Suzanne Hamilton | The Unremarkable Landscape

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Suzanne Hamilton, "UVic Library, Twilight," 2023

mixed media on paper, 30x36 in. Courtesy of the Artist.

Suzanne Hamilton is a walker, who strides effortlessly along Victoria’s city streets. You won’t see her driving a car or riding a bike, but you might spot her paused on a sidewalk, cell phone in hand. She is patiently waiting for the absence of people and vehicles, in order to collect visual information about the ordinary landscapes of her everyday journeys. These “unremarkable” urban landscapes often include objects like power boxes, lamp posts and bike racks. “I am interested in how these constructed objects interact with the natural,” she says. “It appears to be an uneasy relationship.”

Hamilton uses a series of photos and her memory to focus on viewpoints of interest. She then explores the nuances of the scene in a drawing. Interesting elements emerge, as she changes the scale and rearranges the composition. Dramatic tonal variations in monochromatic shades, from light to dark, highlight certain features. For example, we catch the graceful silouhette of a lamp post against the sky. Or view the odd juxtaposition of a “no-parking” sign adjacent to a bed of flowers. “My drawings are a way to honour the landscapes I pass by everyday,” she says, “which are always changing.”

​Hamilton uses a combination of charcoal, chalk, conté and pastel on Stonehenge paper for her drawings. She prefers the vellum surface and high fibre content of this 100% cotton, archival paper. She starts by rubbing a stick of charcoal over the entire sheet of paper. This creates a warm and consistent mid-tone for building up a variety of atmospheric hues. She notes the paper’s smooth surface enhances the multi-layered textures and tones in her drawings. “Also,” she adds, “Stonehenge is a strong paper that accepts my vigorous mark making with ease.”

Hamilton received a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Vancouver Island School of Art in 2021. Her graduating exhibition consisted of an installation of 100, six-inch square drawings arranged in a grid pattern on the wall. While an undergrad, Hamilton took an oil painting class with Neil McClelland and shared her artistic process on social media. Trish Shwart, a well-respected member of Victoria’s artist community, connected with Hamilton. “I was intrigued by Suzanne’s labours and unselfconscious sharing of her evolving journey,” says Shwart. The two artists met in real time and formed a friendship.

​Shwart finds The Unremarkable Landscape series to be quite remarkable.

“These larger-scale drawings are successful,” she says, “with skillful compositions featuring expressive and confident mark-making.” Tonal values are used to engage the viewer and move their eyes around the pictorial space, Shwart notes. This space exists as a complete universe, a fascinating new world with unique and energetic life-forces. “Suzanne is pointing out the moments of magic that surrounds us - if only we’d stop and look,” says Shwart.

Dark magic lurks in View to Juan de Fuca. The image combines an energetic sky of scuttling clouds and swaying branches with an inert rectangular box and circular metal structure. What an scenic photographer would edit out, Hamilton draws to our attention.The circular structure rivets our attention with its white lid and vertical support post. The infinity of wind-whipped water and turbulent sky is cemented into a stark reality by the box and metal structure.

​In Summer Skies on Tyee, the artist confirms her dexterity at creating depth and volume with textural layering. The “herringbone” cloud patterns are alive with a combination of expressive lines and cross-hatching. Dots and dashes of white chalk enunciate and enliven the swirling cloud banks. The ascending clouds in the cropped sky are dramatic and could read as smoke or a conflagration. As wildfires burn out of control in our changing climate, this image feeds our subconscious fears about danger.

​While working full time, Hamilton spent several semesters at VISA earning her Diploma. She credits the skills of the excellent instructors at school for her ongoing success. Hamilton is excited about her first solo show and looks forward to her Artist’s Talk on July 9 @ 1:30. “The drawings have given me a mode of expression and ways to work out ideas,” she says. Her ideas were conceived and expanded while completing her Research Project at VISA. Hamilton relishes the opportunity to communicate what she has learned from studying art history and her artist colleagues.

“I have discovered that one city block can contain an entire universe,” she says, “if you spend the time and pay attention.”

-Kate Cino

Artist’s Talk, Sunday July 9 @ 1:30