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Art
Craft
#crochet
#landscapes
#plastic
#portraits
#yarn
“I Crochet Portland” (2006-2009), mixed crocheted yarn, 63 x 114 inches. All images © Jo Hamilton, shared with permission
Scottish artist is a mix of yarn made from plastic waste and wool fibers. Jo HamiltonLarge-scale crochet portraits and architectural landscapes are created using dangling threads. Her knotted pieces blur the lines between art and craft traditions. They combine the two in subversive depictions of powerful women and cities marred by production. The textured works, which are not trimmed at all, reflect on interconnected issues such as unchecked capitalism, social inequality, and the urgent climate crisis.
Hamilton uses only recycled materials. They can be sourced from estates, resalers and created in studio. A few years ago, she started turning grocery bags, videotapes, and other household items into skeins of yarn-like threads—the artist shares some of this process on Instagram—as a way to reduce her impact on the environment, explaining:
We tend to think of nature as an eternal and unchanging idea, which is independent from our actual-life actions. We’ve held on tightly to these ideas during the last few decades in the throes of late capitalism and globalization, and if we don’t change our thinking, policies and behavior immediately it will be too late. I used plastic in some of my works to express my concerns about pollution and climate change.
If you’re in Portland, stop by Russo Lee Gallery to see Hamilton’s most recent works as part of her solo show Transitory TrespassThe deadline for submissions is November 27.
“Cherry Steel Above and Below” (2017), mixed crocheted yarn, 68 x 122 inches
“Shinig Mountain Eclipse.” Photo by John Clark
Left: “Masked Metamorhic.” Right: “Masked Marbled.” Photos by John Clark
“Death Star PDX” (2018), mixed crocheted yarn, 45 x 52 inches. Photo by John Clark
“Isaac Montalvo” (2008), mixed yarn, 23 x 22 inches
“Head & Neck Dietician” (2016), mixed crocheted yarn, 29 x 27 inches
“Groucho Gia” (2013), mixed crocheted yarn, 51 x 36 inches
Hamilton with a 2019 outdoor crocheted mosaic project on SE Foster Road in Portland. Photo by Kevin McConnell
Hamilton with a 2019 outdoor crocheted mosaic project on SE Foster Road in Portland. Photo by Kevin McConnell
#crochet
#landscapes
#plastic
#portraits
#yarn
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