For artist and West Dean alumna Pippa Blake, the road (or rather the sea) to a career in painting has been anything but conventional. A graduate of the very first Visual Arts postgraduate diploma cohort in 2004 (now the Graduate Diploma in Fine Art), Pippa has led a rich life that spans continents, adventures, loss, and rediscovery. 

“I’ve always been a painter,” Pippa begins. “At 18, I went straight to Camberwell School of Art in London. Art was always my focus.” But life soon took her far from the studio. After meeting her late husband, a round-the-world sailor and explorer, Pippa spent years travelling the globe by sea. “My honeymoon was sailing to New Zealand, three months at sea with only four stops including the remote islands of the Chagos Archipelago.

Art, though often paused, was never abandoned. “Wherever we were, I’d draw from life sketches, small studies. But with young children, it became increasingly hard to keep up.” After years of sailing, raising children, and living between the UK and New Zealand, Pippa’s life changed dramatically following a personal tragedy when her husband was killed in the Amazon. 

“I was at a very low point. Then I overheard someone talking about West Dean College. I’d always known of it as I'm local in Emsworth, and when I found out they were launching a visual arts programme, I applied and got in.” 

Joining the college reignited her passion and challenged her practice. “I didn’t quite know what I’d be doing there. I was a landscape painter, but I didn’t want to paint traditional green landscapes.” Instead, she began photographing her commutes to the college, capturing moments of darkness and light. “That’s how the night paintings began. It opened me up to more abstraction, more curiosity, more experimentation.” 

The influence of her tutors at West Dean was pivotal. “Dr Ed Winters once said to me, ‘landscape can be but a metaphor for the mind and its contents.’ That struck a huge chord and took me further in my practice.” 

Life after West Dean started with a burst of creative energy. “Tim Kent, a fellow student, and I were offered a barn that later became the Moncrieff Bray Gallery. We worked nonstop for two months in the freezing cold and held an exhibition that was a real turning point.” 

Since then, Pippa has exhibited internationally, including regular shows in New Zealand and several solo exhibitions with the Candida Stevens Gallery in Chichester. “Candida approached me during my artist residency at Chichester Festival Theatre. That was ten years ago, and I’ve been showing with her ever since.” 

Her current exhibition, Connotations, draws from three years of photographic studies and memories. “Much of the work is based on streams in the New Zealand bush. My daughter, who lives there, was on a walk during lockdown, and I asked her to take photos for me. That moment really inspired this whole body of work.” 

As well as scenes from New Zealand, the show features nocturnal works influenced by recent travels to Morocco and California. “I’m fascinated by the night , artificial light, pathways, foliage... anything that hints at a journey.” 

Pippa’s advice to emerging artists: “Be honest. Be yourself. Don’t do what you think is fashionable, follow your own line. And be prepared to work hard. It’s not easy, but being creative opens up the world."

Looking ahead, Pippa is preparing for another artist residency at Chichester Festival Theatre later this year, this time responding to Lord of the Flies. “It’s my next challenge, and I’m really looking forward to it.” 

Her journey from art school, across oceans, to rediscovery at West Dean and a life dedicated to painting is a testament to resilience, reinvention, and the enduring power of creative practice.