Jack Rogers Hopkins: California Design Maverick

Jack Rogers Hopkins’s (1920-2006) visionary environmental furniture, sculpture, ceramics, and jewelry works are idiosyncratic, experimental, and finely crafted. The dramatic organic shapes he employed suggest the sandstone cliffs and ocean waves of Southern California where he lived and worked. Hopkins was recognized during his lifetime and included in national design shows with fellow luminaries such as Sam Maloof and George Nakashima. Hopkins’s bespoke furniture is included in museum collections such as the Boston Museum of Fine Art (MFA) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Examples also appear in important design galleries and in fine 20th Century design auctions. The Sam Maloof Foundation will host a Hopkins show in the Spring of 2024.

Hopkins is included in a small circle of fellow California studio designer-craftsmen such as Art Carpenter, J.B. Blunk and Sam Maloof who have emerged as the most influential West Coast studio makers of their generation. Exhibited nationally during his lifetime, Hopkins’s daring sculptural forms have earned him a permanent place in the history of the mid-century American Studio Craft Movement.  Hopkins famously destroyed his own masterpiece, the Womb Room, and it is an intriguing part of his personal story, and a riddle well worth solving. What was it about his worldview that enabled him to undertake such an act?

Screening as part of  this presentation, will be the world premiere of Jack Rogers Hopkins: California Design Maverick, a documentary film directed by 20th Century design specialist Katie Nartonis. (20 min).  Nartonis’ documentary In Tandem: The Life and Work of Jerry and Evelyn Ackerman was screened by MW at the Annenberg Theater in 2020.

After the screening, Nartonis will be joined by her co-authors of the 2020 Hopkins book - co-editor Jeffrey Head, and noted design specialists Jo Lauria, Dave Hampton, and James Rawitsch, for a discussion hosted by Reform gallery owner, Gerard O’Brien. 

reform-modern.com  thenartonisproject.com  jolauria.com  jeffreyhead.net  modernsandiego.com

Complimenting and contextualizing this film and panel discussion is another presentation scheduled at 1 p.m. with Dave Hampton, San Diego Modernism:  Furniture and Arts for Daily Living

$15

Things to Know
This event is for ages 12 and older.
The entrance to the Annenberg Theater is located behind the Annenberg Theater Box Office, adjacent to the Palm Springs Art Museum's North Parking Lot.
Ample free public parking is available in the multi-level public garage across from the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Handicap parking is available. This event is wheelchair accessible.
The organizer of this event is Modernism Week.

Event Check-in Location 
Annenberg Theater,  Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 N. Museum Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262
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Photo Credits: Katie Nartonis