Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hopeton Hibbert. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hopeton, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’m a self taught artist/photographer. I learned craftsmanship in my childhood from my grandfather who had a workshop and was always building something. What I learned then I apply to my frame building and canvas stretching now. Knowing what I know now to speed up my learning process I would have taken some photography classes at the beginning, but at the time I was in school earning my culinary arts degree putting in work in my chef career so photography was just a hobby at the time. With that being said the skills I find most essential I learned in the culinary field and that was methodical productivity. In other words, learning to produce on a high level consistently. That exercise has gotten me to my prolific state currently.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At 46 years old I’m realizing that I was born with an artistic mind. My mother was the same and as a child I grew up watching her create and exercise her artistic mind through calligraphy, decoupage, dessert making, fashion and polymer clay sculpting. I watched all this growing up while I built LEGOS and model airplanes.
This was the 80s so I had no solid visual models to guide me into a specific direction. The ‘Art world’ wasn’t really on my radar although looking back it was all around me.
My mother’s favorite store was PEARL ARTS and I was in there a lot. Running parallel with my mothers practices was my grandfather’s woodworking practice which I learned working alongside him.
I ended up entering the culinary arts in the 95 and going to culinary school in 96.
When I got my first camera in 98 I fell in love and started to learn my visual eye behind the camera. This was the film era so I spent a lot of time and $ in the trial and error of learning photography as I was self taught. . While working as a chef I was also an aspiring rapper and started to pay for studio time recording a few EPs and albums. This taught me the necessity of self promotion and also helped me exercise my public speaking as I often had to pitch myself as an artist while selling my CDs. Fast forward to the present I picked back up my photography hobby and entered an art exhibition, got accepted and the rest is history.
What sets my artistic process apart from others is my craftsmanship. After buying wood panels and canvases I realized I had the skill to build these things myself so I did.
Now I make every aspect of my art except print my photographs.
I’m most proud of the fact that I switched career lanes and am moving in a direction of success in the art world. I have gallery representation, famous collectors and I’m just getting started. This came from a relentless push from myself as I knew it couldn’t just be a hobby at this point, it had to produce income as I was pouring money into it. It was also a serious stress reliever because at the beginning I was pressured with the responsibility of managing and taking care of my elderly parents along with my 3 children so the arts gave me an outlet to pour my energy into. Once people started to respect my abstract eye I started to brand myself using my middle name St.Clair and the fact that I’m in my renaissance, and my brand became ‘St.Clair Renaissance studio’ where I now produce fine art photography, mixed media paintings and sculptures.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is the freedom it allows most times. I believe most creatives are free thinkers and affect the world in major ways many times leading the momentum of change. I find this freedom very healthy. My mind is a beehive of creative energy and oftentimes the biggest challenge is organizing my ideas into something concrete that can be created. It’s a welcomed challenge to have a vision and the desire to bring that vision to the physical world whether it be painting,cooking a meal or writing a song. The process of creating is a freeing experience that helps to strengthen the mind.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Early in my culinary career shortly after I graduated culinary school I was back in Atlanta working for one of Atlanta’s finest restaurants. I had just left one of Charleston South Carolina’s best restaurants as a star linesman and was ready to step up. After two years at this Atlanta restaurant I had mastered every position and was ready to move up the ladder. I had a culinary degree and the skills to back it up (both something most cooks didn’t have) but for whatever reason they wouldn’t move me up. I got burned out and quit. Fortunately I had a friend who’s family owned the furniture store that was a staple for high end home decor and was right next to the restaurant. I left the restaurant and decompressed with the lackadaisical/stress free job of being the floor steward. My job was basically helping to rearrange the decor of the design rooms including swapping art around on the many walls of the huge space. I learned to efficiently hang art. I used my time to work on my rap career and sharpen my photography skills. Unbeknownst to me at the time, those lessons I learned while working my humble job at the furniture store would increase my skill in the present as an artist as I can hang art quickly and efficiently. I obviously didn’t see the training I was receiving at the time as a serious addition to my skill set but it was. I was there a few months before the kitchen life pulled me back in and I later became Chef at one of Atlanta’s business restaurants at the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: Stclairrenaissance.com
• Instagram: @Stclair_renaissance
• Linkedin: Chefhopeton
• Other: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Vt1EU8MLU4SANXaF6

Image Credits
Alex Martinez Rob Brinson