Hopper to share summer road trip through art exhibit
FOR RELEASE: Thursday, October 4, 2007
Huntington, Ind.-Ken Hopper, assistant professor of art at Huntington University, will be headlining an exhibit showcasing his creative work. The exhibit will run in the Robert E. Wilson Art Gallery from Oct. 18 through Nov. 16. There will be an artist's reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 19.
Hopper will feature photographs and paintings from a motorcycle trip he took in the summer of 2007. The trip spanned longer than two weeks and covered nearly 6,000 miles.
Through the trip, Hopper said he gained an appreciation for the vastness and beauty of this country.
"I want to share my experience with the viewers and hope they appreciate this magnificent country as much as I do," he said. "There is so much out there to see."
Hopper believes the mode of transportation he took influenced his experience.
"Doing a trip like this on a motorcycle makes it different," he said. "You are so much more a part of the environment. Temperature, smells, humidity, sunlight, winds - you just miss it all in a car."
"There is also the rush of kind of being on the edge," he added. "The wind is trying to toss you and your bike off the road, while sleet is driving into you horizontally and you are wondering, 'Now why did I choose to ride across the Continental Divide in Wyoming?'"
Hopper said that no two days on the trip were alike.
"There were situations that scared the daylights out of me, sights that just took my breath away and long straight stretches that went on undisturbed hour after hour after hour," he said. "I want to do it again - soon!"
The exhibit also will display some of his open air work, a form of art he tried for the first time on this trip.
"I've always been a studio painter, but Professor Andy Dickson encouraged me to try open air painting much like the Impressionists did," he said. "I tried it and loved it."
The Robert E. Wilson Gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., before and after all Merillat Centre performances, and by appointment. For further information, contact Barb Michel, interim director, at (260) 359-4172.
