You could rightly call Mo Hamilton a Prince George artist, but like few others she is also attached to various other towns. Her sense of place is what anchors her solo art show The 100 Houses Project: Reflections On Our Times.
"I chose the symbol of the house because home represents our sense of self and is an expression of our personal identity," said Hamilton. "To come home is to have a refuge from all outward expectations and to be home is where we can be our truest selves."
The show will open on Jan. 25 at Island Mountain Arts in Wells. A statement issued by the curatorial staff at IMA explained that the exhibition was "influenced by notions of displacement, resulting from frequent moves (by Hamilton) to and from numerous Canadian communities over the last decade."
Hamilton is adept at many different genres of visual art (she is also a musician, just to add another creative layer). For this exhibition, she has created 100 linocut prints.
"The exhibition presents the completion of her long-term art process of 100 works," said the IMA staff. "This large collection of works explores the theme of what home means, and tells a story of how humans adapt to changes, whether they are by displacement from political upheaval, forest fires, climate change, or economics."
"We all have this need for deep belonging but sometimes events beyond our control disrupt our security and sense of place," Hamilton said. "The 100 Houses project was inspired by a dream that I had that I was living in a house on a bridge. My family and I were moving to the town of Terrace in Northern B.C. from Castlegar in the Kootenay Mountain Region the next day so I thought the house was very symbolic of how I was neither here nor there yet. I was very much in that in-between place."
IMA has been developing a relationship with Hamilton for years despite the gallery being off the beaten path. Wells is only about two hours away, to the east of Quesnel, but Hamilton has taken it upon herself to cover that little distance frequently, perhaps because the idea of travel is more comfortable for her than most others, after all the moving of homes she's done.
"Island Mountain Arts was excited to invite Mo to exhibit this show in the gallery as she has had a strong connection with both the town and Island Mountain Arts for over a decade," said the IMA staff. "Mo explains that she finds the place a great space for creative renewal and exploration. (She) employs fabric, collage, and printmaking to weave personal narratives to communicate an inward vision into her mixed-media paintings and found object assemblages."
"I think it is important as an artist to listen to your intuition and follow the ideas in your head and heart, to trust, to engage, create, and explore them," said Hamilton, explaining her process.
Despite Hamilton's well established abilities to bring almost any object or mental image into play, she has taken a minimalist turn with this exhibition. The linocut medium is sparse and simplistic in its power to convey a message. It leans heavily on black and white.
"As an artist, I obtain my inspiration from the external world around me, but reveal in my paintings the internal world of my imagination," she said. "By reducing my images to their essential elements, I can bring simplicity, myth, and the primal, to my explorations of limits and boundaries with the intent of moving beyond them."
She will speak more in depth about these new works and how she made them at the opening reception at IMA at 7 p.m. on Jan. 25.
The 100 Houses Project: Reflections On Our Times will hang at IMA until March 10.
For more information contact the IMA office at 1-800-442-2787, or head to their website: support-imarts.com.
FOR PHOTOS: WE HAVE IMAGES IN THE SYSTEM OF MO HAMILTON, AND THIS LINK TAKES YOU TO SOME OF THE HOUSES SHE IS DEPICTING IN THE UPCOMING SHOW
https://mohamilton.net/2016/12/30/the-100-houses-project/
