Approved: 20.11.2011

Ana Rosa Hopkins

Artist, Consultant, Lecturer / academic, Researcher

Approved: 20.11.2011

Over the last six years my work has focused on using different forms of glass, exploring its physical qualities and inherent dualities; hardness and fragility, solid and transparent. I am drawn to the liminal region between sculpure and glassmaking, challenging the bourndaries of how the material can be used. Glassmaking for me is a process of experimentation. I often add natural or man-made substances

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Artist Statement

Over the last six years my work has focused on using different forms of glass, exploring its physical qualities and inherent dualities; hardness and fragility, solid and transparent. I am drawn to the liminal region between sculpure and glassmaking, challenging the bourndaries of how the material can be used. Glassmaking for me is a process of experimentation. I often add natural or man-made substances to the process leading to unpredictable and unexpected outcomes. In my fine art practice I use the medium of glass to create multi-layered messages and meaning moving away from the traditional and decorative possibilities of glass and defying its material boundaries. My doctoral research is focused on the legacy of Joseph Beuys and his ideas on materials and social sculpture. This has led to an exploration of the metaphorical dimension of everyday materials and objects, and their abilitiy to catalyse meaning through association and suggestion. Analogous to an alchemist, my practice experiements with the transmutation of common elements. It exploits the sediments of history and narrative embedded in materials to form layers of meaning in my work. This 'back-story', inherent or invested, becomes important in the works interpretation and understanding and can be contained in the material, its history, or an action undertaken in producing the work. 

CV & Education

Qualifications and training 
2011 to present - Research candidate PhD by Practice Art & Design, MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University
2011 MA Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University 
2010 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University
2006 Foundation Degree Art & Design, Oxford & Cherwell Valley College

Exhibitions 
2014 Monstrous Cosmological Flux, Sala do Veado, National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon, Portugal
2014
Think Act Form: materials, origins and affinities, Plataforma Revolver, Lisbon, Portugal (Solo show)

2013 Ander Art Festival 2013, Munich, Germany
2012 21st Century Rural Museum, Palacio das Artes, Porto / Coimbra / Lisbon, Portugal (touring exhibition)
2012 Cabedal, Plataforma Revolver, Lisbon, Portugal
2012 Meanwhile See This, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK
2012 neo:artprize 2012 show, neo:artists Gallery 22, Bolton, UK
2012 Part of the Programme, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, FAFA Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2009 Sculpture Installation 'Body Glass', Victoria Baths, Manchester, UK (Solo show)
2012 Rogue Open Studios 2012, Rogue Artists' Studios, Manchester 
2011 Secs and Death Cells, The Hive, Manchester 
2011 Where does material end and object begin?, Situation, Manchester

Awards and residencies
2014 Invited Artist, Royal Glass Factory / Higher Institution of Glass, La Granja, Segovia, Spain
2014 Artist in Residence, Plataforma Revolver, Lisbon, Portugal
2013 Artist in Residence, Ebenbockhaus, Munich, Germany
2012 neo:artprize 2012 WINNER, neo:artists, Bolton, UK 
2010 NADFAS North West Artists Bursary, NADFAS, UK