Craft Medium – Fruit and Fish Skin
“Adorned”, (2006) by Jan Hopkins.
Cantaloupe peels, orange peels, grapefruit peels, ostrich shell beads, Alaskan yellow cedar and waxed linen. 22” x 15” x 9” Photo credit: © Wendy McEahern Photography.
“Oh Eleanor” teapot, (2012) by Jan Hopkins.
Grapefruit peel, cantaloupe peel, ginkgo leaves, ostrich shell beads, cedar bark, and waxed linen thread.
30.5″ x 28″ x 12″.
Close-up of above teapot, (2012) by Jan Hopkins.
Eleanor Roosevelt quote: “Women are like teabags.
We don’t know our true strength until we are put in hot water”
Grapefruit peel, cantaloupe peel, ginkgo leaves, ostrich shell beads, cedar bark, and waxed linen thread.
“Forbidden”, (2010) by Jan Hopkins.
Garden of Eden on the torso with lush leaves and ferns and a serpent that slithers from the apple on Eve’s stomach, up around her shoulders and rests on her left shoulder to whisper in her ear. The words written on the serpent are “Eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. Grapefruit peel, cantaloupe peel, yellow cedar bark, ostrich shell beads and waxed linen. 18” x 15” x 9”.
“Amphitrite”, (2007) by Jan Hopkins.
Double walled grapefruit peel torso, stitched together and molded.
Materials: grapefruit peel, cantaloupe peel, waxed linen, lotus pod tops, ostrich shell beads, yellow cedar bark and paper, 36” x 12” x 10″ Photo credit: Carie Stryka.
“Reflection”
Lotus pod tops, silver dollar pods, waxed linen and paper.
Detail of a collaboration by Jan Hopkins and Chris Hopkins.
“Unbreakable” Frida Khalo, (2015) by Jan Hopkins. The quote of Frida Kahlo “I am not sick, I am broken, but I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint” is sewn on the body brace. Grapefruit peel, melon peel, weathered hydrangea petals, eucalyptus leaves, laurel leaf, sharlyn melon peel, pomegranate peel, cedar bar, ostrich shell beads and waxed linen. 19″ x 17 ” x 8″.
Ladybug detail, (2013).
Grapefruit peels, yellow cedar bark, recycled vinyl disks, waxed linen, drift wood and concretion stones.
“Lady Bug” back, (2011).
Rhododendron leaves, eucalyptus leaves, yellow cedar bark, hydrangea petals,
California poppy petals, ostrich shell beads and waxed linen.
35” x 12” x 12 1/4”. photo by Ken Rowe.
“Homage“ close-up, (2004) by Jan Hopkins.
Grapefruit peel, waxed linen, yellow cedar bark and paper.
15 1/2” x 5 1/4”, photo: Jerry McCollum, Private Collection.
“Walking on Eggshells”, (2004).
Grapefruit peels, waxed linen, hemp paper, ostrich shell beads and yellow cedar bark,
9” x 9” x 9”. Photo by Jerry McCollum.
Private Collection. Tessellations inspired by M.C. Escher.
Fruit Skin Teapot, “Chicken Little”, (2008) by Jan Hopkins. Cantaloupe & grapefruit peels, Alaskan yellow cedar, ostrich shell beads and waxed linen.
7 1/2” x 11” x 10”, Date: 2008. Photo: Ken Rowe.
Fruit Skin Teapot, “Doodle Doo”, (2007) By Jan Hopkins.
Double walled grapefruit peel teapot stitched together and molded.
Materials: grapefruit peel, waxed linen, yellow cedar bark and paper,
8” x 11” x 7”. Photo: Ken Rowe.
Fruit skin teapot “Mother Hen”, (2009) by Jan Hopkins.
Cantaloupe & grapefruit peels, Alaskan yellow cedar, ostrich shell beads and waxed linen.
Hen, 5 1/2” x 11” x 5 1/2”. Photo: Ken Rowe.
Fruit skin teapot, as above.
Fruit Skin Teapot “Orange Pekoe”, (2000) by Jan Hopkins.
Orange peels, waxed linen, hemp paper and cedar root ,
8” x 6” x 4 1/2”. Photo: Jerry McCollum.
Permanent Collection: Kamm Teapot Foundation.
“Regeneration”, (2009) by Jan Hopkins.
Lotus pod tops, yellow cedar bark and waxed linen.
14″ x 14″ x 14″. Photo: Ken Rowe, private collection.
Fruit Skiin and Lotus Pod Vase.
Lotus pod tops, yellow cedar bark and waxed linen.
“Vibrant”, (2006) by Jan Hopkins.
Orange peels, waxed linen, yellow cedar bark, ostrich shell beads and lotus pod tops.
6” x 6.6” x 3.5”. Photo: Ken Rowe, Private Collection.
Sturgeon Skin Teapot, (1999).
8 1/2” x 10 1/2” x 6 1/2”.
Sturgeon skin, waxed linen, bull kelp and Japanese rice paper.
“Sturgeon Moon”, Sturgeon Skin Vase, (2014).
Sturgeon skin, bull kelp, yellow cedar bark, lunaria seed pods and waxed linen. 13″ x 16″ x 7″.
Jan and her husband are currently working on a new series of works
dealing with the WWII Japanese American Internment that detained Jan’s family.
“Frozen in Time” detail (2014). Maple leaves, red birch bark, cantaloupe peel, weathered hydrangea petals, lunaria seed pod centers cedar bark ostrich shell beads and waxed linen. H 16″ W 16″.
Statement: On Feburary 9, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive order 9066 ordering the internment of Japanese Americans. Jan’s family and all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were ordered to leave their homes and relocate to Internment camps. Their lives were frozen in time, not knowing when or if they would return to their homes (This piece is currently in an exhibit at the Baum Fine Art Gallery in Oklahoma.)
“Out of the Mouths of Babes”, (2015), (Japanese American Interment Series)
Cantaloupe peel, grapefruit peel, cedar bark, waxed linen, acrylic paint
on hemp paper and mounted on wood panels and frame. 19″x 24″.
Artist’s Statement: “This is a story my Mom told me about my brothers who were born shortly after war. At the tender age of 8 and 10, 11 years after the war, my Brother’s friend called out “Hey, let’s play war, you can be the Japs”. Bewildered at the thought of being the “enemy” my brother said in reply, “We don’t want to be the Japs.” Perhaps more bewildered than my brother, his friend replied “but, you are Japs”. Confused, my brother ran home and asked my Mom; “Mom, Delbert said I’m a Jap. I’m not a Jap, am I?” My Mom looked at him, taken back by his question, and then replied in a quiet voice “You are Japanese American”.” This piece will be on exhibit at Fuller Art Museum, MA starting April 16th.
All art by Jan Hopkins of Everett, Washington.
Jan has been represented in the past by:
Gravers Lane Gallery (Philadelphia) and
Mobilia Gallery (Cambridge, MA).
– See more at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160401233300/https://www.inspirationgreen.com/fruit-skin-sculptures.html#sthash.cdrdMP0G.dpuf
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