When a professor asked if art had saved her life — and how — Denise Hopkins didn’t have an answer.
But a decade after the question was posed to her art history class, Hopkins understood its point.
“Making art helped me navigate the messiest time in my life,” she says. “It helped me connect with other people, and it gave me a sense of both belonging and purpose. I am passionate about the power of art and sharing it with others.”
Now as the owner of Denise Hopkins Fine Art, located in Pass Christian’s Sazerac Square, her mission is threefold: “to contribute to and participate in the rich artistic traditions of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, to work with and support other local businesses to enhance the culture of Pass Christian and to provide a warm, welcoming and accessible art gallery experience to both avid art collectors and people who have never set foot in an art gallery.”
Hopkins embarked on her own creative journey upon receiving handmade coupons for art lessons from her great Aunt Catherine, a Carmelite nun who operated a studio in Lacombe, Louisiana. Not only did Hopkins redeem all of her vouchers, but she continued to study painting at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama.
After six years of teaching art, Hopkins started selling her paintings online in 2014. That year, she was finalizing a divorce and found herself the single mom of an infant son, for whom she now had to provide.
“After driving myself crazy trying to figure out what I was going to do, my ‘ah-ha’ moment came in the form of realizing art was a real career path, one I was passionate about and that I could learn the logistics of,” Hopkins says. “Opening the gallery has been an extension of that and a realization of the hard work I’d already put in.”
She casually searched for a brick-and-mortar location for a couple of years before the perfect spot became available in the heart of downtown. Customers come from all walks of life, from business owners to college students, and the gallery offers original oil paintings, as well as fine art reproductions.
At the heart of Hopkins’s work is her philosophy that art is for everyone, that it can spark joy, help navigate grief and bring people together. To her, it enhances not just a physical space, but mental and emotional space.
At its best, Hopkins explains, art “affirms something human in you and brings you somewhere worth going.”
“Every time I look at pieces of art I’ve collected from other artists over the years, I have a deeper sense of awe, and oftentimes calm,” she says. “Having received that gift and then being able to give it to others is the ultimate achievement.”
STOP BY THE GALLERY FOR FIRST FRIDAYS!
Starting Feb. 4, and continuing every first Friday of the month afterward, Denise Hopkins Fine Art will host a local musician, showcase new work and provide wine and cheese.
“I am really looking forward to our first Friday events because it is a way to build community,” Hopkins says. “In five to 10 years, I hope people on the Coast are on a first-name basis with the gallery and describe it as a welcoming place to find a piece of art, just look around or attend a great community event.”
IF YOU GO:
DENISE HOPKINS FINE ART
125 Davis Ave A1/2, Pass Christian
(228) 222-4126
Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday-Tuesday, by appointment
www.denisehopkinsfineart.com;
Instagram and Facebook: @denisehopkinsfineart