Meet Tai Lipan | Artist: Assistant Teaching Professor of Art, Northern Arizona University

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tai Lipan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tai, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
For the past twenty years I have been juggling full time employment teaching in university art programs and maintaining both my painting practice as well as exhibiting work. Now, additionally as a mother of three, I have added the need to balance family with these other passions.

One of the ways I have always stayed engaged in my studio work has been to maintain a consistent drawing practice. I have a little plastic tub with papers and pencils and I carry it with me during all our family outings and to my office at work. I maintain a very low bar for these small drawings, allowing them to be complete disasters both in concept and craft. I have on occasion chased them across fields and fished them out pools. However, some of them become the impetus for new paintings. This has always carried me through when I can’t be in the studio on a consistent basis. Having grace with myself in times when I can’t make large scale works, really pushing myself to take advantage of every minute when I do have the time, and having a supportive family and creative community have all helped provide balance.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Professionally, I have been grateful for my twenty years of teaching art in the university setting. I thrive in community and my colleagues and students have provided a means for continued dialogue. As a painter, my work has evolved most as an outgrowth of life experience. When my son turned one, I wanted to make a celestial wooden wreath to commemorate the event. It was sheer play with no intention as an art object. And somehow this material felt like a pathway forward. Having grown up playing in a fort that overlooked my dad’s woodshop, the media felt natural to me. I decided to lean into this process to make paintings and it has become the backbone of my work for the last 7 years.

When painting, I sit on the ground of my bedroom studio, a posture that feels meditative, as I hand-cut and glue each shape of wood within the image. The lack of prestige in my studio choices allows my professional practice as a painter to ebb and flow as part of my broader life. I produce work within a conceptual series that evolve through my continued drawing practice. My current work explores the imbalance in our relationship with the environment.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
From the start of my education I was lucky to have instructors who cared equally about my studio work, my career path, and my personal growth. I had the opportunity to attend supportive and intensive art programs that connected me to an art community that I still lean on. Additionally, my family has always provided the support necessary to maintain an active career in the arts.

Website: tailipan.com

Instagram: tailipan