Marie-Claire Hamon

Artist Marie-Claire Hamon teaches our short course Painting for Beginners and is one of the tutors on our Online Life Drawing Sessions. Marie-Claire also mentors across our Year Long courses.

Rather than a topographical representation of landscape, my work taps into the strata of history, ecology, cultural lore, and experience that form our human connection to a place. However, humans are not defined identities at the centre of the landscapes I paint. When humans do appear in my paintings, they are undefined by race, culture, gender, or time; they exist as archetypal representations of the human spirit.

My paintings are built through a deliberately slow process of layering. There is a very literal stage of ‘watching paint dry’; it is this stage that allows me to read the work and marvel at the strange synchronicities that have arisen in my paintings. Through this process of layering, I have introduced elements that suggest mandalas, vestiges of ancient forms of religion, and reminiscences of esoteric signage. I work with the unknown, the accidental, and an unfixed sense of identity. The element of discovery and surprise forms an essential part of my practice as it proliferates new possibilities and directions.

Marie-Claire Hamon’s work has been exhibited throughout the UK, including the Royal College Hunting Prize, The Discerning Eye, The Wells Contemporary, Brighton University and The Centre for European Culture in London. She mentors across the Mentoring, Defining Practice, Studio Practice and Professional Landscape courses, she also tutors the Contemporary Painting Course and the Painting for Beginners course.