Hopkins art piece “Family Trees” selected as theme for writers festival
An art piece created by Professor Kristin Miller Hopkins is now the theme of Agnes Scott College’s 44th Annual Writers’ Festival, the oldest continuous literary event in Georgia. The festival will be held March 26-27 in Decatur, Ga.
Hopkins, an associate professor of art and design at Palm Beach State College, unveiled the mixed media piece titled “Family Trees” in an exhibit in 2012 with 11 other pieces of the same name at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.
The piece explores abstract wonderings and wanderings of ideas surrounding family trees and the concept of nature vs. nurture. The idea for the piece grew during her last trimester of pregnancy of her first child when Hopkins began pondering her own family tree, while being influenced by images of plant and sea life.
“The design of the Writers’ Festival seeks to reflect the writing process,” said Cheryl Wollner, class of ’15. “This year we sought that process in the movement of Kristin Miller Hopkins’ artwork. The writing process is a process. And it is full of movement. Whether that means the revision process of moving paragraphs, or the flowing sound of the words as they’re read aloud, writing is never stagnant. It doesn’t stop even when the words are published as there will never be one interpretation of our work. What we write comes alive for our readers each time our work is read. The piece is constantly re-interpreted and re-imagined. Just as Hopkins’s images retain their motion on the page, our guest writers are just as dynamic. Their writing flows with energy.”
The festival features internationally known writers (including alumnae writers) in two days of public readings, the culmination of a statewide creative writing contest for undergraduates and graduate students, and publication of the festival magazine. The Writers’ Festival is an important part of the co-curriculum for English majors, and students interact with the visiting writers in workshops and informal gatherings.
For more information on the festival, click HERE. For more information on Kristin Miller Hopkins, click HERE.
