Wood Spirit

Nick Hopkins

Window Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre

Opening: 6pm Friday 4 December 2026

Exhibition: 4 December 2026 – 31 January 2027

As a lifetime environmental activist most recently concentrating on ending public native forest logging in NSW, I know the valuable role plantations already play in the timber industry. For our wildlife, our water quality and carbon storage, we urgently need to complete the transition to a 100% plantation-based industry. To this end, I concentrate on using a Queensland plantation Hoop Pine plywood and salvaged trees to demonstrate the opportunities, versatility, and beauty of timber harvested without compromising our precious environment.

The natural beauty of the Hoop Pine is highlighted by the black glue lines which give definition to the wood-turned, carved, routed and sanded shapes.

I also hope  that my artworks expand awareness of the potential of plywood as an art medium so as to inspire other woodworkers to “branch out” with their creativity.

About the Artist

Nick Hopkins is a South Coast forest conservationist and sculptor. He has lived in Canberra, far north coast NSW, and currently resides near the beach between Batemans Bay and Moruya. After graduating as a mature-age landscape architecture student in the early 2000s, he practiced as a landscape designer in Canberra. Since early retiring to the coast he has developed his mostly self-taught wood turning and sculpting skills, exhibiting in Bermagui, Batemans Bay and Kangaroo Valley sculpture exhibitions.