Andrea Hopgood, photograph by Robynne O’Halloran.

Andrea Hopgood - Heading Out: Coming Home

Exhibition Dates: March 16th to 26th

Opening Night: 6pm March 18th

Online Sales Launch: 8pm March 15th

Hankering for a road trip during recent periods of isolation and lockdown, Andrea has created a series of paintings that explore the natural environment and invite the viewer to pause and reflect.

The series of roadside views, symbolise a path forward, a journey ahead, the optimism in “heading out” and the anticipation of returning home.

Throughout a long career of teaching Art in Secondary Schools, Andrea has maintained her own Arts practice from her art studio/gallery in Berwick. Andrea holds weekly classes and workshops and creates works using a wide range of mediums, including; clay, wire, pastel, oil and acrylic.

Andrea Hopgood, *Paddocks in Pink,* oil on canvas, 43.5x43.5cm framed.

Tell us a little about your background. How long have you been making art?

I started art classes when I was 8. A local teacher agreed to take me on as she usually only taught adults.
I’ve had a passion for drawing ever since I was a small child, I remember being devastated when I broke my wrist and was unable to draw for a few weeks. I also remember going to the football at Waverley Park with my dad, I would always take a pencil and paper so I could draw the people around me.

I have always had my own arts practice, whilst working as an art teacher in secondary schools. I have always created work and taught in various other ways. i.e. community houses, kindergartens or schools as an artist in residence.

I am a secondary trained art teacher, but decided about 3 years in from working full time, that I didn’t have enough time to create, so I decided to teach part time and spend 1 day a week creating my own work. During that time, I started a painting group, where like minded people could come and paint each week in a local community centre. I taught art in neighbourhood houses and have continued to share my passion for creating throughout my working life. As my practice is a varied and inspired adventure, I have pursued galleries to take on my work. I do not look for commission work. I spend my time producing work that I am interested in doing, or experimenting with a range of techniques and processes, sometimes there is a theme or thread, sometimes I experiment with a particular technique.

I have entered several competitions and have been awarded several prizes, throughout my career. I have been employed as an art show judge at various shows.

Andrea Hopgood‘s studio, image supplied by the artist.

What inspired the series for your solo exhibition?

The Heading Out, Coming Home series, first began during road trips to visit my dad, who lived an hour and a half drive from me. I would stop and take photos of roadside vistas and reflect on life and its gifts. These trips, often made by myself, offered an opportunity of reflection. Unfortunately my dad passed away at the beginning of 2020, which made my road trips redundant. So, during our long sessions of lockdown, Ionging for a road trip, I created a body of work using my photograph references.

The series of familiar roadside views, symbolise a path forward, a journey ahead, or the optimism and anticipation of returning home.

Andrea Hopgood, *Leaving the City I*, oil on board, 18.5x22cm framed.

Talk us through your process.

Most of my artwork is a result of observing the natural world around me and exploring concepts that have effected me personally. My cloud work, explores the concept of weather/clouds and the parallels with a clouded state of mind.

I take many photographs and use these as my reference.

I work in a varied range of mediums and explore many techniques, including oil paint, drawing, pastel, wire, clay, ink, pencil and watercolour.

Although many of my pieces may appear to be simply a study of a nest, or a depiction of a road, there is always a deeper meaning to these images. Roads symbolise a path forward, a notion that there’s always something ahead. Nests symbolise the home and my value of nurturing and will always have 3 eggs, one for each of my children.

Can you describe your studio to our readers?

I am very fortunate to have a large light filled studio on my property. I spend some time everyday creating in this lovely space. We have a lovely old weatherboard house that dates back to 1850 and the studio is nestled amongst the garden, filled with sculptures made by my husband, David.

The studio is also my teaching space for weekly classes and monthly workshops. The regularity of weekly classes ensure that I clean up my studio on a regular basis!

What's next for Andrea Hopgood?

After driving to Orange to deliver my exhibition pieces, I now have a collection of wonder full photos of the local area, so I’m keen to get started on depicting the colour and light of Orange. However, I have just started on some large semi abstract landscape oil paintings.

These works hark back to the ethereal qualities of a previous body of work with blurred edges and areas of blended colour in a slightly larger format than the current exhibition.

Q and A with Andrea Hopgood

Andrea Hopgood - Heading Out: Coming Home