Thriving: Hannah Hopkins

Hannah Hopkins has always been what one might call a creative spirit. As a young girl growing up on a sharecropper's farm in Yazoo, Mississippi she learned how to sew by making star quilts with her friends and family. Then, in her twenties she became a hairdresser, often collecting bundles of corn silk to braid in her clients hair. Nearly sixty-seven years later, she still has her beautician's license. But these days you'll more likely find her making art than doing hair. Working in a variety of mediums, she weaves together intricate compositions bursting with detail. 

    "I've always liked to work with my hands," Hannah tells me as we sit across from one another at her dining room table. Nearby, a clear storage unit sits neatly in the corner on top of a three-tiered book shelf, filled to the brim with art supplies. She's just finished her most recent piece, fashioned from the interior of a frame that once held an old grandfather clock. After cleverly stripping it of the numbers and clock hands, she was left with a background drawing of a solitary bird nestled among pink blossoms. Inspired, she took branches, rocks, shells, paper butterflies and clay birds to create an almost ethereal portrait of nature. Hannah's eyes glow with pride as she shows me her work of art. After three months of carefully placing and arranging the materials, her masterpiece is complete.

    It's hard to believe, but Hannah wasn't always a mixed-media artist. "I didn't [even] know about drawing a straight line," she says, chuckling about her past. In the winter of 2007 that soon became history though, when on a whim, she attended a craft class at the Fountains. There, Judith Zailo taught residents how to construct their very own Christmas tree for the upcoming holiday season. As the class came to a close, Judith asked if anyone wanted the leftover tree branches to take home. Hannah, along with a few others, took a bundle back to her apartment. Shortly after that, Hannah came up with the clever idea of turning the branches into hooks for a key holder.

        She started by first varnishing the wood under the bark of the branches to give them a richer color. Then, she took each branch and glued it in a symmetric pattern on a large block of wood. The end result not only pleased Hannah but Judith as well, who still proudly displays the piece in her home.

            "Some of her genius is she sees things that come together that others totally miss. She [can find] a way of joining parts that others didn't think of putting together," says Fountains art teacher, Maggie. In 2008, she started teaching craft classes at the Fountains after Judith stepped down due to medical concerns. Her unique project ideas and warm spirit have won Maggie a devoted following among residents such as Hannah. Every Monday and Tuesday morning the class meets in the art room to construct creations that range from collaged greeting cards to jeweled bracelets. Papers, scissors, glues, beads, stamps, ink pads and other various art supplies fill up the empty space on the long, yellow table. As Hannah sits quietly in the corner by the window, you can see her eyes light up in a flurry of excitement as she scans the table for materials. "I like putting things together," she explains, "[and] I just love colors.

            Hannah's innovative thinking and creativity started at an early age, when she was still picking cotton in the fields of rural Mississippi. As a young girl, she received a baby pig from her brother-in-law every time his hog gave birth. After feeding and taking care of the pig for a year's time she would then sell it for a profit. Over time, this enabled her to save enough money for cosmetology school and start a new life.

            Now, at the age of 95, Hannah uses that same resourcefulness when it comes to making art. Once, when Maggie's class punched holes to thread ribbon through paper bags, Hannah took the leftover hole scraps and turned them into a decorative border of dots alongside the top of her bag. She uses anything she can find - from buttons to beads and discarded remnants from the art room- to create fresh, colorful works of art.

            What's remarkable about Hannah is that she always loves the moment she is in. In fact, part of what keeps her going is her love of change. "I ain't worried about no age," she tells me one afternoon, adding that she hopes to live as long as possible. After spending time with her, I can't help but hope that too.