[7] Piper worked at Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff between 1940 and 1946 where he carried sketch books in his pockets to fill in time between jobs.
[11] Piper showed a portrait of Belfast coroner Dr HP Lowe along with a watercolour landscape at the 1950 annual exhibition after the Ulster Academy of Arts had been granted their Royal Charter.
[11] Piper contributed work to the short-lived Ulster literary magazine Rann, founded by Roy McFadden and Barbara Edwards (née Hunter) in 1948.
[10] The Belfast Telegraph's book reviewer writes,"Perhaps the highest praise one can pay these collaborators is that their work is comparable to and in some ways excels Stephen Gywm and Hugh Thomson...Mr Piper contributes some exquisite sketches of the flora of the region which contains a remarkable number of plants and rocks.
[14] Speaking of his choice of illustrator for Ulster and the City of Belfast, author Richard Hayward said,"My choice of this young Belfast artist has turned out to be fortunate even beyond my high expectations and I would like to place on record my warm regard for the cheerful manner in which this young man has ever sought to accomplish the tasks which I set him as well as the deep satisfaction which the brilliance and integrity of his work has brought me.
[6] The show was primarily portraits of local luminaries such as the producer and actor Harold Goldblatt, the playwright Patrick Riddell, and Lord Mayor James Norritt.
[19] Early in 1956 Piper completed a fourteen foot high mural of Christ on the Sea of Galilee, The Flying Angel for the Belfast Seaman's Mission,[20] where he was to return in 1977 to conduct repairs on the damaged painting.
[26] Piper made several contributions including a double portrait Audrey and Barbara and the nurseryman Sam McGredy to the Ulster Artists exhibition at the Magee Gallery also in 1962.
[29] In 1964 Piper was also elected Associate of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, at the same time as Romeo Toogood, George C Morrison, David Crone, and future President Richard J Croft.
[31] Piper was also present when the Rolling Stones took an overcrowded Ulster Hall by storm in July 1964, with one sketch appearing in the Belfast Telegraph alongside a review of the gig.
[7] The Brown Thomas exhibition comprised 50 portraits and landscapes in pastel, oil and pencil and included a number of sketches previously published in Hayward's Munster and the City of Cork.
The paintings originally hanged as panels but were removed during renovation work in the late 1970s when they were framed and encased in glass before their rehanging in the dining room.
[40] Piper's sketches of ballet stars including Margot Fonteyn, Rudolph Nureyev and Marie Rambert went on show at the Greater London Picture Exhibition in 1977 to mark the Silver Jubilee of reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
[41] The wife of the Northern Irish Secretary of State Colleen Rees was the curator of a personal selection of works from Ulster Artists hosted at the Leeds Playhouse Gallery in 1976.
Piper's work was among 49 artworks from various artists where he was displayed alongside TP Flanagan, Carolyn Mulholland, Joe McWilliams, Mercy Hunter, Tom Carr and many others.
[43] Piper raised the alarm and then served tea to firefighters in September 1979 after a blaze took hold of a neighbouring property that housed his studio.
[44] In 1987 the Blackstaff Press produced Piper's Flowers, a limited edition that included five of his Irish orchid paintings, and the following year he received the Beck's bursary for outstanding services to botanical illustration.