For some people, the stock market, the court of law and the physicians table do little to excite the senses or satisfy the emotions. Noting the ways in which art can express details about chaos or confusion in succinct ways, professionals in the arts often elect to surround themselves with these calming portraits.

This week, Henry T. Hopkins was honored for his accomplishments as a museum director and educator after his recent death at the age of 81, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though he got his start in the field of art as a student in California, he reached national prominence as director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where he worked from 1974 to 1986.

In an interview with the Times in 1998, Hopkins explained that he had been painting since he was about six years old. "Art just grew naturally with me," he commented.

From his experiences as an art student in Chicago, military photographer in Germany, art teacher in San Diego and museum curator in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the aficionado always kept artwork a pivotal part of his life.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that employment for artists can extend to art directors, craft artists, cartoonists, illustrators for publications and medical diagrams, and multi-media experts, among others.