Ann Hamilton
Encyclopedia
Ann Hamilton is a contemporary American artist best known for her installations, textile art, and sculptures, but is also active in the fields of photography, printmaking, video, and video installation.
She trained in textile design at the University of Kansas
and later received an MFA
from Yale University
in sculpture
. She taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1985 to 1991 and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 1993.
In 1999, Hamilton was the American representative to the Venice Biennale
with an installation of walls embossed with Braille, which caught a red powder as it slid down from above.
Allegheny Riverfront Park
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
is one of her major commissions.
Ann Hamilton was named a 2007 Agnes Gund Foundation Fellow and awarded a $50,000 grant by United States Artists
, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.
In 2008, she won the 14th Annual Heinz Award
for Arts and Humanities.
In February 2009, Hamilton installed human carriage in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum, New York as part of the exhibition “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860–1989”. Her formal description of human carriage reads “Installation of cloth, wire, bells, books, string, pipe, pulleys, pages, cable, gravity, air, and sound,” and the Guggenheim Museum described its working thus: “Hamilton devises a mechanism that traverses the entire Guggenheim balustrade, taking the form of a white silk ‘bell carriage’ with Tibetan bells attached inside. As the cage spirals down along the balustrade, the purifying bells ring, awakening viewers. The mechanism is hoisted back up to a post at the uppermost Rotunda Level 6, where an attendant exchanges weights composed of thousands of cut-up books that counter the pulley system that propels the mechanism itself."
She trained in textile design at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
and later received an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
. She taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1985 to 1991 and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 1993.
In 1999, Hamilton was the American representative to the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
with an installation of walls embossed with Braille, which caught a red powder as it slid down from above.
Allegheny Riverfront Park
Allegheny Riverfront Park
Allegheny Riverfront Park is a small municipal park along the south bank of the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Cultural District...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
is one of her major commissions.
Ann Hamilton was named a 2007 Agnes Gund Foundation Fellow and awarded a $50,000 grant by United States Artists
United States Artists
United States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...
, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.
In 2008, she won the 14th Annual Heinz Award
Heinz Award
The Heinz Award is an award currently given annually to ten honorees by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions in the five areas of: Arts and Humanities, the Environment, the Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy...
for Arts and Humanities.
In February 2009, Hamilton installed human carriage in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum, New York as part of the exhibition “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860–1989”. Her formal description of human carriage reads “Installation of cloth, wire, bells, books, string, pipe, pulleys, pages, cable, gravity, air, and sound,” and the Guggenheim Museum described its working thus: “Hamilton devises a mechanism that traverses the entire Guggenheim balustrade, taking the form of a white silk ‘bell carriage’ with Tibetan bells attached inside. As the cage spirals down along the balustrade, the purifying bells ring, awakening viewers. The mechanism is hoisted back up to a post at the uppermost Rotunda Level 6, where an attendant exchanges weights composed of thousands of cut-up books that counter the pulley system that propels the mechanism itself."
Major works
Some of her best known installations include:- stylus (2010)
- human carriage (2009)
- voce (2006)
- phora (2005)
- corpus (2004)
- lignum (2002)
- the picture is still (2001)
- ghost... a border act (2000)
- myein (1999)
- mattering (1997)
- lineament (1994)
- tropos (1994)
- indigo blue (1991)
- privation and excesses (1989)
- still life (1988)
- The permanent installation Floor of Babble in the new Seattle Public LibrarySeattle Public LibraryThe Seattle Public Library is the public library system serving Seattle, Washington, USA. It was officially established by the city in 1890, though there had been efforts to start a Seattle library as early as 1868. There are 26 branches in the system, most of them named after the neighborhoods in...
building
External links
- Ann Hamilton's Ann Hamilton web site
- Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips from PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
series Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 (2001). - In 2006, Gregory R. Miller & Co. published Ann Hamilton: An Inventory of Objects (text by Joan Simon).
- Gund Art Foundation Fellows 2007
- United States Artists Arts Advocacy Organization.
- Article and streaming video of Ann Hamilton and her tower at the Oliver Ranch, from KQED Spark.
- Ann Hamilton at Gemini GEL, Los Angeles
- The Heinz Awards, Ann Hamilton profile
- Ann Hamilton's interview with Robert Ayers, February 2009