WHO ME? ALRIGHT...

I’m Nipper Sorensen, a native Dane (that means I’m from Denmark...not Holland), who lives in Santa Monica, California. I have an entrepreneurial background (thanks, dad!), but have also been creating since I could hold a crayon. In fact, I was the in-house birthday card maker for my family until I went to college.

What do you do?

The common thread in my work is a mosaic style, always leaving space for a bit more.

I like to create art that somehow shows how much of our troubles as humans are based on our (mis)interpretation of our thoughts instead of what is actually true.

I think it is true that all life is intelligent and based in Love. How else do you explain how monarch butterflies migrate all the way from Mexico up to Canada, with no iPhone, Google Maps, pre-planning or road trip snacks? Yet, us humans think we have to be so in charge and make things happen, instead of...I don't know, listening to our gut feeling even if it doesn't make sense to our brains. But I digress...that universal intelligence is what I like to try to get out in my art.

I also write poetry. Or really, I'm just God's scribe. Sometimes these things come to me in a flash, and I just have to write as fast as I can. And sometimes, I only get the first stanza and then I get to play with the rest.

I recently began to design products that use my art, such as art prints, postcards, bags and journals. It took me a long time to find a company that makes high quality products and are ethical, but I believe I found them! For instance, a YKK zipper was a must for me, because bad zippers are the worst!

When I'm not getting my creativity on, I can be found project managing for an amazing online company that helps people become free of anxiety and habits, using a lot of the same principles I use in art. Life imitates art, or something like that :)

Why do you do it?

Ultimately: Love. But really, because I've tried it the other way around: where I abandoned art and music in my life, and did the "responsible" things. But it also meant living in a state of insecurity and feeling like I was playing dress up without ever getting to take the mask and clothes off. After I started creating again 10+ years ago, I found myself willing to take risks and fail (spectacularly, I got the country song backwards, alright) and win and just be - probably for the first time in my life. It's not always pretty, but it is always based in a wild love for this crazy experiment called life!

Any obsessions?

Well, Pearl Jam, of course. Traveling to see family in Denmark as much as possible. Airport Lounges. Mary Oliver. The Warriors. Researching real estate on the East Coast...go figure.

Where do you do it?

I live and work in Santa Monica, and have asked Santa for a studio space in Denmark. Now I just have to be good for a full year...