The Rhythm of Being: A Review of Claudette Hopkins’ Work at The Carver

The Claudette Hopkins solo show at The Carver Community Cultural Center is a hidden gem within San Antonio’s art community. Originally built in 1918, The Carver became a vital space for legendary Black performers–such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong– and was saved from demolition in the 1970s by community action. Today, it serves as a vibrant hub for performances, visual arts, and cultural education promoting diversity and community, as exemplified by Hopkins’ portraiture exhibited this month in its lobby. 

Featuring mothers, children, performers, and models, Hopkins embraces the beauty of women of color by utilizing realism and expressive detail to humanize and individualize the people she portrays. In Hopkins’ portraiture, the intensity of the physical world transforms the empowerment of African-American heritage into a lived, visceral experience of power, movement and rhythm encountered through the physical body. 

Claudette Hopkins, “Like Air I Rise”, pastel. Image courtesy of Elena Benavides.

A Black woman gracefully dances barefoot in a flowing white dress in Like Air I Rise. The billowing fabric of the dress mirrors the fluidity of wind, which cascades around the woman's strong and powerful stance, emphasized by her muscled legs and back. The title of the work is a play on Maya Angelo’s poem Still I Rise, which is about self-empowerment and resilience against oppression, specifically considering lines 25-28:

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs? 

Parallels exist between Angelo’s linguistic art and Claudette Hopkins’ visual practice. Angelou questions the reader multiple times, and includes repetition of the phrase “I rise.” In Like Air I Rise, the woman’s white dress floats around her body like a cloud, with the repeated ruffles adding a sense of rhythm and movement to the garment. Both creative works hold an undertone of passion through its repetition, which underlines the powerful assertion of identity. Embodying the idea of air, the figure in Hopkins’ portrait exudes confidence and sensuality, unapologetically grounded in their own power. Which is much like Angelou’s speaker, who confronts societal expectations with elegance, pride, and defiance. 

Claudette Hopkins, Looking Back in Style, pastel. Image courtesy of Elena Benavides.  

Looking Back in Style shows three women, their skin fully rendered in soft pastel, while their dresses flatten into the intricately patterned backgrounds. This echoes the influence of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, where the balance of figure and environment creates a unified, harmonious composition. The relaxed posture of the women suggest a confidence and comfortability in their skin, highlighting their ease within both their identity and the community around them. Hopkins depicts women of diverse racial backgrounds, reflecting on the unification and integration of community through fashion and the arts. The figures look back, so that the viewer cannot see their faces, causing the focus to remain on their clothing. By using fashion as a medium of expression, Hopkins emphasizes how shared cultural elements can transcend racial boundaries, while also showcasing the individuality and beauty of each woman within the collective. 

Claudette Hopkins, The Piano, pastel. Image courtesy of Claudette Hopkins.

The Piano ties into The Carver’s agenda of showcasing African American and African musical talent. The woman in the center contrasts the darkness of her surroundings, where the piano is nearly indistinguishable except for the visible white keys. The warm undertones of her skin mimic the warm tones of the piano, visually connecting the musician to her instrument. The piano, formal black cocktail dress, string of pearls around her neck and down her back, situates the sitter in a jazz bar. Hopkins' work contrasts with jazz ideas of community and shared expression as her subject sits in isolation. The image is also silent as the women's hands are placed behind her back on the chair, rather than on the keys of the piano. The silence and isolation offer space for reflection, where the subject contemplates her place within a larger cultural, social, and communal context.

The glass displays and lighting in The Carver lobby space caused me to focus more on the world around me than on the portraits themselves. Rather than isolating the artworks in a vacuum, the reflections positioned them within a constantly shifting, everyday environment. It created a moment of dual perspective as I was both observing the work and becoming part of its image. This immersion led me to think about how the themes present in Hopkins’ artwork are mirrored in our society today, and how easily they can be overlooked, similar to how the reflections threaten to obscure the works themselves. In the current political and social climate of the United States, with the rising of social inequities and ongoing struggles for racial justice, themes of resilience, reflection, and community in Hopkins’ work resonate more deeply than ever. As the U.S. continues to struggle with systematic racism and the challenges of uniting a divided community, Hopkin’s artworks serve as a vital reminder of the power of collective action, self-reflection, and the ongoing fight for justice and equality. Her work respects the struggles of the past while embracing the hopes and powers of the present day, a message that feels particularly urgent in today’s context. 

Claudette Hopkins is on view at The Carver Community Cultural Center until May 9, 2025. Gallery Hours are 8:00AM - 4:30PM daily.