The Arts
The Bates Student - November 7, 1997

 
 

Globally-aware Maine artist to visit Bates

By PARKER AGELASTO
Staff Writer
 
This planet is enormous! We sometimes neglect the insignificance of Bates College until we compare it to the global picture. Even looking out the window of an airplane, Bates is just a tiny little quad of red brick buildings. With this larger view and understanding of the "big blue ball," Eric Hopkins has approached painting the Maine coast.

Preceded by a long tradition of American artists (like Marsden Hartley) who have captured the beauty of Maine, Hopkins' art presents the islands and coast of Maine from a bird's-eye view. Its subject is, as Edgar Beem writes in Maine Art Now , "ultimately man's place on earth, on this planet, in this universe, in this mysterious place."

Born in Bangor, Hopkins, a true native of Maine, currently lives off the Camden coast on North Haven Island. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1976, he pursued an art career. Beginning as a glass blower and a studio assistant to Dale Chihuly, in l982 he discarded his sea shell glass forms, changing his medium to painting -- specifically, to painting oils and watercolors. The switch accounts for the success he has enjoyed ever since.

The Bates College Art Society and the Museum of Art delight in having Hopkins, one of Maine's preeminent artists, show his work in a multi-media lecture on Wed., Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in Olin 105. He will present his art and native Maine philosophy. Interested people can read Edgar Beem's Maine Art Now (The Dog Ear Press, l99O) and visit http://www.midcoast.com/~ehopgal on the world wide web for more information on Hopkins' biography, paintings, and his artist's statement.
 
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Last Modified: 11/13/97
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