"My lengthy and peripatetic career as a mudpusher began when I was three and I’m still doing it 70 plus years later."
Robin Hopper
Robin Hopper has been prolific in his production of ceramics – both functional wares and one-of-a-kind pieces. His relationship to the land and nature, his approach as a painter and his enduring curiosity of the medium permeate his works. As a potter, teacher, garden designer and author, he has traveled extensively. His pieces are rich with themes from nature and from civilizations past and current cultures. Hopper also worked to understand the science of his craft, re-discovered ancient techniques of pottery manufacturing and experimented with the chemistry of glazes and colours.
Robin Hopper was raised and worked in England where he gained a rich historical appreciation of European and Oriental aesthetics. He created studios in England and Canada where he immigrated to 1968. After teaching, Hopper retired to devote his energies to his work in ceramics in Ontario. In 1977, he left the cold climate in the east and relocated to Victoria, B.C. This same year he became the first-ever recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award.
Hopper is the author of “The Ceramic Spectrum”, “Functional Pottery”, “Staying Alive”, “Making Marks”, a new edition of Daniel Rhodes' "Clay and Glazes for the Potter", and his autobiography, “Robin Hopper Ceramics”, produced educational videos, and written for many international ceramics publications. Hopper is the Founding President Emeritus of the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts.
Selected works
