Art Collab with Bri Pippens

Written by Maxwell Brothers

In celebration of Black History Month, SHAPE worked with the visual and performing artist Brianna Pippens to create three beautifully distinct pieces. Titled Gilded, The Collective, and Stay Vibrant, each artwork features Bri’s signature “minimalistic-expressive” style overtop a tri-skateboard canvas. In her words, “If these boards could tell a story… I would want it to be one of freedom, courage, and self-expression.”

Our shared appreciation for community and self-expression is what led us to collaborate with Briana Pippens, who is also located in the DMV, in Silver Spring, MD. Known as “Banana Peppers” in the art scene, Bri is self-taught and self-reportedly “creates work that celebrates people and implores them to celebrate themselves”, choosing to “create artwork that reflects [her] and [her] community” as a Black woman that runs her own business, Banana Peppers Art.

Gilded features a simple yet bold two tone color palette of gold-on-black, which allows for her linework to shine while symbolizing the intrinsic value, resilience, and brilliance of the Black community. Simultaneously celebrating Black identity and the creative journey, Gilded features stylized figures, crowns, and musical notes that represent the “joy of the ride” and the rhythm of finding one’s own path.

Stay Vibrant is the most colorful of the three, featuring a wide array of faces, each with their own unique hairstyle and color arrangement. While each person is different, together they are all united through the background wheat color that makes up the fabric that ties everybody together. This artwork highlights the diversity that exists in our communities, while also reminding us of the universal fabric of our existence that we all relate and connect to.

The Collective, my personal favorite, features a soft and subtle color palette that merges earth tones with more atmospheric accents, creating a cool gradient of color that extends across the three boards that reminds one of both the earth below and the sky above. This grounded-yet-dreamy piece also contains a tapestry of faces that are integrated with words that define SHAPE’s mission:

Progress & Power
Love & Joy
Hope, Unity, Truth, & Action

These faces and the words written on them symbolize “the collective” of like-minded individuals that SHAPE seeks to empower, platform, and celebrate through its mission.

Gilded, Stay Vibrant, and The Collective are all available via SHAPE Skate Foundation's online shop. Each set comes with a wall mount so the piece can be displayed continuously.

Check out our YouTube video to hear about Bri’s work from her own perspective!

SHAPE Online Store - https://www.shapeskatefoundation.org/category/all-products

Meet the Artist: Bri Pippens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmGvzfC51H4