Arts Inside Out
This month, our Q&A features Pippa Browne.
Pippa was born and lived most of her life in Zimbabwe, Africa. In 1985 she obtained a bachelor’s degree in fine art and psychology and a post-graduate diploma in education from the University of Natal, South Africa.
While teaching in Zimbabwe, her art was regularly selected for the Zimbabwean National Heritage exhibitions at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. She also participated in solo and group exhibitions in other galleries in Harare.
In 1995, Pippa began illustrating childrens’ books for the publisher Barefoot Books of Bath, UK. Between 1996 and 2000 her illustrations were selected for a number of international traveling exhibitions.
Since moving to the US in 2003, Pippa has moved her focus away from illustrating and back to a more expressive style of art. She has consistently shown her work in galleries in the States, namely in Salinas, CA, Memphis, TN and Sewanee, TN where she now resides.
Q&A
What is your relationship to/experience with Arts Inside?
I taught a 6 weeks series of art classes to women in the Grundy County Jail in Altamont, TN.
What artistic hobbies/pastimes do you enjoy?
I am a practicing artist in that I am part of the Artisan Depot Gallery that is supported by the Franklin County Arts Guild and have an on-line presence through which I sell my work. I also write poetry that I sometimes present at ‘Spoken Word’ events in Sewanee, TN.
Do you regularly create or make anything? If so, do you share it with others?
I paint almost every day and, yes, I share my work by exhibiting it at the Artisan Depot Gallery in Cowan, TN, by showing it on my website (artbypippabrowne.com) and by exhibiting it in a few other venues eg Tullahoma Arts Center, Ed Carlos gallery (‘Iona’) etc.
When do you feel most creative?
I feel most creative between my walk in the mornings and 3 in the afternoon as well as later at night.
Do you consider yourself a creative person?
Yes, I do consider myself a creative person; I believe we are all creative and exercising creativity in our lives is fundamental to establishing a habit of flexibility and openness.
Who is the most creative person you know? How have they influenced you?
My mother was one of the most creative people I knew. She was an art teacher and a wonderful horse artist but it was more the creative way she managed her life and resolved problems that influenced me rather than her artistic products.
Did you create things during your childhood?
I absolutely created as a child; easy access to materials and support for creating was a feature of my childhood.
How do you see the role of art in your life now?
Art has become an integral part of my holistic health; I use it to process thoughts and to access thoughts that would not be expressed in the course of mundane living. It enables me to exercise the muscles for a creative life.
How have you seen art/creating make a difference in the lives of others?
I have seen art be a conduit for the positive expression of difficult thoughts; it enables difficult thoughts to be processed into a visual story and in so doing can somewhat neutralize the influence of these thoughts.
I have observed the psychological and physical benefits of the focused internal conversation that creating a piece of art allows.
I have noticed how a creative space is often a ‘safe space’ for students ,who are not always accepted in other places, to express their true natures.
“I have noticed how a creative space is often a ‘safe space’ for students, who are not always accepted in other places, to express their true natures.”
