Jack Rogers Hopkins
Designer : Jack Rogers Hopkins
Jack Rogers Hopkins (1920 –2006)Jack Rogers Hopkins was a leading figure on the California design scene during the late 1960s, as American furniture everywhere was becoming more sculptural and free-form. He grew up in Bakersfield, California, and as a young boy learned to make toys in his father’s wood shop, the Sierra Furniture Manufacturing. Co. After the war Hopkins returned to California and attended the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he studied painting and drawing. After graduating in 1950, Hopkins earned his MFA from the Claremont Colleges. In 1960 he began teaching in the art department at San Diego State University, where he remained an influential teacher until his retirement in 1991.
His first artistic medium was painting, working on a flat surface, but soon began working with three-dimensional pieces. Hopkins did not start working in wood until later, around 1965, after he was already experimenting with jewelry and ceramics. In 1966 Hopkins completed his first furniture piece, a combination chair and coffee table. He continued to produce furniture pieces, all of which were one of a kind, with the exception of the Edition chair, first created in 1969. He usually worked with hardwoods such as black walnut, cherry, Honduras mahogany, maple, rosewood, and teak. He also used Finnish birch plywood and veneers, and occasionally oak. Hopkins often combined various woods into a single piece so the different grains created a dynamic color pattern and form.
He worked alone and did everything himself, without assistance, because he felt the act of creating was ultimately an independent experience and should not be imposed on another person. Of the several hundred pieces of furniture Hopkins designed, about one-third were commissions he received through word of mouth, while others resulted from his work being exhibited in numerous galleries and museums. The last exhibit he was included in was the 2003 exhibition The Maker’s Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940–1990 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which has one of Hopkins’ Edition chairs in its permanent collection.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
