Life Patterns

December 29, 2012      Author : Eric Hopkins and Peter Ralston    Category: Art      0 Comment(s)

For artists Eric Hopkins and Peter Ralston, island exploration by air and sea inspires the soul, bringing beauty and meaning to the experience of their work. We are thrilled, honored, and humbled to share excerpts of Eric’s writings from 2010 and Peter’s responses - fascinating musings providing joyful insights into how these artist-explorers see, feel, and “re-present” the world of Maine islands. Enjoy the sixth in the Exploration Inspiration series of seven, “Life Patterns”:

Eric
What strikes me most are all the recurring rhythms and patterns at work—or play—all around me. To list or catalogue them almost seems trite but it’s what I’m driven to do. I think that’s what I’m always trying to do—to break down all the amazing patterns and processes of life. I think that’s what artists and scientists and poets and philosophers and engineers are all trying to do. Attempting to make sense of what they see all around them. To make sense of life on this incredible planet, and the forms and forces that make it all happen. There is a human quest to see, know, measure and understand what’s going on around us. It all happens at various levels.


Peter
We, the artists and poets and philosophers, are truly the luckiest of the lucky. We get to try, every day, to “make sense” of it all. Who could ask for more? And, in our case, look where we get to do it!


Eric
Dynamic Pictorial Representation—those are the words entering my brain cells as I look at the view in front of me. There is a moving plane of water that covers the Earth’s surface. From where I stand, it appears flat for as far as I can see. The slabs of granite intersect and protrude into the water plane. Then there is the sky plane, which is more elusive to define. Is it virtually flat like a movie screen? Does it advance from the distant horizon straight ahead? What about all the planes, and spaces in my peripheral vision and above, below, and behind me? I’m sitting still—more or less—bobbing at my mooring at Haystack Cove. It seems my quest for a long, long time has been to define and express the concept of Space. When you add motion through time, it gets more complicated. If it’s true that artists reflect the thoughts of their time, then I’m true to that idea—I grew up in the era of Space. My grandparents grew up in the farming days. The horseless carriage was just coming into use. Photographs were freed from their static nature and pictures started moving—then sound was added. Airplanes came to be—then rapid developments into space travel and the public awareness of Spaceship Earth. The Apollo program landed on the moon and four years later we left. Who are we now? What defines this era? And why am I concerned about painting landscape images on paper and canvas.

Next, in “Waypoints”, Eric and Peter pull out maps and charts that guide them into new physical and emotional artistic worlds.

www.erichopkins.com
www.ralstongallery.com
 

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