Amanda Hopkins

Artist statement

Concepts
My work seeks to reconnect people with themselves, their everyday activities and the places they inhabit and encounter. The glass lenses in 'Knotted Gate' (1996) and 'Collective Evidence - Bus Routes' (1994), Slice of Life (2005), Ropetackle lenses (2007) achieve this by focusing attention on the often by-passed details of the everyday. 'Once upon a Time' (2002) and 'Markers' (1998) re-connect people with the history of the place in which they are sited. Much of what I do is about re-framing what we see and experience around us. The creation of new, secular rituals as an integral part of the work is becoming increasingly important - 'Five Minutes Peace' (2000); 'Once upon a Time' (2002), Star (2009).

Career path
I trained originally as a psychologist. After working for some time in research I returned to college to study my first love - art and design. I graduated with First Class Honours from Middlesex University in 1993 and set up my own art and design practice.

Since then I have developed my personal work and worked to commission for public and private clients. Public commissions completed include site-specific sculptural interventions for the Islington Ecology Centre, Gillespie Nature Reserve (London), Davy Down Park (Essex). I have been artist consultant for Essex County Council, collaborating with architects in re-building 13 schools. I occasionally exhibit in galleries but my main focus is on putting work in real social/environmental situations. My research background emphasises process as much as product in my practice. This emphasis also leads me into teaching - I currently a part-time senior lecturer at Central St Martin's College of Art and Design on a multidisciplinary course : BA Architecture, Objects & Spaces.

Solo exhibitions

2005 Propects, The Field Station, Lea Valley, Hertfordshire

Group exhibitions

1999 Teleport, Alphabet, London
1997 Showing off, Marle Place, Kent
1997 Fuse, Designers, Artists and Architects in Collaboration, Sutton House, London
1995 Collective Evidence, Urban Action, Hertfordshire County Council
1995 Parkland Walk, Islington Ecology Centre
1995 Parkland Walk, Northbank Gallery, London
1995 Feeringbury VI, Feeringbury Manor, Colchester
1994 Metropolis Open Window Gallery, Nos 38, 73 Buses, London
1994 Hackney Sculpture Show
1993 New Designers, Business Design Centre, London
1993 Whiteleys UIC, Bayswater, London
1991 Morecambe Renaissance, Morecambe

Private commissions

2000 Five Minutes Peace, Regina Rd, Finsbury Park, London
1998 Castle Bridge Viewpoint, Islington Ecology Centre, London
1998 Threshold Lighting, Stephen Pimbley architects, Private residence
1996 Gilthead Bream etching, Susie Fisher Group, London

Public commissions

2007 Ropetackle lenses, River Adur balustrade, Shoreham By Sea, Sussex
2005 Prospects, Gunpowder Park, Lea Valley, Hertfordshire
2004 Star, Church of St Peter and St Paul, Shoreham, Kent
2004 Slice of Life, Harwich Primary School, Harwich Essex
2002 The Davy Downe, Thames Chase Forest, Essex
2000 Flock, Waterlow Park, Waterlow Park
2000 Flock, Waterlow Park, Hampstead, London
1998 Cardinal seating, Islington Borough Council, Gillespie Park, London
1998 Parkland Walk Markers, Islington Ecology Centre,, London
1997 Rope Organics, Temple Cloud Community hall, Temple cloud, Bristol
1997 Lifecycles, Islington Ecology Centre,, Islington, London

Educational experience - primary

2007 Friendship circle, Shoreham Primary School, Shoreham, kent
2001 Remodelling 12 primary schools in Essex, Essex County Council/French Keir Anglia, Tendring, Essex
1998 Mayflower Dreaming, mayflower School, Billericay, Essex
1998 Bolingbroke Arch, Boligbroke School, Battersea, London
1998 Secret Seating, Camely School, Camely, Bristol