Sky Hopinka facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sky Hopinka
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Sky Hopinka in 2018
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| Born | 1984 (age 40–41) |
| Nationality | Ho-Chunk Nation; American |
| Education | Portland State University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |
| Known for | Video, film, animation |
| Style | Experimental |
| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship (2020) MacArthur Fellowship (2022) |
Sky Hopinka, born in 1984, is a talented American artist and filmmaker. He is part of the Ho-Chunk Nation and has family ties to the Pechanga Band of Luiseño people. In 2022, he received a special award called the MacArthur Fellowship, which is a big honor for artists.
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Early Life and Education
Sky Hopinka was born in Ferndale, Washington. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Southern California.
He went to Portland State University (PSU) for his college studies. There, he became very interested in making documentary films. He earned a degree in liberal arts. While at PSU, he also started to learn about bringing back Indigenous languages.
In 2013, he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This area is the traditional homeland of the Ho-Chunk Nation. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. His studies focused on film, video, and new types of art.
Sky Hopinka's Artistic Career
Sky Hopinka's artwork explores his personal feelings about homeland and landscape. He also looks at how language and culture are connected to a place. He believes that breaking down traditional ways of storytelling in movies helps him create new kinds of Indigenous films.
His films and videos have been shown at many famous places. These include the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London. His work has also been featured at major film festivals like Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.
In 2016, Hopinka created a film program called What Was Always Yours and Never Lost. This program focused on experimental cinema made by Indigenous artists. It was later shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial, a big art exhibition.
Teaching and Sharing Knowledge
Sky Hopinka has shared his knowledge by teaching at universities. He was an associate professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. There, he taught students about film, video, and animation.
Currently, he is an assistant professor at Bard College. He teaches Film and Electronic Arts there. He has also taught Chinuk Wawa, which is an Indigenous language from the Lower Columbia River Basin area.
Awards and Special Honors
Sky Hopinka has received many important awards and honors for his work:
- 2022: MacArthur Fellowship
- 2021: Residency fellowship at Forge Project in Taghkanic, New York.
- 2020: John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.
- 2020: MacDowell (artists' residency and workshop) fellowship.
- 2019: Media City Film Festival's Chrysalis Fellowship. This helped him finish his film małni—towards the ocean, towards the shore (2020).
- 2018–19: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University fellowship. This helped him work on his experimental film Imał. This film explores Indigenous language and culture in the Pacific Northwest.
- 2017: Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship.
- 2016: More with Less Award from Images Festival.
- 2015: Third Prize at Media City Film Festival.
- 2015: Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker at Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Art Collections
Sky Hopinka's artwork is part of the permanent collections at several major art museums:
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
- Museum of Modern Art, New York City
- Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
