Brenton Hamilton
Visual Artist, Historian, Antiquarian, Foil Fencer
For over three decades, Brenton Hamilton has created a sustained body of work, largely concentrated within historic process. Especially gum bichromated forms, platinum, the embellished cyanotype, and collodion on black glass, during these decades, he has produced a unique body of work. Shaping a large catalog of embellished stories using the vocabulary of surrealism, revealing his thoughts and musings and life's upheaval.
A well known teacher often on the campus of Maine Media Workshops, he is a leading educator and historian. Brenton's work is collected and exhibited internationally and held in the permanent collections of: The Farnsworth Art Museum, The Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine and The University of New England and the Lamar Dodd Art Center's permanent collection in Georgia and recently, the Colby College Museum collection. The photographic work is represented by TILT Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ and frequently shown in Maine at The Page Gallery in Camden and also exhibits work at Maine Museum of Photographic Art, Portland, Maine. In January, 2017, The University of Maine Museum of Art, installed a mid-career retrospective of his decades of practice. His work has been supported by the Maine Arts Commission and commissioned by Maine's, Portland Museum of Art. In 2022, Hamilton began lecturing at The University of Texas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley on subjects in photography and visual culture.
In September 2020 Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, released a 25 year retrospective monograph: with an essay by Lyle Rexer.
A Blue Idyll, Cyanotypes and Dreams.
CV
Education
M.F.A. in Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, 1992
B.A. in Art and Design/Magna Cum Laude, LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia, 1990
Solo Exhibitions
2025 The Unfamiliar, Rusteberg Gallery, Brownsville, Texas
2024 Red Skies at Night, The PAGE Gallery, Camden, Maine
2023 Surrealism, L.A. Photo Curator, Curated by Lori Pond
2017 Brenton Hamilton Twenty Years, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, Maine
2015 Susan Maasch Fine Art, The Abstractions, Portland, Maine
2015 Brenton Hamilton “In a Nod to My Influences”, TILT Gallery Scottsdale, Arizona
2014 Brenton Hamilton, Susan Maasch Fine Art, Portland, Maine
2012 Relevant Histories, Addison Woolley Gallery Portland, Maine
2010 Brenton Hamilton, Susan Maasch Fine Art, Portland, Maine
2008 The Blue Poet Dreams, VOX Photographs, Portland, Maine.
2006 Botanica, IONETA Gallery, Wiscasset, Maine
2004 Night Journeys, The Hay Gallery, Portland, Maine (two person)
2001 Brenton Hamilton at Trifles, Bath, Maine
1997 Prologo, Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, Georgia
1995 Brenton Hamilton, Robert C. May Gallery, University of Kentucky
1993 A Wanderer & His Compass, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine
1992 43 Degrees-NNE, Rapid Transit Gallery, Savannah, Georgia
1992 Southern Vernacular, Masters Gallery, Savannah, Georgia
1991 Images of Maine, Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, Georgia
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Energy In Flux, Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland, Maine
2024 Silver is Magic, Ernst Haas Gallery, Maine Media Workshops, Rockport, Maine
2024 BLUE, The Tebbs Gallery, digital space, London, England
2021 Page Gallery, Poetry in Motion, Page Gallery, Camden, Maine
2021 Page Gallery, Figurative Thinking, Page Gallery, Camden, Maine
2021 Page Gallery, Materiality, Page Gallery, Camden, Maine
2021 Cove Street, Cyanotype, Cove Street Gallery, Portland, Maine
2020 Paper In Particular, Columbia College, Chicago, IL.
2020 Winter Blues, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA.
2019 The Calotype Society XXI Invitational, RB Fine Art, Milan, Italy
2019 Memento Mori, Northlight Gallery, ASU, Arizona
2018 In The Garden, Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
2016 LaGrange College, Bring it Back Home, Cochran Gallery, LaGrange, Georgia
2016 “Neurotica” United Maine Visual Artists, CTN Gallery, Portland, Maine
2016 “Rotation” Susan Maasch Fine Art, Gallery Artists, Portland, Maine
2016 Seeing the Unseen, Fernald Gallery, Belfast, Maine
2015 Magic of Light, Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, Maine
2015 ‘Gallery Artists’, Susan Maasch Fine Art, Portland, Maine
2015 Celebrating Photography in Maine, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine
2015 Picturing Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
2014 Susan Maasch Fine Art, Gallery Artists, Portland, Maine
2014 Maine Media Gallery “Hands On”, Rockport, Maine
2013 Assymetrick Arts, Rockland, Maine.
2013 Focus on Faculty, PhoPa Gallery, Portland, Maine
2013 MENTOR 40, Center of Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
2013 Rochester Museum Biennial, Rochester, N.H.
2013 “Ancient Light” Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Falmouth, Maine.
2012 Diffusion: “Enchanted” exhibition - Plates & Pixels, Oregon
2012 The Homer Studio Project, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
2012 ‘Strangers & Others’, Stephen Pace Galleries, Freyburg, Maine
2011 ‘Stable Show’, Susan Maasch Fine Art, Portland, Maine
2011 On The Road/Maison Fine Arts. TILT Gallery Phoenix, Arizona
2011 Gallery Artists, Susan Maasch Fine Art, Portland, Maine
2011 Who’s in the House ,TILT Gallery Phoenix, Arizona
2011 Out of the Blue, Art Intersection, Gilbert, AZ.
2010 Ten Years Later, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
2010 Who’s in the House, TILT Gallery Phoenix, Arizona
2010 “Capture” Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland, Maine
2010 “Going Forward Looking Back” Maine Media Workshops
2010 “Going Forward Looking Back” UMass/Dartmouth, University Art Gallery
2010 “Going Forward Looking Back” Simmons College, Trustman Art Gallery
2010 “Going Forward Looking Back” University of New England Portland, Maine.
2009 “A Pictures Worth” Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Falmouth, Maine.
2009 OBSCURA at Aarhus Gallery, Belfast, Maine.
2008 Troposphere, Hampshire House, New York, N.Y.
2007 “Natural Histories” Portland Museum of Art Portland, Maine.
2007 TILT Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona.
2007 Aarhus Gallery, Belfast, Maine.
2007 “Passing Through” Maine Art Gallery, Wiscasset Maine.
2007 Rayko Photography Center, San Francisco, California.
2006 “Blood, Sweat & Tires” Servicio Ejectivio, Brooklyn, New York
2006 Blaine House-Maine State Arts Commission, Augusta, Maine
2006 Still Life, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
2006 Underexposed, June Fitzpatrick Gallery at MCCA, Portland, Maine
2005 Art & Embassies American Ambassadors Exhibition, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
2004 The Hay Gallery, Portland, Maine
2003 Lincoln Street Gallery, Rockland, Maine
2003 Alternate Visions, Jewett Gallery, University of Maine, Augusta, Maine
2003 The JoyRide, The Middle East, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2004 Jewett Gallery, University of Maine, Augusta, Maine
2003 Maine Photographers, ICON Gallery, Brunswick, Maine
2002 50 Years, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
2000 LaGrange College Faculty Show, Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, Georgia
2000 Gallery Artists, John Stevenson Gallery, New York, New York
1999 Gallery Artists, John Stevenson Gallery, New York, New York
1998 Ernst Haas Memorial Collection Exhibit, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
1998 Love & Legends, The Platinum Gallery, New York, New York
1997 Pordonovo, Monticiano, Tuscany, Italy
1996 Pushing The Envelope, Kansas City Art Coalition, Kansas City, Missouri
1995 Tickets & Travel, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
1994 Galerie Renk, Spachineng, Germany
1985 The Annual Show, The Puck Building, New York, New York
Gallery Representation
The PAGE Gallery, Portland, Maine
Maine Museum of Photographic Art, Portland, Maine
Tilt Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
Public Collections
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
University of New England, Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, Georgia
COLBY College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine
Events/Lectures/Publications/Reviews
2017 Artist Lecture - Brenton Hamilton Twenty Years, University of Maine Museum of Art
2015 We Don’t Take Pictures - Image of the Day, November, 2015
2015 Panel Discussion: Cig Harvey, Joyce Tenneson, Brenton Hamilton, Farnsworth Art Museum
2015 Curator, Silver & Salt Exhibition, PhoPa Gallery, Portland, Maine
2015 Lecture “Dan Estabrook” University of Maine Museum of Art Bangor, Maine
2014 Light Leaked - Artists Interview, November, 2014
2013 Haystack Mountain School, Guest Artist Deer Isle, Maine
2013 Rochester Museum Biennial Catalog, Rochester, New Hampshire
2012 Review of: Relevant Histories – by: Phil Isaacson, Portland Press Herald
2012 CIRCA, Artist Installation, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
2012 Scrapped Magazine, NYC
2012 Maine Home & Design– Artist Profile, October 2012
2012 Curator; MENTOR 40, CMCA Gallery, Rockport, Maine
2012 Review: Strangers & Others – by: Nicholas Schroeder, The Portland Phoenix
2012 Plates & Pixels, Featured Artist, WA.
2012 The New Yorker – Photobooth Web Blog
2011 Canvas - Maine Home & Design- by: Britta Konau
2010 Achieving American Art Lecture – Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, Maine
2010 University of New England, 19th Century Photographers UNE Portland, Maine
2009 Monograph: The Blue Poet Dreams - Obscura Press
2009 Stone House Book Arts, University of Southern Maine, Guest Lecturer
2009 S.P.E. National Conference Dallas TX. Industry Speaker
2008 Marblehead Schools, Guest Artist Marblehead, Massachusetts.
2008 Center for Alternative Process, NY, NY.
2007 19th century Photographers Images & Syntax – Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, Maine
2007 Center for Alternative Process, NY, NY.
2006 Gann Academy, Waltham, Massachusetts-Artist-in-Residence
2006 “Underexposed,” CMCA at June Fitzpatrick Gallery-Artist’s Lecture
2005 Columbia Journal, “Featured Artist” interview
2005 Ilford Instructor Newsletter, “Interview with Brenton Hamilton,” and cover image
2004 “The Birth of Photography,” Gann Academy, Waltham, Massachusetts
2004 Art and Embassies Program, Dushambe, Tajikistan
2004 Wolf Moon Press, review of Night Journeys, March, 2004 issue
2004 Art New England, review of Night Journeys, August, 2004 issue
2003 SPE N.E. Regional Panel Speaker
2003 Alternate Visions, Jewett Gallery, University of Maine-Artist’s Lecture
2003 Open Season Miami, Art Basel/Kahn Artist Productions-Guest Artist, Miami, Florida
2003 Designers Annual, The R.E.D. Gallery, Savannah, Georgia
2000 LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia-Guest Instructor
2000 Colby College, Waterville, Maine-Guest Lecturer
1999 Kosti Rouhoma Retrospective (Printer of master work), Helsinki, Finland
Museo and Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, Maine
1998 “19th Century Photography,” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine-Featured Lecturer
1998 Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine-Ernst Haas Collection Catalog
1998 Ilford Instructor Newsletter - Feature
1997 Portland Press Herald, Holga Images “Cheap Thrills” article/interview
1997 Italian ZOOM INTERNATIONAL - Featured Artist
1994 View Camera Magazine, March issue