Opening Reception:
Thursday, November 7, 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Artist Talk:
Thursday, November 14, 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Into the Spirit World brings together new and rarely exhibited paintings, weavings, and mixed media works that explore the aesthetic perspectives and artistry of Western and African traditions. Hamilton’s lush canvases incorporate figurative painting, resist-dyeing, weaving and woodcarving to illustrate west and west-central African symbolism and iconography. These rich, large-scale mixed media paintings create a conceptual and visual bridge between ancient and modern worlds. His time-intensive weaving and dyeing techniques honor Black labor and allow him to put his research into action. The resulting work is the instrument with which he shares this knowledge with the world.
Stephen Hamilton is a mixed-media artist, researcher, and arts educator living and working in Boston, MA. He is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. Student in Harvard’s AAAs Program focusing on African Studies and African History. His work has been exhibited widely in Boston and beyond including solo and collaborative exhibitions at the Medicine Wheel Spoke Gallery, The Museum of the National Center for African American Artists in Boston, and The Joan Resnikoff Gallery. For the past two years, Hamilton has worked on temporary, site-specific, large-scale mixed-media textile and sculpture installations in Boston. These include The Founder’s Project at the Bruce C. Bolling Building and Stitched Into Memory at Atlantic Wharf. Hamilton’s work is part of the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Rose Museum at Brandies University and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
Hamilton graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2009 with a focus on illustration. Thanks to a travel grant from Arts Connect International, he also studied Yoruba weaving, dyeing, and woodcarving at the Nike Centers for Art and Culture in Osogbo and Ogidi Ijumu, Nigeria, from 2015 to 2016. He was an assistant professor in the Illustration Department of Massachusetts College of Art and Design from 2016-2021.
Trustman Art Gallery hours are 10 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and 10 AM – 7 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. The Gallery is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.
The Trustman Art Gallery is located within Simmons University at 300 Fenway, 4th floor, Boston MA 02115. For more information, contact Helen Popinchalk at [email protected].
Find us on Instagram @trustman_gallery.