Baby Fox. Michelle Hamilton, artist
In November, Black Mountain Center for the Arts was going to present Visions Unveiled, a solo exhibition of alcohol ink works by Michelle Hamilton. Hamilton had set aside several works for the show on a high shelf in her River Arts District studio at Modern Muse.
When flooding from Hurricane Helene destroyed her studio and nearly her entire body of work, those pieces were some of the only ones she was able to salvage.
“I have to be hopeful or I couldn’t go on,” she says. “Right now, I’m grateful to have room in my garage at my house for a makeshift studio with plenty of light, but I don’t have the community I used to have in the RAD. I need that community. As soon as Modern Muse finds a space and is up and running again, I will be there.”
Hamilton calls alcohol inks “a wonderful and at times frustrating but rewarding medium. Alcohol ink has a free-flowing, unpredictable nature that mirrors the spontaneity and wildness of animals. The medium itself can inspire fluid, organic shapes that lend themselves well to animal forms.”
She uses handmade paper to collage the works together and finishes details with acrylic paint. Some works are coated with art resin for added depth. “I hope this show inspires and reminds us to enjoy our connection to nature as it is projected through my whimsical style.”
Visions Unveiled is being rescheduled for next year. Hamilton, who has lived in Black Mountain for more than 20 years, is pressing on with her pre-storm plan to move to Tennessee to be closer to her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. “We raised our daughter, opened our business, made great friends and got involved in our community in Black Mountain,” she says. “I’m feeling hopeful for the future. All of the displaced artists will overcome and it will come back bigger and better.”
Learn more art MichelleHamiltonArt.com or call 828.337.2373. Donate to the rebuild efforts for Modern Muse Gallery at ModernMuseGallery.com.
