One day, local artist Alice Lipping was enjoying a cocktail at Bar Dalia when she noticed the bar’s bare exposed brick wall. Almost immediately, Lipping reached out to Tom Romano, the owner of Bar Dalia and the cocktail bar Mosaic, with the idea of hosting a monthly art gallery to help aspiring new artists from the local Queens area showcase their work. As a fellow art patron himself, Romano was happy to oblige and work with Lipping to help give back to the local community that had already given him so much. In celebration of this new collaboration, Bar Dalia (located on 33-17 31st Ave in Astoria) will be hosting a special happy hour on Thursday, October 7th from 5-7 pm, with drink specials, tapas, and several hangings of Lipping’s art for it’s first-ever: “Brick Wall Gallery.”  

After losing her job as a bartender during the pandemic, Lipping turned to art during quarantine to help her get through the unprecedented times. Her journey back to painting all started with a virtual challenge on social media, where she painted a new picture every day for a year. Fast forward to now, and a seemingly innocent social media challenge has given Lipping the opportunity to show some of her works at various galleries, restaurants, like the Heart of Gold bar, as well as local artisan markets. In addition to creating work out of her space at Studio 34 Gallery, she has curated several group exhibits highlighting local artists and been commissioned to create a few lobby paintings for the Skyline Tower, a residential building in Long Island City.

Inspired by the resilience and the vibrant colors of the city, Lipping was excited to channel her emotions and experiment with different colors, textures, and tools to create her unique abstract works of art. Majoring in color theory with a BFA in art at Hunter College, she uses her former training to choose specific color palettes to tell a story and emulate a mood that takes your eyes on a colorful journey around the canvas. It’s been a dream for Lipping to be able to make a living over the last year and a half based on her abstract paintings, wearable art jewelry, and hand-painted ornaments. 

Now, Lipping is hoping that together with Romano, their new “Brick Wall Gallery” will help other aspiring artists showcase their work while still keeping the majority of the proceeds. “That’s how I got started. I showed my first artwork at Crescent Lounge in Astoria, where someone fell in love with my painting and bought it off the wall. I wanted other artists to be able to have that same opportunity,” she explains. Lipping’s one-of-a-kind paintings will be on display and available for purchase (with prices anywhere from $200 up) for the next month at Bar Dalia, while she and Romano curate their next round of artworks for November. “We couldn’t be more excited to show off just how great our local community truly is,” exclaims Lipping.  As are we—see you there!

(You can view more of Alice Lipping’s work on her website, www.alicelipping.art, Instagram, @aliceabstract, or Facebook, www.facebook.com/pages/aliceabstract)

Bar Dalia: 33-17 31st Ave in Astoria | 347.507.1218 | @bardalianyc