Fiona Hamilton

Fiona Hamilton is a multi-disciplinary printmaker and artist based in Bristol. Her work explores the ecological sublime and an appreciation of the majesty of nature. She uses detailed intaglio etching, drypoint, lithography, and chine collé to draw the viewer into an ethereal landscape that has an impact on our sense of place in relation to the natural world.

Fiona has a printmaking MA from UWE, Bristol and is the owner of printmaking business Soma Gallery which she opened in 2004, a couple of years after graduating from a Graphic Fine Art degree from Canterbury. Soma Gallery was a physical business until 2017, when Fiona moved it online so she could concentrate on her own practice. Soma Gallery turns 20 in June 2024, thus she has a number of plans to mark the occasion.

During the 13 years of running Soma Gallery as a physical space, Fiona curated several exhibitions a year, and commissioned and worked with hundreds of artists, designers, and makers. In 2012 and 2013 she took Soma Gallery to Somerset House for Pick Me Up – Graphic Art Fair. She was also an early adopter of e-commerce and sold work online from 2005. A move to larger premises in 2010 meant that workshops, book launches, and other events could be held including a jewellery workshop and book launch by Tatty Devine, Amelia’s Magazine launch and talk, Lionheart Magazine quiz, Peski Studio screen printing workshop, and many more. It even had a small print studio!

“My goal when I set up Soma was to showcase and sell the amazing artwork being created by artists, designers and illustrators, and at that time [2004] the work wasn’t really being showcased. Before social media and before every artist had a website, it was hard to find really interesting, different artwork. Online there were blogs and offline there were magazines. Shops and galleries weren’t really representing these artists on a large scale either. They did exist, but far fewer than now, and mostly in London. So there was a hole, and that’s where Soma came in!”

In January 2023, Fiona completed her MA which culminated with an exhibition at Paintworks, Bristol. Her MA, alongside her vast printmaking knowledge from her practice and Soma Gallery, enabled her to become a master printmaker and she is highly skilled in a wide range of printmaking processes including screenprint, etching, letterpress, and lithography.

Fiona is a member of Spike Print Studio in Bristol where she is also an occasional tutor and gives professional practice talks. She sells artwork through a number of galleries and shops in the UK including Frank in Whitstable, Seed in Frome, and Cambridge Contemporary Art. She has exhibited her work in fairs and open exhibitions including Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Bainbridge Open, and Wells Art Contemporary.

Her works take inspiration from books and literature. For example, an ongoing series of wood engravings features characters from the stories of Aesops Fables. Her current body of work is based on the book by Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree. This book details Simard’s discovery of the ectomycorrhizal fungal network under the forest floor, the ‘wood-wide-web’ connecting individual trees, protecting seedlings from infection, and delivering nitrogen which would be otherwise inaccessible to trees. The removal of trees in urban environments and deforestation has a severe effect on biodiversity of mycorrhizal fungi. Replanting trees is not enough to restore forest ecosystems: mycorrhizal fungi and microbial communities need to be restored as well. Botanist Simard has spent years working on this theory, discovering what it means for forests, the climate, and the wider Anthropocene. This theory offers the potential for positive change through knowledge.

This discovery of ‘The Mother Tree’ theory is a positive message of connectivity, of education and new knowledge. But it is undermined by the fact that woodlands and forests worldwide are under threat, and the implications for the environment. These mature trees are huge carbon capture sinks, crucial for maintaining the climate.

Fiona’s intention for this body of work is to evoke the concept of the sublime and make the viewer consider their place in relation to the natural world, simultaneously highlighting the importance of mature mother trees in healthy eco-systems. The use of dark colours and warm tones, along with layering in etching, give an ethereal and occasionally a slightly unnerving sense, highlighting the importance of these ecosystems. Use of chine collé with Japanese tissues provides a glowing effect, along with the use of earth tones and metallic pigments to enhance and to add depth.

Moving forward, Fiona plans to continue using books for inspiration. Two that she has recently read and plan to make future work about include: Underland by Robert Macfarlane, an epic journey underground with essential messages about our environment; and Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, a book about fungi which has been essential to her investigations into the mycorrhizal fungal network.

@fionahprints
www.fiona-hamilton.co.uk

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