For our first Signature Series of 2023, we’ve partnered with a local designer who’s using their creativity to craft a universe of their very own.
Meet Claire Hopkins.
With a love for music and theatrical arts, Hopkins has been migrating between mediums, and materializing imagination since the very beginning. The 12-year-old ukelelist turned 23-year-old theatre graduate goes in whatever direction yields space for creative exploration—hence, why their pursuits landed them at Lipscomb University. But what brought them back to Memphis was a longing for community; a hunger for heartfelt connections.
“I really am interested in relationships,” Hopkins said, “They are both my greatest fear, and truly all that I want to experience. I explore those desires and fears through the characters I create.”
As a self-assigned introvert, Claire's craving for community comes with a cost—the vulnerability of being seen—but there's solace in living in a city that's so supportive.
From mentors to pop-up shoppers, Memphians like fine-artist Jess Tinsley have taken hold of Hopkins—pushing them down a path where coins of confidence can be collected like video game tokens, taking them to the next level.
Being the artist that I am feels like playing pretend as a kid, but I want to take it more seriously. I really want to believe in what i’m doing—which seems so silly because when you look at my work, it’s little pictures of stars, and rainbows, and critters—but I want to find more people that like it. It’s all about connection for me. I want to get closer to communicating what’s in my soul more clearly and with more vulnerability.”
While child-like in execution, Claire's signature series design shares a sentiment that all ages can identify with—that is if you admire Memphis as home.
Pulling from their catalog of characters, Claire’s doodle-work merges two universes together with tangible and intangible elements from Memphis and the mind of an artist who fully recognizes the power of playfulness.
“I think we all need a little bit of silliness, and it would make me happy if others wanted that for themselves too. There’s just so much darkness, and you have to fight against it.”
