Painting is something that Sarah Kipp cannot live without, and her art is a result of something else she couldn't live without — her heart.
The 22-year-old Boalsburg native claims many influences on her artwork, which focuses on the human figure and the vulnerability of the figure. However Kipp said her focus originated from her childhood, a time she seriously started to reflect upon when she began to paint self-portraits.
She was born with a hole in her heart and underwent surgery to repair it when she was just four-years-old. The entire hospital experience is still vivid in her mind. She can often recall how sad she was and how she was surrounded by a lot of very sick children.
"I think about the crazy things that can happen to our bodies. As kids we can overcome so much trauma. Children have a lot of adult characteristics about them, physical as well as emotional," Kipp said.
She was one of the lucky ones. Kipp had her operation in 1983, before hospitals tested blood for AIDS. A couple of years later she had to be tested for the disease, with results that fortunately came out negative. However some of the other children that shared their hospital stay with Kipp weren't so lucky.
Physical and mental scars will be forever with her, as will wires in her chest and the fascination of the dependency people have on medical technology and how the body can go through so much.
These experiences have molded one unique young woman into an artist that pours her artistic energies into something very special. "Life is so precious and can end any second. I would like it if my work could show the preciousness of life. A lot of people see it as scary but it's not."
Many of Kipp's pieces are autobiographical, although she doesn't intend them to be. Rather she sees them as a way to relate to people as a whole.
John Bowman, assistant professor for the School of Visual Arts, has nothing but praises for Sarah's accomplishments.
"She's one of our best BFA candidates. She started at a very high level and is now developing subtlety to her painting technique and is dealing with much more abstract themes," he said.
Kipp uses the body as a metaphorical device for the different psychological states of the figure; what's going on in their head. She plays with shadows on the figure and their surroundings, which are usually nonspecific and reflect a feeling of isolation on the figure.
Another childhood influence Kipp claims on her art is her grandfather. He was born in Angola and came to the United States when he was 14 to study at Penn State. Kipp remembers growing up listening to his stories from Africa and how he was all alone when he first arrived.
"I like to tell stories. A lot of his experiences he told me directly relate to my paintings," she said.
She prefers to use oil paints as her medium, although she did struggle a lot when she first began to use them. Now she feels more stable, even though there is constantly a struggle there to produce a work of art.
"The process is so fun that's why I keep doing it. When I'm not painting I'm pretty miserable," she said.
Painting takes up a pretty decent chunk of Kipp's life, but doesn't rule it. She still knows how to have fun, jogging, listening to punk music and spending what little spare time she has outdoors.
A landscape Kipp said she will never forget was her trip to Ireland, as part of a study abroad program. She spent the majority of her time there in remote towns in the country. Sitting on craggy cliffs, Kipp painted nature with a spectacular ocean-side view. She also had an opportunity to meet the locals and do some hiking around the countryside.
Ask anyone who knows her and you'll get the same answer, really fun but serious too.
"When she gets silly and sits in the kitchen sink, it's the best. It's her throne, and really the best seat in the apartment," said former roommate and friend Maura Roessner, a recent Penn State English graduate.
According to Kipp's roommate, Kelly Bertoty (senior-English education), she has a unique quirk of eating half of her food and saving the rest for later, as she is always working on a billion different things at once.
Kipp has also done performance art, strapping a television to her back, focusing on the lies of love. Again her art was centered on pain and how art involves love and injury.
"She's quirky. Everything she says or does is full of life. She gives new meaning to everything," said friend Charis Travlos (senior-political science).
Her hard work has not gone unnoticed. She has exhibited her artwork several times throughout the past couple of years at the Patterson Undergraduate Gallery. In addition, her pieces were featured at the Zoller Gallery inside the Visual Arts Building, and at a coffee shop inside Pollock Commons. Last semester Kipp was also awarded the Edwin Zoller Scholarship.
"She's a sweetheart and a really great painter. I really respect her for that because I could never do that," said friend Jen Polis (junior-journalism).
Her future is yet to be determined but she is considering attending graduate school at some time in the near future or working at a museum. She wants a job that will allow her to continue to paint.
"Ever since the beginning she was very into the human figure and with each painting there's a lot of progress of her rendering of the figure, said Katie McGraw (senior-art and women's studies), who shares a studio with Kipp.
"Our ideas bounce off each other. There's natural energy in the air and we're very honest to each other and each other's work," McGraw said.
Kipp definitely has energy and definitely has heart — two things that have helped her to become a successful artist.
