Melanie Hamilton

Melanie Hamilton
This is a photo of my family at Sea Lion Caves near Florence, OR, taken the fall of 2017, after my family’s initial move to Eugene. I am the central figure, surrounded by my three sons, my daughter, and my husband.

Degree: BFA in Sculpture

Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2021

I’m From: Twin Falls, ID

Why I Came to the UO and How I Chose My Major
After years of managing a household, developing and implementing primary education for four young kids, I realized that my choice to leave school to do those things was unsatisfying. I wanted to be a mother who was educated, I wanted to be a human who had engaged in contemporary discourse about things I was interested in and beyond. After a family coastal camping trip to Newport, my husband and I began building a dream that would get our family to Oregon. The dream for education and a new home converged at the University of Oregon. The research-based approach to art in the College of Design was as much a draw as the output. Indeed, this approach is very grounding, and one of my favorite elements of the school. Today, in my seventh term, it is the individual instructors that have made the College of Design such a pleasure to be a part of. In particular, individuals who have taught in their specialties while also creating space for belonging as part of their class structure, has made my time here memorable.

My parents did not graduate from college and my grandparents did not earn degrees. Attending a university was not an opportunity my parents discussed with me. My sister and I are the only degree holders within our nuclear family, and consist of a small percentage of degree-earner’s within our extended family. As a child, I was laughed at when discussing dreams about art school and becoming an artist. However, I am an artist! When I first arrived at the UO, I thought I would study painting. However, taking fundamental design classes and making 3D objects invited me to work with more materials. Choosing sculpture as my focus was about trusting myself as much as it was about following the dream of a title like ‘artist’. I love that sculpture allows everything I see to be my medium!

Unique Qualities I Bring to My Studies
I was raised very conservatively, began providing care for others at a very young age, married young, and had four children in quick succession – all before I was twenty-six. I homeschooled my children for six years, teaching them reading and arithmetic alongside art history, poetry, and storytelling. I earned an AA in Visual Arts and worked in graphic design as a freelancer from 2015-2017. Our move to Oregon in 2017, was on the tail end of a huge, fundamental change to our lives, beliefs, modes of thinking, being, and interacting as we embraced new narratives about life, histories, politics, and social interaction.

My Influential Professors
My sculpture professor, Tannaz Farsi, has done an incredible job at presenting sculpture as a field of research, which has allowed me to see how I can engage in further research, investigation, and output through sculpture. Her preparations for her classes are unmatched and in-depth. The work I made for her class resulted in my seeking a BFA position with a focus on sculpture.

Marissa Lee Benedict has also helped to facilitate a spirit of freedom amongst the hard lines of assignments and academia, really imparting the importance of doing my own work and taking it seriously.

My Greatest Learning Experience at UO
My greatest learning experience at UO is the ongoing work required to read academic research, which has been overwhelming and gratifying. It has challenged my thinking and forced me to grow. This information has also provided clarity regarding my place in the world, what kind of work  warrants being made, and deeper empathy. This isn’t a single experience, rather it is the particular models and structure for learning I really appreciate.

After Graduation
I was raised by an entrepreneur, and I have the same exploratory and questioning spirit. I will continue to make work about relevant topics, do research, learn new mediums and techniques, and collaborate with fellow artists. I hope also to teach, run workshops, and nurture a space that facilitates individual exploration into artistic practices on the fringes of entry points into the art world. My greatest hopes involve self-managed days, sales of work and classes, heavy research-based art production, family, friendship, and growth.

Your Gift
This scholarship allows me to buy necessities that cannot be met on one income, to buy materials to produce work, and to reduce loan amounts. On another scale, scholarships mean belief and encouragement—belief in the work I am doing, that it is meaningful and important in some way. Scholarships are encouragement, as it comes from individuals who have walked this path, have met financial success, and then responded by facilitating such an outcome for others.

Receiving this scholarship is a great honor. My deepest thanks goes to Noma Hanlon for creating it. I’d love to know more about how her work began, developed, grew, and where it is now. I’d love to know about her own experience as a student, whether scholarships helped her through her studies, and what else she does to give back. I’d love to know about the other students she has supported, what kind of family she grew up in, what her views on childbearing were/are, how she thinks about care/nurture, and how she connects to art practices and materials to make work. It’s such a lovely gesture to help someone financially, and Noma Hanlon’s support is personally inspiring. Thank you!