Although his first welded sculptures as a teen won him The Scholastic Art Award in high school, he was a history major and anti-war activist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a B.A.
He then pursued an MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1973, where he studied with Richard DeVore and Michael Hall.
Lipski attained growing recognition with his early installation Gathering Dust, which comprised thousands of tiny sculptures pinned to the wall, first at New York gallery Artists Space in 1978, and soon after in Museum of Modern Art as part of the Project series.
Lipski's installation works continued in the 1990s with The Bells, at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati,[5] The Starry Night, at Capp Street Project,[6] San Francisco, Pieces of String Too Short to Save,[7] in the Grand Lobby of The Brooklyn Museum, NY), and The Cauldron[8] at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York.
In recent years, Lipski has focused his efforts on creating large-scale works for public spaces.