum’s shop, started me making little watercolors to send to friends and family. They came out better than expected, and I really enjoyed the medium. So I’ve been primarily focused on the watercolors as well as my sketches/pen and ink/line drawing pieces. And more recently I discovered a love for oil pastels.  I’d say my biggest change in style outside of medium was the subject matter. And more recently, storytelling through my art vs just landscapes or wildlife. In my newer work, they are tied together. I am also experimenting with some more abstract interpretations of nature, which feel like even more my own style. I think ultimately ‘my style’ is going to be all 3 of those at the same time. You can see it evolving that way in the exhibit.

What challenges did you face at the beginning of your career?

Well since the internet didn’t come to be until right after I graduated, I wasn’t taught HTML, which is what you needed to know to build a website with your designs.  And I really wanted to do that for a career once it existed.  Luckily though as I mentioned I was pretty savvy with computers and programming so I taught myself. The other challenges were just getting a good job out of school whether it was print or web. Even with a degree from a top school in Manhattan, I  worked at Tower Records in the evenings to earn rent money while doing a few daytime intern gigs to get in the door at a real firm. It was fun though and I worked for a little while as an intern at a book publisher and then Calvin Klein doing layout. I eventually found my way to an amazing online magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life. There I became a junior web designer for my first career role and was with Ziff Davis , the parent publisher, on and off for many more years. 

How did you overcome setbacks or doubts about your art?

With the fine art pieces you see in the exhibit, I just told myself, I’m doing this for me, and if other people like it, great. That’s helped a lot. I still pretty much feel that way.  I like some pieces better than others but I can see the progression in my art, and that re-motivates me when I need it. I love how in my show at Buttonwood, you can see that progression from my first pieces around 2020, to the most recent from 2024.

What role did your family or friends play in supporting your journey?

There were artists in my family on my dad’s side, and he (and mom) strongly encouraged and supported me going to art school! Once my friends and family saw my art, they were really encouraging and helped however they could. My father in law owns a few of my pieces. More recently, some of my colleagues in the parks i worked in, asked to hang some of my art in their gallery shows at the parks they ran.  That helped a lot to encourage me to continue, and with visibility/credibility.

What was the first exhibition or public display of your work?

My Parsons senior show. The year ends with an art show for each major department’s seniors. My work got honorable mention! I’d say my first real independent show was in January 2022 in Westport, CT, where I grew up. One of my friends who is an artist and a patron of the arts, helped me get that show.

Can you tell us more about the pieces that you have on display here at The Buttonwood Tree through March?

Yes, it is about 3/4 of my current collection of paintings! I have everything I like enough to hang in public or isn’t privately owned now on your walls! As I mentioned above I love how it shows my growth as a painter, and my experimenting with new ideas and styles and new mediums.   They are all primarily nature-inspired but you can see the beginnings of the narrative work and abstract experiments and new framing approaches. The “Birds of Prey” piece demonstrates that. I had never done a triptych before but after doing those 3 pastels, I knew they had to go together, and I designed the frame with the corrugated cardboard to match. It’s not for sale because I just finished it and am attached to it so much. But for the right price I might be swayed… I am a starving artist after all. I just want it to be seen for a while first. 

How has your background influenced the type of art you create?

I wouldn’t say my family or where I grew up really influences my art in any way. I don’t really do any autobiographical art save for one self portrait sketch I don’t love. Maybe someday I will try that again.

What keeps you motivated to continue making art?

Three main things – one its relaxing and therapeutic and rewarding, just the act of it, whether I like the result or not. And two is how people are responding to it positively so far. And three is seeing my progress.

What advice would you give your younger self or other upcoming artists when starting out?

Whether it’s art or music, be true to yourself, be original as much as possible, or have that as your goal. It’s ok to learn from other artists’ work, in fact it’s very important. But make it your own, take chances. Sometimes you might not love the results, but you’re growing each time, and at some point not only will you love your work, but others will too.

Does your music have an influence on your art?  Please tell us more about your upcoming music performance at The Buttonwood Tree on Sat. Sept. 20th from 7-9pm.

Since it was band/album art that really got me inspired to go to art school in the first place, I have also done the art for pretty much every solo or band I was in’s album covers, posters, ads, websites, etc my whole life.  Often, I will look at a piece of my art and say ‘that would make a great cover, it really speaks to what the songs are about and feel like when I hear them. And sometimes it even inspires the name of an album or single. There are two examples I can think of, one which is in the show. It is the mostly red watercolor/pastel mountain scene behind the main stage, and that became the cover of my 2023 single “Wasted”. I love the colors and the intensity, and that I was able to again marry my art and my music into one piece of art. My 2022 album “Some Things Cast Long Shadows” has one of my drawings on the cover (of a wolf), and I also did the design and layout.  

And as you can tell by now, I’ve been also playing and writing music most of the years I’ve been doing art, and have always loved them both. I felt like I could make a living off an art career more realistically and still be able to pursue my music at night and see where it took me! I’ve been doing it ever since. I have many albums over the years whether it’s just my music or group projects. I’ve been playing shows all along too, with most of the recent ones being here in Connecticut. There’s a great scene here and I’ve made lots of friends and had some pretty cool experiences along the way. 

Outside of the CT scene, my favorite experiences were being in the band Supple in NYC in the 90s. We had a record deal, played a lot of bigger shows, got a groovy conga/cello laden cover of “Stayin Alive” on a few major motion picture soundtracks and met a few famous people along the way. I was mainly the bassist in that band (had a short stint on rhythm guitar too) and then started my own band “Automatic Children” , also in NYC. I was co-writer and co-singer/guitarist, and we had a great run as well, with many well received albums, showcases, festival performances, radio play and press. Since that project wrapped up in 2019, I’ve been back to being a solo artist, which I’ve done on the side, band or not, since my first solo album in 2002. 

So these days it’s usually just me and an acoustic up there, with friends occasionally joining on some songs, or on the bill. Or both. And that’s my plan for September 20th! To curate an evening where my friends get to kick things off with a few of their songs, and then during my set, join me for some songs. I can’t wait. The Buttonwood Tree is an inspiring place, I can’t wait to play on that stage. I have a few friends signed up but in case anything changes for any of them between now and then, I will keep it a surprise until we get closer.  

My favorite highlights of playing live recently were performing my songs solo at the legendary Bitter End in NYC last year, and for a small crowd of passengers on board Pete Seeger’s Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in summer 2023!  

To hear my solo music go to linktr.ee/adamlippman. To see my sketches and more of my art  go to linktr.ee/adamlippmanart . My older bands are out there too, though it’s mostly the band Automatic Children, and a search should bring up most of our videos on YouTube. And that band and all my solo albums are on all the streaming sites as well. I released a new single “Myths” under a new project name “Made Up Saints”, which is more intended for collaborating with friends on songs and hence not having it under my name only. There will be more releases under that umbrella once I am able to record again and when the right song comes together.

Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?

I have two amazing adult kids, one who is a music major in college, and both who are very musically or artistically talented. I am so proud of that. I was also in an on-stage band of a quirky, campy off-off-broadway rock musical in NYC in spring 2008, which sold out most nights. I’ve always loved theater but without the classical music training, gigs on bigger shows are hard to come by. This one was written by a friend and bandmate so we just used his charts. I also co-wrote the alma mater for my high school in Westport, Connecticut, during our senior year music theory class. They still sing it to this day! Last but not least I am a highly trained wine professional and sold a few million dollars of wine for half a decade before the sales side of things took a lot of the fun out of it for me.