Blog — John Hoppin RSS



#OccupyWallStreet

I went to #OccupyWallStreet.  I was curious about what was happening there because I had heard conflicting accounts.  It was in Zuccotti Park down on Broadway. We came during the general assembly which is a daily status meeting.  Speakers shouted phrases and the crowd repeated them.  It was drizzling.  There was about 100 people there. Signs. Two signs.  I talked to the lady on the right, she moved to the US from Puerto Rico in 1964, now she lives in Fort Greene. She showed me the other side of her painting.  It was odd.  "?" Here is a picture of my parents.  Dr. Cornel West has his back to them.  He had just finished speaking, about revolution and making the...

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PAINTINGS

Nami and I have been working on some paintings and I wanted to show them to you.  I won't say much more other than to say that they will be exhibited later this year in Brooklyn.  Stay tuned for more details.  Thanks for looking at them, I would love to hear any feedback or thoughts that you have.  You can comment on this here post, or @johnhoppin FORCE This painting depicts a force, represented by the arrow, passing through a boundary, represented by the circle.  There are some markings on the bottom left. MY PHILOSOPHY This painting depicts some of my philosophy, specifically that dualities like Yes and No, Right and Wrong exist as part of the same workflow, that...

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Pickles

We made pickles  Kirby cucumbers are right for pickling.  They are cheap and in season right now.  Pickling is easy, the hard part is getting the jars together.  I use whatever I have around and it usually works out.  A funnel helps but you can do without.   You can use the same method on radishes, carrots, most any other vegetable. The idea of pickling is to submerge the thing to be pickled in salty water for a period of time.  Submerging is essential, otherwise any of the vegetable that is un-submerged will mold.  You can fill a plastic bag with brine and place it on top of the vegetables to keep them submerged.  The jars I used have tapered tops...

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Ben Peterson at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts

Last week I went to Philadelphia to see Ben Peterson's artwork in the show Urbanism at the Philadephia Academy of Fine Arts.  PAFA was the first art school and art museum in the United States.  It is on Broad Street a couple blocks from City Hall.  It was the first art show I had gone to in a while and I was pleased with it.  Ben's work is incredibly detailed and impressively scaled. Broad Street, Philadelphia - At 548 feet tall, the Philadelphia City Hall is the second tallest masonry building in the world.  It was constructed from 1871 to 1901.  It is the 16th-tallest building in Pennsylvania. The Arch Street United Methodist Church, built between 1864 and 1870.  Behind...

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