Art Trivia: Who is this artist?
An Aries, this artist is well known for depicting aerial views. A native of the Pine Tree State, they were born in this state’s Queen City. This artist studied at various colleges in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island earning their degree in 1976. Early in their career and while studying, they met a pioneering glass sculptor, were influenced by an inventor and futurist, and studied invertebrate zoology! This artist has exhibited throughout Maine and their paintings and glassworks are held in many private and public collections, as well as many U.S. Embassies around the world.
Answer:
Aerial views such as “Spring Islands” are a trademark of Bangor-born and Northern Haven, Maine-bred artist Eric Hopkins, himself a pilot, offering the viewer a glimpse otherwise afforded to the birds and those in low-flying aircraft. Known for his colorful and expressive seascapes of Penobscot Bay, Hopkins’ familiarity with his subject animates the sky, water, trees and islands with an almost human-like joy and vitality.
Eric Hopkins was born in Bangor in 1951. Raised on North Haven Island, he graduated from Rockland District High School in 1969. Following a short stint at Gorham State Teachers College (now the University of Southern Maine in Gorham), Hopkins took classes at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle and the newly founded Montserrat School of Visual Arts (now Montserrat College of Art) in Beverly, Massachusetts, before ending up at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. Along the way, he was highly influenced by architect Buckminster Fuller, and pursued an interest in invertebrate zoology at Brown University while he was in Providence. Hopkins earned his degree from RISD in 1976. While at RISD, Hopkins worked with internationally known glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. 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.
Eric’s 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, University of Southern Maine, Corning Museum of Glass, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, and the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies: Bahamas, Mali, Pakistan, Philippines, and the West Indies.
Eric Hopkins, Spring Islands (detail), 1988, oil on canvas, 38 1/8 x 48 1/4 inches, Museum Purchase, 1988.4.
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