Oregon’s Creative Impact
“13 ideas that are changing lives”
By Lee Lewis Husk
Artist photo by Joni Kabana
News
‘Brighton Ray Bradbury’ Commissioned by Paddy Considine
Mixed yarn 40 x 31 inches 2012
With my latest crochet piece ‘Bridging Shine’ at the Bellevue Arts Museum 2012 Biennial:
LADIES’ CHOICE: Works by Women Artists chosen by Women Artists
My work is currently on show at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, WA as part of the Ladies’ Choice exhibition which runs from November 15 – December 22, 2012. Many thanks to Marie Watt for inviting me to participate.
Bellevue Arts Museum Biennial 2012: High Fiber Diet opens today and runs until February 24th 2013. My work is being used to promote the November 16th reception for the exhibition:
“Watch Jo Hamilton take her grandmother’s craft and turn it into a new art form.”
- Producer Mike Midlo
Jo Hamilton Crochets Works of Art : Arts & Life : OPB
Painter-turned-crochet artist Jo Hamilton creates remarkable cityscapes and portraits with yarn. See a slideshow of her art and a time-lapse video …
.
For the Bellevue Arts Museum Biennial 2012
Bridging Shine Mixed Yarn Approx. 65 x 32 inches 2012
A STOP MOTION VIDEO
This is a stop motion video I made to document my process of crocheting one of my larger than life portraits in yarn from start to finish. In my work I use a traditional basic crochet technique taught to me at an early age by my Gran. I work one knot at a time, from the inside out, row by row. In making the crochet portraits I always begin in the middle with the eyes and work out from there until the piece is completed. I work directly from photographs, using no sketches, graphs or computer imaging. Each piece is instinctively composed, handmade, labour-intensive. Nothing is planned ahead; I make it up as I go along. I spend a lot of time simply looking, unraveling, and reworking until I get it right. To make this video I photographed the work after each new yarn colour or two was added, and edited the photos into a sequence. This 30 second sequence contains over 300 photos of the work in progress. The portrait is of my dear friend Arthur Cheesman, who is sadly no longer with us. Music by Aikamusic/Goldcard.
Article by Nilay Ornek
Article by Sigal Namir
Jo Hamilton’s Surprisingly Surreal Crochet Portraits- The Huffington Post
by Priscilla Frank
Jo Hamilton’s Crochet Portrait Looks Eerie In Stop Motion – The Huffington Post
by Mallika Rao
It’s unlikely anyone would line up to watch a crochet artist at work. But this 30 second stop motion film by artist Jo Hamilton turns the quiet craft she learned from her grandmother into something thrilling. Hamilton — who is known for her blanket-sized portraits of famous people and friends — filmed more than 300 photos for the video, each taken after the addition of a new yarn color to her portrait of her late friend Arthur Cheesman. Her habit of working from the eyes out here creates the sensation of a fully formed man slowly revealing himself, which is as eerie as it sounds. Don’t expect to find half-done Arthur hanging on your grandma’s wall any time soon.
|
|
The Oregon Art Beat crew came to my studio to shoot a feature on my work that will air later this year. Thanks to Mike, Greg and Bill.
.
My work makes an appearance in Episode 5 of Lena Dunham’s new HBO series ‘Girls’
Special Collector’s Crochet Issue
“The Fine Art of Crochet: Six fiber artists blur the distinction between art and craft.”
By Daryl Brower
“Crocheted Art of Jo Hamilton”
The Culture of Transbaikalia (Russian newspaper) #13 (296) April 5th 2012
By Andrew Farinov
“Stitched Stories: Artist Jo Hamilton crochets colorful portraits of people and places.”
By Katherine Suarez
October 25, 2012 – February 24, 2013
Bellevue Arts Museum: BAM Biennial 2012
2012 marks the unveiling of the second
edition of BAM’s much-anticipated
biennial. With a focus on fiber, one of
the most thriving yet underexposed
media in contemporary art, BAM Biennial
2012: High Fiber Diet continues BAM’s
commitment to recognizing the innovative
work of Northwest makers.
www.partandparcelexhibition.wordpress.com
Part & Parcel will take place from March 25-April 26, 2012 at Arts Guild New Jersey, with an opening reception on Sunday, March 25, 1-4pm.
The works in this group exhibition are united in their use of bodily fragmentation to investigate the role of women in modern society. Fragmentation is a versatile tool in visual art, as it allows us to simultaneously see the human body in a more focused manner, and to step back from it and view the body as an abstract form – it can lead to reactions ranging from analytical to emotional. While interpretations are individual to both artist and viewer, Part & Parcel undoubtedly inspires us to think about the body in novel ways.
The exhibition is curated by Bonnie Gloris and features an impressive roster of artists including Fanny Allié, Tom Bartel, Laara Cassells, Niina Cochran, Bill Durgin, Irene Gennaro, Jo Hamilton, Frances Heinrich, Gina Lucia, Vincent Minervini, Judy Moonelis, Lindsey Muscato, Deborah Pohl, Carol Schwartz, Etta Winigrad, and Jane Zweibel.
Artist Jo Hamilton | Proti šedi
Jo Hamilton is a fibre artist. She crochets unique portraits and landscapes. What makes her do it? Could you introduce yourself shortly? You hail from Scotland …
.
Best of 2011: Jo Hamilton’s Crochet Heads
Best of 2011: Jo Hamilton’s Crochet Heads. December 28th, 2011 by Amir. It’s not everyday that we post an artist who works with yarn but Jo Hamilton’s crochet …
.
Urbanite Baltimore Magazine String Theory | Visual Art
Gulp Yarn Bang shows a wide range of art objects that reference traditional notions of yarn while taking the medium to exciting new places…
.
KNOT AFTER KNOT – Forward Council
This exhibition, ‘knot by knot‘ is certain to uncover the material and the process that fits perfectly with the concept, leading the artist inside a very …
.
Jo Hamilton – work.place
Jun 21, 2011 – Scottish-born Jo Hamilton is a painter by trade, but her recent work has manifested itself in a truly exciting new medium: crochet…
Photo by Carlie Armstrong
a crochet mask. | Design For Mankind
May 2, 2011 … This is an in-progress piece from crochet genius Jo Hamilton, and I love it so much as it is. Everyone needs a (tad creepy) crochet mask for …
.
Jo Hamilton | Sick of the Radio
Apr 26, 2011 … Jo Hamilton is a Portland based, British born artist who’s work uses traditional crocheting to create images of people and places around her …
.
Jo Hamilton’s Crochet Heads – Beautiful/Decay Cult of the Creative
Apr 4, 2011 … It’s not everyday that we post an artist who works with yarn but Jo Hamilton’s crochet portraits are really interesting…
.
Jo Hamilton’s Amazing Faces – Bust Magazine
Mar 30, 2011 … BUST Magazine, the magazine for women with something to get off their chests. Rocking your world since 1993. With an attitude that is fierce …
.
Interview With Jo Hamilton. An Artist Who Creates Arresting…
Mar 25, 2011 … Jo, please introduce yourself to E-junkies. My name is Jo Hamilton. I’m from Scotland, and moved to Portland, Oregon in the mid-nineties…
.
Jo Hamilton Crochet | Crochet Concupiscence
Mar 21, 2011 … Jo Hamilton is an amazing crochet artist. I don’t say that lightly. There are a lot of crochet artists with work that I like…
.
Jo Hamilton: FACES April 29th-May 30th 2011
Jo Hamilton will be showing a selection of her crochet portraits at two New York locations:
Opening April 29th 2011 5-9pm 
Cafe Grumpy Greenpoint
193 Meserole Avenue
(at Diamond St)
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Additional portraits will be showing at:
Cafe Grumpy Chelsea
224 West 20th St
(between 7th and 8th Ave)
New York, NY 11011
(Subway 18th St)
Bryon Adams Harford
Mixed yarn 22″x27″ 2008
Portraits in Yarn – Fiber Arts – timesunion.com – Albany NY
Feb 25, 2011 … Meet Portland-based artist Jo Hamilton, who makes crocheted portraits that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Here’s one in progress: …
.
Knit Your Moments: Crochet Portraits Brought You By Jo Hamilton
Feb 18, 2011 … Grandmother’s timeless crochet no longer remains as table ware and upholsteries or mere piece of fabric, thanks to Jo Hamilton, …
.
Interview: Jo Hamilton By Bee Clinch
Words by Bee Clinch
Amongst her many artistic talents, Jo Hamilton, the Portland-based artist, creates arresting figurative images of people and her environment using the unexpectedly domestic medium of crochet. Her formative training at the Glasgow School of Art was in painting and drawing but, by her own admission, she was never entirely comfortable with the traditional approach.
Following her move to Oregon in the 1990′s, she began to explore different means of expressing herself through a skill she has long forgotten but was keen to reacquaint herself with. ‘I first learned to crochet when I was six and my Gran taught me how to make a granny square. Ten years later a friend re-taught me, and I crocheted in a crafty way for years.’
She was first inspired to use crochet as a means of depicting her surroundings after seeing an exhibition at the original Portland Craft Museum. ‘I think (the exhibition) was called “Not Your Grandmother’s Doily” and featured art made using techniques that are traditionally considered to be craft.’ Excited that she had at last found a means of expression that allowed her to work in a way that she was comfortable with but at the same time was artistically expressive, she settled down that very day and began to crochet the first six city blocks of what would become the “I Crochet Portland” cityscape!
This gave her the confidence to broaden her remit to depicting her fellow coworkers using the same techniques. Despite their good-natured taunting, she started from photographs of the sitter which she then worked up in crochet.
Work can take anything up to three years, as in the case of the cityscapes but her enthusiasm for the medium never wanes. “Crochet is currently my preferred process, although I do look forward to seeing how it has informed my approach to other media.’ By using a craft that is more often than not pigeon-holed into rather a narrow category, she hopes to create a more appreciative audience that will see its artistic potential. As with Tracy Emin and her series of quilts, something that we traditionally see as a purely domestic activity becomes a far more challenging and thought-provoking process.
Her method of working is more like a painter with their box of paints than a person taking out their crochet for a few hours of relaxation.
‘My house is filled with balls of yarn, all arranged by colour on shelves. I can pull them out as I need them for my palate. A portrait can take up to fifty or more hours over the course of a month, but I haven’t actually counted, and I spend just as much time looking as actually crocheting. The pieces evolve from the inside out. I make no graphs, plans or charts; it’s a row-by-row organic process in which I don’t always know the outcome, but have learned to trust my way of working.’ Many people have speculated on how Jo achieves her portraits and what stitches or techniques she might use, so they will be fascinated to read of how she has to put herself in the hands of her inspiration and wait to see what is produced.
Obviously, she is confident to do this and is quite happy to go with the flow. ‘I’m working on a new body of work for my next show Bodies Are Bridges. It’s quite a departure from previous pieces, so I have a lot of work to do in order to pull it off. I will always continue to crochet, but I’d also like to return to drawing and painting and see how the crochet has informed my approach to those disciplines. I want to push the boundaries of craft and art, just to see what’s possible.’
For many crocheters, such an approach is completely new and alien but gives an example of how craft can jump the barrier between itself and art and give an artist new and exciting means of expressing themselves. It may not be something that everyone feels confident to do but Jo gives some advice which we could all follow, ‘Ditch your pattern books!’ So maybe next time you reach for the tried-and-tested cushion or blanket pattern, heed Jo’s words and with the skills literally at our finger tips venture into a new and exciting world of expression through craft.
Bee is a freelance writer in England and has a crochet blog: chaincreative.blogspot.com
Crochet Me: The Art of Jo Hamilton « thebibliophile Weblog
Feb 16, 2010 … thebibliophile Weblog. reading literature, art, culture, and fashion … One Response to “Crochet Me: The Art of Jo Hamilton” …
.
Departures
by Christine Vitron
Beneath the Surface Exhibit | Pattern People | Surface Design
Opening May 1st at Nemo in Portland, Oregon, BENEATH THE SURFACE: Flora, Fantasy & Fable in Surface Design highlights the work of influential, contemporary surface designers through the mediums of wallpaper, prints, and 3-dimensional objects. The exhibit is curated by us and includes some of our favorite designers from around the globe. Focusing on escapist and fantastical themes, the exhibit features utopian landscapes, folkloric fables, and interpretations of magical inner journeys.
_____________________________________________________
Anna Giertz | Chelsea Heffner | Dan Funderburgh | Deanne Cheuk
Eno Henze | George Moskal | Joanna Bean | Jo Hamilton
Katrin Wiens | Kinpro | Kustaa Saksi | Laundry Studio
Linn Olofsdotter | Marc Curtis | Michael Leon | Mike Perry
Nama Rococo | Osmose | Pattern People | Timorous Beasties
_____________________________________________________
ARTIST: Jo Hamilton | Pattern People | Surface Design + Inspiration
Today, Jo Hamilton came by to install her amazing crochet piece. It depicts a cityscape of Portland. Apparently it took years to make it, …
.