![]()
The intent of this project is to explore the fragility of memories and how they relate to the natural world inasmuch as they can be collected and treasured. Because of childhood experiences of taking “nature hikes” with my mother and father , I was encouraged to pick up anything I found interesting to take it home and explore it further. Feather and leaves are fragile in that they fall off of the living objects, i.e. a tree or bird, and are pieces of that individual animal or plant that each have an individual beauty.
Similarly the images I have created of Hannah and my Father have been collected, my Dad’s images from the attic, and Hannah’s were more of an active collecting and recording of a moment / event with my eye through a camera. Now printed on fragile canary paper, and brown paper they mimic the color and fragility of fallen leaves but same the same preciousness…arranged in stacks on a small card table, lit with an electric lamp given to me from my father that mimicked the old kerosene one we used to take camping.
November 2000
Published by Pete Ippel
Pete Ippel, the son of a dancer and a musician, was born in Oak Park, Illinois and has been surrounded by the arts since birth. He moved to Morris, Illinois in 1989 and started to participate in athletics rather than dance. After high school, Pete attended Cornell University where he received a BA in psychology and a BFA in photo / digital art making. He continued to follow his sporting dreams in the high jump, which culminated in a school record leap of 7 feet 1/2 inch in 2001.
In May 2004 he attained an MFA degree in the New Genres department of the San Francisco Art Institute. Presently Pete is a practicing artist whose work is in numerous private collections and has been exhibited in New York, California, and internationally.
Mr. Ippel resides in Working Artists Ventura, a sustainable artist community in southern California. In addition, he teaches art, is a web developer, an active blogger, and still high jumps from time to time.
As a passionate problem solver and a pragmatic optimist, Pete’s art and his life are full of exciting challenges.
View more posts
What you said and how you said it is every bit as finely honed and beautiful as your visual images are.