Jane Hamilton
Biography
Jane Hamilton was born in Suffolk, England. She spent the first six years of her life in West Africa, a vivid childhood experience that has had a profound and lasting effect on her work.
"I love the elegance, the sensuality and dignity that, for me, are such an integral part of native African culture. I have always been drawn to the 'feet in the dust' feel of people, the essential strength or vulnerability that exists in all of us when everything else is stripped away. I like sculptures to be uplifting, to have a sensual feel and beauty that can touch the inner emotions that we all have, but often tend to ignore."
Dance is another medium that Jane uses to express beauty, fragility, strength and emotion through forms and figures that we can all relate to.
"For me, dance is probably the ultimate form of expression, the interpretation of emotion through music and movement. I love that contradiction between seeming fragility of dancers and the great physical strength that you know underlies it. That was something that Degas understood very well."
During the last twenty years Jane has concentrated mainly on commissioned portraits. This wasn't intentional, it somehow just happened that way. I find each commission a tremendous challenge, whether the subject is young or old.
Portraiture is not just about getting a likeness, it's about trying to capture the essence of the character. Her formal training began at Falmouth School of Art, then on to the City and Guilds School of Art in London. At a later period she studied part time at the Sir John Cass School, London.
Jane's figurative work is in private collections in America, New Zealand, Canada, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Japan and England. Her work can be seen at her studio in Oxfordshire. She is a member of The Society of Portrait Sculptors.
She currently lives and works in Oxfordshire, together with her husband, Simon Allison, who is also an artist.
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