We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pippa Arend a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pippa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Each project I work on is the most meaningful. It’s like asking: What’s your favorite kind of pizza? The answer is always, “The one in my hand.”
My current project is about what makes a person, what makes a lineage – like a DNA “whodunnit.” This has resulted in a wild, witchy and visceral project, in which I’ve been rooting about in the woods and the streets of Portland to find, make, forage and harvest the materials to craft images (sketched on tree bark using bone inks and paints that I made), and they’re all connected like an Evidence Board with a knotted tangle of 53′ of cordage that I harvested (and boiled and dried and twined) – one foot for every year I’ve been around on this planet. It’s like a deep and primordial search for identity and meaning and connection using the materials of my environment.
Of particular interest to me was who I chose to be represented in this project. I’m a contemporary American, of refugee heritage, and much of my family before my parents were killed and remain unknown to me. The first image I drew was a caveman. And then Mother Mary. And then a random Jewess, and then I was off creating images of others such as Bjork, Mephistopheles, Lee Harvey Oswald and others, based on strange intuitions of influence. This project also includes a book, called “The Book of Ours,” for which I made 20 pages of pencil drawings on gold-leafed goat skin vellum, representing the small moments that create a life. It’s like my Collection of the Collective. Street singers. Boy and his dog. Girls on the beach. Clown waiting for the bus. Guy with maracas…

Pippa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve always been driven to create in one medium or another, whether clay or dance or pencil, or, for many years, I ran an arts program for homeless youth called p:ear. I’ve worked with young folks as if their lives depended on it, as often it did. My work has been all about relationships and, I’ve learned along the way, so has my art. I’ve realized that my work—whether social or art —is all about diverse people, complex relationships, individual journeys, rich connections and human expression.
While some of my work is based on my own queries and material explorations, the bulk of my work is commissioned portraiture. I work in two main styles: Pencil + Ink and “In Grand Style,” which is oil/pastel/gold leaf on birch panel. Recently, I’ve begun working on Family Trees, working with clients to think through and choose thoughtfully foraged materials and hand-made paints and inks to create portraits of what and who “Family” means to them.
My goal is to create portraiture that captures the history of the whole person.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I co-founded and ran a nonprofit for homeless youth for the bulk of my adult life, specifically the arts and development departments. Interestingly, much of that time (I was 27-47), I was interested in creating mercy in the world but also in developing my own skills and being a better person. Upon reflection, many of my actions were self-serving under the guise of compassion.
Now, as an older person, I’ve left behind the nonprofit sector and run two for-profit businesses (an arts business and a philanthropic consultancy) and find myself motivated by a kind of selflessness not previously experienced in my life. My goal is to reflect back to people their highest selves, either through my portraiture or by helping them find the nonprofits that best fit their values and giving capacity. This is ironic because it took moving into the for-profit world to find my own philanthropic values.
This may simply be a matter of timing. I’m older now. Or maybe that’s simply the way of the world, with its ironies and humorous nature.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that the mediums are not limited. One thing I don’t think non-artists understand is that the medium through which an artist works is seldom important. Being an artist is an approach, not a specific tool. For me, to be an artist means to experiment without holding a variable, to explore randomly and by whim, to apply creative thinking to every situation, including dinner. I’m not talking about a wild life with no constraints or constants, as I’ve plenty of habits without which I’m quite cranky, but it’s important to me to feel that I’m approaching moments and materials with a kind of effervescent newness, and curiosity about what happens next.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pippaarend.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pippaarend/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pippa.arend
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pippaarend/
• Twitter: https://x.com/pippaarend
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pippaarend
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_photos?userid=hjHeAdo_8UhjX6WErlX76A
• Other: Bluesky: @pippaarend.bsky

Image Credits

Pippa Arend