Zipora has been drawing and painting for most of her life. In 1987, she began to specialize in wildlife art and pet portraits. She received her BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design in 1975, after beginning at Maryland Institute, College of Art . At the age of 20, she received a scholarship to study in Paris with the NY Studio School overseas program. “In Paris Nick Carrone taught me to see and define spatial relationships and Wayne Theibaud taught me color. Elaine de Kooning taught me not to be afraid to experiment.”

Moving to Israel in 1977, Zipora attended Tel Aviv University to study zoology, concentrating on animal behavior. At the same time, she began to work with linoleum block printing. When Zipora returned to the US in 1985 a chance meeting with Tom Hirata pushed her into the wildlife art field.

Various exhibits include works shown in London at the Natural History Museum and inclusion of her work in Christie’s Wildlife Art Sale at Christie’s South Kensington , London . Her work has been exhibited at the Johnson and Johnson corporate galley of Ortho Diagnostics, Inc. several times. Several of her pieces in the collection of James Moorcroft have been placed in the offices of Walt Disney and Warner Bros. in California .

Style & Technique

Zipora works primarily in watercolors, oils, original lithographs and linocuts, depending on subject and the objectives for the work. A love of printmaking and the techniques involved allow her to experiment while hand coloring allows her to add excitement and more individuality to each hand pulled print. Using color against a play of positive and negative space, she has developed a unique style of interpretive realism that incorporates an oriental sense of composition.

Since 1997, when Zipora started playing with a new technique involving both watercolor and gouache on rice paper, she has continued and refined her work in this new style.

The technique involves first creating a drawing on the rice paper, then crumpling the sheet and immersing it in water. When fully saturated, the sheet is taken out of the water, carefully unfolded, and washes of watercolor are applied in selected areas. When the paper has dried slightly, glue is applied to watercolor paper and thinned with water, and then the rice paper is applied. The painting is finished using gouache in several layers, leaving the watercolor to show through in several areas.

This method, combined with an oriental sense of composition and design enhances her unique style and heightens the play of positive and negative space as well as color use.