Inception – Charity Auction for Make 2nds Count

One of twelve in my first crocheted portrait series called ‘Pigeon Portraits’, depicting my co-workers in the famous award winning restaurant Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon. I have a soft spot for this portrait of Aaron, one of the dishwashers in the restaurant; it captures his sense of humour, style and weirdness. 

I make my work using crochet, a craft I first learned from my Gran back in Scotland when I was six. I started out as a painter but since 2006 I have been making solely large-scale crocheted wall works; constructing handmade figurative fabric from yarn, knot by knot with a small hook. I use the medium of crocheted yarn to transcribe historically dominant western fine art categories–nudes, portraits, landscapes to upset the stale dichotomy of art versus craft, so that new traditions and narratives can emerge. Crochet and yarn are normally used to make everyday household items, but when applied to figurative and contemporary subjects they create contradictory objects. They acknowledge predominant fine art conventions, but remain subversive, empowered by their unassuming mode of creation. I crochet to create alternative images of strength and beauty that subvert normative gender and art world rules: portraying anonymous masked women as superheroes hiding in plain sight; gigantic soft but muscular reclining male nudes; venerable local and historical matriarchs, as well as cityscapes and landscapes defined by the breakneck pace of modern human production. Out of concern for the environment my work is primarily made from post-consumer and recycled materials. 

JO HAMILTON

Born 1972 Glasgow, Scotland. Lives and works in Portland, OR.

EDUCATION 

1993 Glasgow School of Art, BA in Fine Art, Glasgow, Scotland. 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2022-2023 Open Entanglement, PDX Airport, Port Of Portland, OR.

2021 Transitory Trespass, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR. 

2019 The Matriarchs, the Masked, and the Naked Man, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR 2018 Fabric of Spacetime, Timeless Textiles, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Jo Hamilton: Knots in Time, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID. 2017 New Work, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR Jo Hamilton: Intertwined, YaloRUN, Water Valley, MS. 2016 Jo Hamilton, Cannon Beach Arts Association, Cannon Beach, OR. 

2015 I Crochet Portland, installation in the foyer of the White Stag building, Portland, OR. Arthur Animated, Public Mural Animation, Toride Train Station, Japan. 

Whom, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR. 2014 Our House of Portland: A Portrait in Yarn, SUM Gallery (October), Q Center (November), Our House of Portland (December), Portland, OR. 

Contemporary Oregon Visions, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. 2011 Faces, Cafe Grumpy Greenpoint & Cafe Grumpy Chelsea, New York, NY 2009 Portland Portraits, Visage Gallery, Portland, OR. I Crochet Portland, Downtown Stumptown, Portland, OR. 
 
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 Material Thinking: Care and Concern, NanChi Zi Museum Art Gallery, Beijing, China,

2022 Hook, Pulp & Weave, Imogen Gallery, Astoria, OR.

Material Thinking, 1st International Contemporary Material Art Biennale, Hai Tian Sky Art Center, Qingdao, China. 2021 This Ain’t the Archies, Timeless Textiles, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. 2020 Hurts So Good, Columbia Center for the Arts, Hood River, OR.

2019 Sustainable City, WTA 8th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art, Madrid, Spain. 

Fiber Art Fair, Seoul Art Center, South Korea.
 2018 2018 Chaozhou International Embroidery Art Biennale, Chaozhou Museum, Guangdong, China.
’From Lausanne to Beijing' 10th International Fiber Art Biennale, Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing. China.
In a Different Voice: Fiber Art in A Care Narrative, Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
42 Contemporary Artists + The Enter Art Foundation Collection, Gerichtshöfe, Berlin Art Week, Germany. 

Art Market San Francisco, Russo Lee Gallery Booth, San Francisco, CA. 

Enter Art Foundation, Epicenter, Stockholm Art Week, Sweden. 
2017 Lost, Willner Brauerei, Berlin, Germany.
Symmetry Breaking, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR. 

Seattle Art Fair, Russo Lee Gallery Booth, Seattle, WA. 

Selfie, The Schelfhaudt Gallery, Bridgeport, CT.
 2016 Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR. 

Fiberart International 2016, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA. 

2015 Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR. 

Face It: The Face in Contemporary Art, Onsite:Brooklyn, New York, NY. 

2014 A Likeness: Works in Contemporary Portraiture, Archer Gallery, Clark College, Vancouver, WA.
I’ll Show You Mine: Contemporary Artists Explore Family Portraiture, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA.
Art Beat Exhibition: Celebrating 15 Years of Creativity on OPB, Pioneer Place, Portland, OR.
Bodies, Juried by Elizabeth A. Brown, North Seattle Community College, Seattle, WA.
The Art of Craft, Gatehouse Arts, Harlow, UK.
 2013 Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR. 

Against the Bias, Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Smith Center for Healing & the Arts, Washington, DC.
New Views, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR.
2012-2013 BAM Biennial 2012: High Fiber Diet, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA.
2012 Ladies' Choice, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA.
Part & Parcel: The Deconstruction of the Female Form in Contemporary Art, Arts Guild New Jersey, Rahway, NJ.
 2011 GULP YARN BANG! Curated by Rene Trevino, School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD..
Lost and Found: The Art of Reuse, The Peoples' Art of Portland Gallery, Portland, OR. 
2009 BENEATH THE SURFACE: Flora, Fantasy & Fable in Surface Design, Nemo Design, Portland, OR. 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 
2018 Charlotte Vannier, Unraveled, P200-205, Thames & Hudson, London, UK.
Lex Nelson, "Boise Art Museum: Jo Hamilton’s Knots in Time Features Portraits in Crochet", Boise Weekly, Jan. 
2017 Briana Miller, "'Millennial pink' meets art in 'Symmetry Breaking' exhibit at Marylhurst", The Oregonian, November 2.
Charlotte Vannier, "Ceci N'est Pas Un Pull" (This Is Not A Sweater), P200-205, Pyramid Publishing, France.
"Views Out of Yarn", Creative Extremes: The world's most amazing creative projects, P164-167, Topp Kreativ, Germany. 
2016 Richard Speer, "Jo Hamilton at the Crossroads of Flesh and Fabric', Surface Design Magazine, Summer Issue.
 2015 Elizabeth Rusch, "Two Threads", The Community Issue, American Craft Magazine, August/September.
 2014 Ellen Bakker, Textile Art Around the World (Book), P19, Netherlands.
Max Kutner, "High Wire”, Smithsonian Magazine, November.
Judy Darley, "Hooking Tactile Fine Art", Simply Crochet Magazine, United Kingdom, Issue 23.
 Dorothé Swinkels, "A wire loose, the crochet paintings of Jo Hamilton", Textiel Plus Magazine, Netherlands, Autumn Issue.
Angela Sanders, "String Theory", Portland Monthly, July.
Catherine Schickel, "Son crochet est un pinceau" (Her hook is a brush), Fait Main Magazine, France, Issue 34.

2013 Mark Jenkins, "D.C. gallery shows: 'Against the Bias'", The Washington Post, December 13.
Judy Darley, "Threads of Splendor: Crochet As Art", Simply Crochet Magazine, United Kingdom, Issue 7. 

Lee Lewis Husk, "Oregon's Creative Impact: 13 ideas that are changing lives", 1859 Magazine, March/April Issue.
Gayle Clemans, "Familiarity of fiber art rendered compelling at Bellevue Arts Museum’s Biennial", The Seattle Times, January 18. 

2012 Sigal Namir, "Knitting Me Softly", Signon Magazine, Tel Aviv, Israel, June 8.
Nilay Ornek, "İtina ve tığla portreniz yapılır", Aksam, Istanbul, Turkey, June 3. 

Daryl Brower, "The Fine Art of Crochet: Six fiber artists blur the distinction between art and craft", Vogue Knitting, May.
Andrew Farinov, "The Crocheted Art of Jo Hamilton", The Culture of Transbaikalia, Russia, April 5. 

2010 Bee Clinch, "Interview: Jo Hamilton", Inside Crochet, United Kingdom, Issue 8, June/July. 
2009 Christine Vitron, "Departures: About Faces", Interweave Crochet, Winter Issue. 

SELECTED COMMISSIONS/PRIVATE & PUBLIC COLLECTIONS 

2019 SE Foster Rd, Public Art Mural. Portland, OR.

2018 Marco Balich, Milan, Italy. 

Belinda Diad, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
2017 Michael Curry, Scappoose, OR. 
2016 Joe Sacco, Portland, OR.
Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus, Portland, OR. 

City of Seattle Portable Works Collection, Seattle, WA. 

2015 Portland Art Museum Northwest Art Collection, Portland, OR.
Peter Buck & Chloe Johnson, Portland, OR.
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 
2014 Smithsonian Magazine. Commissioned work. 

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
 2013 Printemps Haussmann, Paris, France. Commissioned site specific works. 
Holly Hudley, Houston, TX. Commissioned work. 
2012 Paddy Considine, Burton-on-Trent, UK. Commissioned work.
Sabine Sexauer, Gengenbach, Germany. Commissioned work. 
2011 Outside In, Portland, OR. Commissioned Public Art.
Robyn Williams, Portland, OR. Donation to the Our House of Portland 2011 Charity Auction.
2010 Katia Carter, Los Angeles, CA. Commissioned work. 

John & Karen Hoke, Portland, OR. Commissioned works. 

SELECTED TALKS & TEACHING

2019 Weekly Crochet Circle, Outside In, Portland, OR.

2018 Artist Talk, Timeless Textiles, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. 
Artist Talk, Collectors' Forum, Boise Museum of Art, Boise, ID.
2017 Gallery Talk, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR.
Artist Talk, Surface Design Association Conference, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR.
 2016 Lecture, Columbia Fiberarts Guild, Vancouver, WA. 

2014 Artist Talk, Contemporary QuiltArt Association, Seattle, WA. 

Gallery Talk, "Contemporary Oregon Visions" at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR.
Workshop Instructor/Lecture, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN. 

2013 Panelist: Craft Perspectives, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR. 

GRANTS & AWARDS 
2019 Career Opportunity Grant, Oregon Arts Commission, Salem, OR.

Project Grant, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland, OR.
 2018 Professional Development Grant, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland, OR.
 2014 Finalist, Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR. 

People's Choice Award, Bodies exhibition, Seattle, WA. 

Project Grant, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland, OR.
Career Opportunity Grant, Oregon Arts Commission, Salem, OR. 

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