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After a brief pause of 25 years when he got out of painting, P.K. Lippoldt is set to open his first art show this week in Wichita.
The kickoff reception is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 23 at the Candle Club at 6135 East 13th Street in Wichita. The show will hang for three weeks and it is the first art showing for the club as well as Lippoldt’s first showing. The club manager is an art curator, Lippoldt said.
The former Pratt resident graduated from Pratt High School in 1978 and Pratt Community College in 1980. He graduated from the PCC art department under the direction of Gene Wineland.
Wineland and both his high school art teachers had strong influences on his love of art.
John Hartman was his high school art teacher in Great Bend. Lippoldt focused much of his energy in high school in the art program.
“He (Hartman) was very inspirational. It seems I went to art school more than high school,” Lippoldt said. “John Hartman was one of the most talented, driven artists I can remember.”
Lippoldt moved to Pratt for his senior year in high school. He arrived the first year that Mike Harvey was art teacher at PHS and gained valuable experience from Harvey as well.
Lippoldt was inspired by family members. His sister, Dee Anne (Lippoldt) Weber, was a talented pianist and his brother, Keith Lippoldt, Tribune publisher, also inspired him with his sports writing. He also has a sister Becky Dearing and a sister Phyllis Kelly. Kelly played a key role in the next phase of Lippoldt’s life.
After he graduated from PCC, Lippoldt stayed and coached baseball for a while then moved to the Cayman Islands to work in his sister Phyllis Kelly’s 4-Start restaurant and earn money to go to art school.
While working in the restaurant he painted and sold pictures for three years.
“I used the restaurant as a gallery and sold them. It was probably my most successful time,” he said.
He put his restaurant knowledge and his art ability to good use.
“I literally designed food and restaurant concepts,” Lippoldt said.
However, Lippoldt’s painting career was about to take a hiatus. His art studies never made it beyond college classes and he quit painting for 25 years but continued to work in the restaurant business to earn a living.
Throughout the long dry spell, the desire to paint never faded. About a year ago he started painting again and produced enough good work to put on a show with another artist, Mike Sallier, who is a muralist and Lippoldt’s watercolor mentor.
He now works out of Wichita for Sysco Foods as a marketing associate. The job brings him to Pratt one day a week.
“Now I sell groceries by day and paint by night,” Lippoldt said.
The beauty of Kansas provides inspiration for Lippoldt and much of his work is based on Kansas’ scenes.
He paints mostly watercolor landscapes. He does lots of natural prairie grass in the Flint Hills, the Gyp Hills, various Kansas scenes and a series of Christian paintings called “Crucified” depicting the crucifixion of Christ.
After a brief pause of 25 years when he got out of painting, P.K. Lippoldt is set to open his first art show this week in Wichita.
The kickoff reception is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 23 at the Candle Club at 6135 East 13th Street in Wichita. The show will hang for three weeks and it is the first art showing for the club as well as Lippoldt’s first showing. The club manager is an art curator, Lippoldt said.
The former Pratt resident graduated from Pratt High School in 1978 and Pratt Community College in 1980. He graduated from the PCC art department under the direction of Gene Wineland.
Wineland and both his high school art teachers had strong influences on his love of art.
John Hartman was his high school art teacher in Great Bend. Lippoldt focused much of his energy in high school in the art program.
“He (Hartman) was very inspirational. It seems I went to art school more than high school,” Lippoldt said. “John Hartman was one of the most talented, driven artists I can remember.”
Lippoldt moved to Pratt for his senior year in high school. He arrived the first year that Mike Harvey was art teacher at PHS and gained valuable experience from Harvey as well.
Lippoldt was inspired by family members. His sister, Dee Anne (Lippoldt) Weber, was a talented pianist and his brother, Keith Lippoldt, Tribune publisher, also inspired him with his sports writing. He also has a sister Becky Dearing and a sister Phyllis Kelly. Kelly played a key role in the next phase of Lippoldt’s life.
After he graduated from PCC, Lippoldt stayed and coached baseball for a while then moved to the Cayman Islands to work in his sister Phyllis Kelly’s 4-Start restaurant and earn money to go to art school.
While working in the restaurant he painted and sold pictures for three years.
“I used the restaurant as a gallery and sold them. It was probably my most successful time,” he said.
He put his restaurant knowledge and his art ability to good use.
“I literally designed food and restaurant concepts,” Lippoldt said.
However, Lippoldt’s painting career was about to take a hiatus. His art studies never made it beyond college classes and he quit painting for 25 years but continued to work in the restaurant business to earn a living.
Throughout the long dry spell, the desire to paint never faded. About a year ago he started painting again and produced enough good work to put on a show with another artist, Mike Sallier, who is a muralist and Lippoldt’s watercolor mentor.
He now works out of Wichita for Sysco Foods as a marketing associate. The job brings him to Pratt one day a week.
“Now I sell groceries by day and paint by night,” Lippoldt said.
The beauty of Kansas provides inspiration for Lippoldt and much of his work is based on Kansas’ scenes.
He paints mostly watercolor landscapes. He does lots of natural prairie grass in the Flint Hills, the Gyp Hills, various Kansas scenes and a series of Christian paintings called “Crucified” depicting the crucifixion of Christ.
