Hopi Breton: Grounded

A tortoise signifies longevity, candles evoke memory and reverence, and a blanket crafted from rock offers a sense of rooted security, contrasting with the precariousness and anxiety symbolized by a boulder atop a ladder. Hopi Breton creates sculptures that are hybrids of figurative elements, inanimate objects, animals, and combinations of mixed media. Breton considers themes of place, displacement, and spiritual well-being connected to land and home amid heightened emotions of anxiety, loss, and fear exacerbated by global issues of war and climate change. Her work leans on ecology, language, and literature as guides, and she finds poetic connections in the combination of materials and forms to spark new meanings and metaphors. Materials such as iron, gold, and salt as well as forms such as birds and rocks are used for symbolism as much as for their formal qualities.

Hopi Breton is a Bay Area artist and a faculty member of the Art Department at Diablo Valley College, where she heads the sculpture program. She earned a Bachelor of Art from Loyola University in New Orleans, and a Masters of Fine Art from Montana State University. She has a technical background in metal fabrication and casting but works in a variety of media. She has organized and worked with students and peers to create cast iron art performances nationally, including the International Cast Iron Art Conference at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama; the Western Cast Iron Art Conference, in Denver, Colorado; and the Fire Arts Festival at the Crucible in Oakland, California. In addition, Breton spent a decade teaching and making art in New Orleans, which still inspires her to create large scale backpack puppets, and organizes and participates in public parades.

Gallery Hours: Fr + Sat, 12 – 5 pm
Artists’ Reception: Sat, August 10, 4 – 6 pm
Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: August 2 + September 6, 5 – 9 pm