About

BIO

Andrew LaFarge Hamill is a Brooklyn-based artist and garden designer whose work explores the poetics of functional objects and inquires into the relationship between nature and culture. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz’s MFA program in Sculpture and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Hamill has exhibited at venues including Socrates Sculpture Park, the Katonah Museum of Art, and Gallery 456. His work has been featured in exhibitions across the United States and internationally. He currently serves as Chief Horticulturalist at The Can Factory in Brooklyn and is a member of the Skowhegan Council.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I begin by understanding a material’s functional role before exploring its aesthetic and conceptual potential. My process draws from my parallel practice as a garden designer and is rooted in direct experimentation. I repurpose common objects —plastic plant containers, water bottles, wire mesh, green foam, distressed cardboard, volcanic stone— to turn the remnants of past function into speculative fictions. 

Through these discarded and synthetic materials, I investigate the fragility and flux of the landscape, the violence of extraction and pollution, and the possibility of artificial ecosystems. I’m interested in the collision of meaning that occurs when a utilitarian object takes on symbolic form, helping us to see common materials differently. Each piece emerges from an illogical logic of metaphor, existing at the threshold between a past in which its parts were ordinary and a present where they coalesce into a charged amalgamation. Like makeshift poems, these works invite viewers to reconsider their relationship to the natural world, challenging the cultural categories that distance us from it and reflecting our connections and responsibilities to something larger than ourselves.

EDUCATION

2014     Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME

2013     MFA, Sculpture, State University of New York at New Paltz

2009     MBA, Fordham University, New York, NY

2005     BA, Anthropology, Bates College, Lewiston, ME,  Outstanding Thesis Award and International Honors Program 

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

2014     Nominee for Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship in Sculpture

2014     Prairie Center of the Arts Residency, Peoria, IL

2013     Summer Intensive, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

2013     Nominee for International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture

2008     Sculpture Prize, Art Students’ League Student Concourse, New York, NY

2008     Hewlett Fellowship, The Wilderness Society, San Francisco, CA

EXHIBITIONS and commissions

2019-present     Garden Design and Stone Sculpture for 3 Private Residences, NJ

2017     Skowhegan Performs, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Juried by Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

2017     Vestigial Future, Gallery 456, Manhattan, NY; Curator: Bo Chun Hsiao 

2017      Press Pause, Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY; Curator: Shannon Stratton

2016     The Others, 56 Bogart St. Pop-Up Show, Brooklyn, NY; Curators: Baseera Khan, Jonatah Manno  

2016     Skowhegan Performs, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Juried by Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 

2015     Line Describing a Cone: Tri-State Juired Exhibition, Katonah Museum of Art, NY; Juror: Eva Respini

2015     Governors Island Art Fair, Governors Island, NY ; Jurors: Nicole Laemmle, Jack Robinson, Antony Zito

2015     Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, NY; Curator: Richard Timperio

2014     Luminous Hudson Valley, Unframed Artists Gallery, New Paltz, NY; Curator: Michele Riddell

2013     Objectifications, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, NY; Curator: Daniel Belasco

     Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, NY; Curator: Richard Timperio

     Petroleum Paradox: National Juried Exhibition, Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA; Juror: Eleanor Heartney

     Women in Charge, Soho 20 Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY; Fata Morgana, FAB Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

     Regional Annual Juried Show, Arts Society of Kingston, Kingston, NY; Juror: Christie Scheele

     Filament, Catalyst Gallery, Beacon, NY; Curator: Emily Puthoff

     Abiquiu Chamber Music Festival Gala, Abiquiu, NM; Juror: Madeline Williamson

2012     Backlash, Soho 20 Gallery, New York, NY

     Wish You Were Here, AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

     The Coaster Project, Transcultural Exchange, Toronto; Curator: Mary Sherman

     Bang The Drum Environmental Art, Union Station Great Hall, Hartford, CT; Juror: Patty Hickson

     Project PROject, Chashama Gallery, New York, NY; Juror: Jonathan Goodman

     Threshold, The Shirt Factory, Kingston, NY; Curator: Kevin Djewski

2011     Chess–Adjustable Objects, Medialia Gallery, New York, NY; Curator: Mashiko Nakashima

     Re-Use, Blowing Sands Gallery, Seattle, WA; Curator: Bray Hayden

     Re-Use, Smith and Vallee Gallery, Edison, WA; Curator: Berit Ness

     Re-Use, Allied Arts Gallery, Bellingham, WA; Curator: Katy Borden

2011     Sculpture for Manan Shukla, Seattle, WA

2010     Public outdoor sculpture for Abiquiu Chamber Music Festival, Abiquiu, NM

2010     Outdoor sculpture for Kate Webb Architecture, Princeton, NJ

2009     Movable Objects, Medialia Gallery, New York, NY; Curator: Mashiko Nakashima

2008     The Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, Art Students’ League, New York, NY

2006     Exhibiting, Livingston Center for Art and Culture, Livingston, MT

Teaching experience

2015 - 2018     Adjunct Instructor, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, Sculpture 1

2014     Adjunct Faculty, State University of New York at New Paltz, Introduction to Studio Art, fall

2013     Instructor of Record, State University of New York at New Paltz, Introduction to Studio Art, fall

     Instructor of Record, State University of New York at New Paltz, Introduction to Sculpture, spring

     Teaching Assistant, State University of New York at New Paltz, Art Seminar

2012     Instructor of Record, State University of New York at New Paltz,  Introduction to Sculpture, fall

     Teaching Assistant, State University of New York at New Paltz, Art Seminar

     Adjunct, State University of New York at New Paltz, Introduction to Sculpture and Basic Sculpture, summer

     Intern to Teaching, State University of New York at New Paltz, Basic Sculpture: 3D, spring

2011     Intern to Teaching, State University of New York at New Paltz, Design Form: 3D, fall

2006     ESL Instructor, Brazilian Immigrant Center, Allston, MA

2005     Teacher and Trip Leader, Putney Student Travel, Putney, VT,  

     ESL Instructor, Lewiston Middle School, Lewiston, ME

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2017                      Sinovision English Channel, Vestigial Future, http://en.sinovision.net/vestigial-future-at-gallery-456/

2012                      Petroleum Paradox Exhibition Catalogue, Denise Bibro Gallery, New York, NY

2011                       Lark Magazine     http://www.larkmagazine.org/2011/05/nw-reuse-art-highlights.html

2011                       Santa Fean Magazine     http://dylanlomon.com/santafean.pdf

LECTURES

2016                       Rutgers-Camden Faculty Lecture, 3rd Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 

2014                       Visiting Artist Lecture, Material Dialogues class, State University of New York at New Paltz

Other Professional Experience

2017-Present                       Member, Skowhegan Council 

2023-Present                       Chief Horticulturalist, The Can Factory, Brooklyn, NY

2019-Present                       Garden Designer, Natural Connections, Brooklyn, NY

2005-Present                       Partner, Cherry Grove Farm, Princeton, NJ