DEBORAH HAMON

In "Desert Bouquet” I was thinking of the beautiful displays of life you can often find in harsh, unforgiving landscapes. Metaphorically, the idea of looking for beauty and hope and joy during hard times. It can be offered to you in a myriad of ways if your eyes and heart are open. Small bright pops of hope ready to explode outward if you allow. Nature constantly reminds us.

“Ascension" was the first piece I made in quarantine. I had travelled to Patagonia in early March, right before everything changed. I was blissfully unplugged on the O-Trek, which was the inspiration for this piece, before finding out that they were closing Torres Del Paine Park and foreigners should leave the country as soon as possible. Needless to say it was a scramble to get home with everyone trying to do the same. I’ve tried to incorporate a number of ideas in this piece including ascending a pass, wild weather for which the region is known, gorgeous sunrise and sunset colors, anticipating the unknown but trying to live in the present, and trying to find calm in chaos.

The title “Ascension" references religious paintings from art history, and for me, Nature is very much my religion. Ultimately this painting is about trying to bring the beauty and freedom and spiritual energy I felt from my whole experience of the place, keep it alive inside of me, and try to share it with others. Something needed now more than ever during the pandemic and other difficulties we are experiencing.

Hamon was born in Australia to a Guernsey-born father and a Mississippi-born mother. This eclectic mix perhaps instilled a love of travel in her from an early age. Hamon left Australia to attend university in California, receiving her BFA in 1990. She had her own graphic design business for 8 years in San Francisco before returning to graduate school to pursue fine art, receiving her MFA from the University of California, Davis in 2002, where she also had the opportunity to be Wayne Thiebaud’s teaching assistant. From 2002-04 she was an Affiliate Artist at the Headlands Center For The Arts in Sausalito, CA. Hamon currently lives and works in Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hamon has shown her work at numerous museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including Frozen Earth: Images from the Arctic Circle, at The Noyes Museum of Art in New Jersey. Her work has been published widely including Photo District News and New American Paintings. She has won many awards including a West Prize Acquisitions Award and was selected as one of Photo District News’ choice of New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. One of her photographs was on view in Tel Aviv, Israel for 5 years as part of the Art in Embassies program. Her work can be found in numerous collections including the Crocker Art Museum and West Collection.