Lili Pierrepont is a collector, entrepreneur, and executive director of ArtBridge, a 501c3 serving the arts community. During her life-long enthusiasm for the arts, plus 40 years of professional experience in art and design, she has experienced first-hand the power of creativity and the role art plays in elevating quality of life.

 

Passionate about the arts from the beginning, Lili spent her first allowance at the Met Museum Shop, which was just blocks away from where she grew up in Manhattan. She sold her first paintings while still in high school. Lili then earned her bachelor’s degree in art history, with an emphasis on art patronage, from Hampshire College (Amherst, Massachusetts). Her senior thesis examined the origins of, motivations for and public reactions to the Chase Manhattan Bank Collection from the points of view of artist, Phyllis Rosenblatt, whose work is represented in the collection, the founder of the collection, David Rockefeller, the curator of the collection, Mary Lanier, Gallerist, Allan Stone and Whitney Museum Director, Thomas Armstrong. This multi-faceted approach to understanding the art wold is still at the center of Lili’s focus.

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Following her academic journey, Lili has enjoyed a richly diverse career across artistic disciplines. For a decade from 1987-1999, Lili worked as an artisan in antique restoration and 18th-century painted finishes as the owner of Dec-Art, Inc. During that time she volunteered as an art teacher for Exodus- a program for at-risk youth in Atlanta, GA. In 2000 she began a 15- year career in sustainable interior design as owner and principal designer of Wright Design

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where she conceived and developed multi-million dollar installations in Philadelphia and Palm Beach, as well as smaller projects on the east and west coasts of the US and also in France. In that same time frame, she founded the Northern California-Monterey Bay Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and remains its co-chair emerita, and served on several boards including the historic Forrest Theatre in Carmel, Ca and The Marina Arts Council, responsible for public arts projects.

 

Since moving to Santa Fe, NM in 2016, Lili has found more ways to leverage and exploit her passion for the arts, as a collector and promoter of art-based experiences. Her private collection showcases many of New Mexico’s finest, including Native and emerging, as well as the better known contemporary and mid-career artists from the region and beyond.

 

She has reviewed grants for New Mexico Foundation for the Arts, supporting New Mexico’s most recognized and impactful arts organizations.   She has personally initiated, funded and promoted several community arts events Through all of this, Lili has also built a network of artists, art-smart friends, and a community of creative minds with whom she enjoys ongoing conversations which keep her engaged and inspired. Her desire for the podcast series is to put these conversations on loudspeaker, and share them with the world.