artist statement and experience
Statement:
The silent language of facial features and body language has a universal charm that I have explored in my latest sculpture series. Through the manipulation of features in their proportion, asymmetry, repetition or even notable absence, elements such as hands, legs, lips, eyebrows and the nose help create prominent and distinctive characters that one may associate with the particular thoughts or eccentricities of people we all know. Though most of my artwork begins its life through clay, many of my sculptures have gone on to be reborn in casts of bronze, brass, aluminum and resin which add another layer to the personality of my pieces. While elements such as a mischievous half smile and a daring glare feature prominently in my sculptures, my ceramics work is founded upon organic shapes and texturized surfaces where my glazing technique is truly allowed to take center stage.
Experience:
Born in Venezuela, Adriana Sambrano de Hamilton is a self-taught sculptor and ceramicist in the sense that she has created her own imagery and mostly has done her art the way she wanted to. Adriana’s work is heavily influenced by her professional background as biologist and the values learned from her strong Latino American roots, her experiences living in Singapore and her love for Scotland.
To gain the technical confidence needed to move from dreaming into creation in 1995 she studied with the Venezuelan ceramicist Candido Millan at Escuela Artes del Fuego. Over the years she has also taken advantage of training on glazing and firing with the potter Alison Robinson in Scotland, whom has inherits the luster’s glaze techniques perfected by Margaret Clinton. Since 2011, as Singapore-based artist, she has found the perfect environment to accelerate her technical development as sculptor with the awarded sculpture artist Yeo Chee Kion and ceramicist artist Nelson Lim Sang Choon at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Also at the Ceramic Studio of Tanjong Pagar Community Centre she has found an excellent opportunity for training in wheel-throwing techniques with resident lecturers Pang Hoise Ong, Lee Boon Choon and Johnny Lee. Currently, she is part of the group of resident artists who work at Jalan Bahar Clay Studios with an interesting community outreach, maintenance and education program about one of the last Dragon Kilns in Singapore.
Exhibitions:
Awaken the Dragon Kiln. Collective Exhibition at the Gallery of Jalan Bahar Clay Studios. 15th-21st January 2013.
Celebrating Ceramics. CHASING RAINBOWS | WORK OF CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH LUSTRE POTTERS. 11th October -2nd November 2014
Contemporary Ceramics- France in Singapore 2015. Collective Exhibition at the Gallery of Jalan Bahar Clay Studios. April-June 2015.