Tools of the Trade: A Historical Viewpoint of Artist Tools with Mark Hoppmann

Tools of the Trade: A Historical Viewpoint of Artist Tools with Mark Hoppmann

Sunday, November 10, 2024, 2:00 PM–4:00 PM

Collins Memorial Library

Archives & Special Collections Seminar Room

University of Puget Sound, 1500 N Warner St, Tacoma, WA 98416

Event is free but Registration is Required

Mark photographed outside the Birmingham, UK Pen Museum this past summer

Instructor Bio:

Mark Hoppmann graduated from Drake University with a BFA, including one year studying art in Florence, Italy. For the last 43 years he has been an artist living and working in Tacoma, WA. He is a member of the Puget Sound Book Artists and the Book Club of Washington. His work resides in private and public collections in the United States and beyond.

"I have always been curious. That curiosity has resulted in an eclectic accumulation of objects,memories, experiences, and books, all which in turn, inspire my art. With apologies to Rudyard Kipling, my intent is to design books for those with 'satiable curiosity'. Simple, but thoughtfully creative book designs hide a treasury of illustrations within."

Event Description:

Returning recently from an excursion to the pen museum in Birmingham, UK, Mark Hoppmann will share his passion for collecting, and creating art with the artifacts in his collection(s). From watercolor to pen and ink illustration to book arts, learn the stories and history of the artifacts and current day tools, which inspire the work of artist Mark Hoppmann. Many if not most of the tools are either over 100 years old or made from the same source as those used 400 years ago.

Discover different types of pen nibs and dip pens, reed pens as used by Rembrandt and Van Gogh, inkwells, typewriters, including one with a Cyrillic keyboard, to name  only a few. Examine books used by instructors to teach art 100 years ago and some of the artists books created by the artist showing how some of the tools were used, as well as books from the artist's personal collection.

Mark Hoppmann states, "In this digital age, I find it refreshing and challenging to collect, use, and repurpose tools to create my art whenever I can. I find it particularly inspiring when I discover a fingerprint on one of the tools I find. It's like discovering a trace fossil like a footprint in stone, telling me, someone was here before me. Who owned this tool and what did they create?"