Seduced by certain combinations of materials and textures and confining them in a small, intimate format, Carolyn DiFiori Hopkins is interested in creating visual deceptions. The Covid pandemic provides the context for her most recent work: animal hides, shells, seed pods, and feathers are used to protect something less durable. DiFiori Hopkins probes the disparity between surface and reality. Floating and at the same time encased, these images provide camouflage, evoke isolation or claustrophobia and allude to our containment.

​

Carolyn DiFiori Hopkins received her M.F.A. as well as her M.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in cross-disciplinary art and painting. She completed her undergraduate studio studies at the Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts) earning her BA in art and education from Rutgers University. She has many years of experience teaching at the State University of New York at Albany, the Berlin Collectiv International, the Atelier at Arlene’s in Albany, the Art School of Columbia County in New York State, the Arts of Southern New Jersey, and Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA. In addition she has been a visiting artist/ teacher throughout New York, Philadelphia, and the Southern New Jersey Region. She conceived and co-founded the alternative artist-run gallery, The Hallway in Troy, NY. An award-winning artist, she has exhibited at the Knockdown Center in Brooklyn, The New York State Museum in Albany, Opalka Gallery in Albany, SUNY Global Headquarters in NYC, Linus Art Gallery in Los Angeles, Marian Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, Woodmere Museum in Philadelphia, and Mangel Gallery in Philadelphia. She is the recipient of grants from The New York State Council on the Arts, NYS Decentralization Grants, and The University at Albany Foundation, and the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative