Maine Artist Eric Hopkins Shares Insights
BAR HARBOR — Acclaimed painter Eric Hopkins delves into his creative process at the College of the Atlantic Gillis Blue Humanities Forum on Monday, Feb. 23 at 4:10 p.m. The event takes place in the Davis Center for Human Ecology and is free and open to the public.
Hopkins’ talk, “Sight, vision and insight: where do ideas come from?” will explore unfamiliar aspects of Hopkin’s ideas, experience, inspiration, and influence. Hopkins will be reading excerpts from writings he is compiling into a book.
“With the eyes of an artist, the words of a poet, and the mind of a scientist, Eric Hopkins has engaged numerous people through his art and with his thoughts about life on this big blue planet,” the artist’s bio states. He seeks to capture the dynamic forces and rhythms of nature in watercolors, oils, blown glass, mixed media, and photography. Hopkins focuses on, “the big picture of the natural world, geological and geographical forms, and the exchange of energy between land, water, and sky,” according to his bio. He has developed a keen awareness of light, form, color, and pattern, which is reflected in all of his work.
Hopkins is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, has taught at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School, and was Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park. He has exhibited at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Waterfall Arts Center, University of Maine Museum of Art, and a number of galleries nationally. His paintings and glass are held in many private and public collections, including the Farnsworth Art Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Bates College Museum of Art, Maine Maritime Academy, University of Southern Maine, Corning Museum of Glass, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, and the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies program in Dubai, Bahamas, Mali, Pakistan, Philippines, and the West Indies.
The Gillis Blue Humanities Forum is an interdisciplinary exploration of oceans, waterways, and aquatic life as central forces shaping culture, history, and environmental thought. Bringing together scholars, artists, and activists, the series invites audiences to rethink human relationships with water in an era of climate change and ecological urgency. This series was created in honor of John Gillis by his wife, Tina.