Posted March 3, 2025

Beth Lipman is an American artist whose sculptural work is inspired by the art historical tradition of still life—a Western genre that depicts arranged objects, both natural and man-made. Still life compositions often celebrate material pleasures such as food and wine while also serving as reminders of life’s transience, a theme known as memento mori. 

Primarily working in glass, Lipman also incorporates materials such as metal, wood, and photography into her sculptures and installations, exploring themes of material culture, history, and mortality through intricate still life compositions. 

In many instances, as in Mile’s Law, Lipman draws inspiration from institutions and collecting histories to create her works. Through assemblages of inanimate glass objects—often referencing items from both private spaces and public collections—she creates portraits that reflect individuals, institutions, and societies. 

For Mile’s Law, Lipman was inspired by American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post, whose extensive glass collection—comprising 1,600 pieces spanning the 17th to 20th centuries—is housed at Hillwood Estate in Washington, D.C., Post’s former residence. 

For much of her glass and mixed-media work, Lipman often uses a single color of glass. However, in Mile’s Law, she splits the work down the center so that each side mirrors the other—one in black glass and the other in clear glass. Organic shapes break through the balanced design, growing and spreading like natural forces of change and decay. 

Beth explains her inspiration: 

“Miles’ Law is a new large-scale work designed to investigate Marjorie Merriweather Post’s use of diplomacy to bridge political, cultural, and societal divides. The sculpture is a rumination on Rufus Miles’s phrase, ‘Where you stand depends on where you sit,’ and explores how one’s view of a situation is shaped by one’s relationship to it. Post deftly employed domestic rituals that literally “brought people to the table” such as dinner parties and other social functions to subtly persuade disparate individuals to empathize with another point of view.”