Brenton Hamilton

Visual Artist, Historian, Antiquarian, Foil Fencer

For over 25 years Brenton Hamilton has created a sustained body of work, largely concentrated within historic process. Employing gum bichromated forms, platinum, the embellished cyanotype, and collodion on black glass, in these decades he has produced a unique body of work. A well known teacher 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 the Colby College Museum collection. The work is represented by TILT Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ and frequently shown in Maine at The Page Gallery in Camden. In January, 2017 The University of Maine Museum of Art,  installed a mid-career retrospective of his decades of practice. In 2022 Hamilton has begun lecturing at The University of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. 

In September 2020 Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, released  a 25 year retrospective monograph: 

A Blue Idyll, Cyanotypes and Dreams.



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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

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

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 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

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

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 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, Ma.

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

1997 Portland Press Herald, Holga Images “Cheap Thrills” article/interview

1997 Italian ZOOM INTERNATIONAL-Featured Artist

1994 View Camera Magazine, March issue

©Brenton Hamilton
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