An Ohio artist will receive a National Medal of Arts from President Obama next week at the White House. Ann Hamilton, a professor at The Ohio State University, will be joined by novelist Stephen King, actress Sally Field, and 8 other artists. Ideastream’s Mark Urycki reports.
Ann Hamilton was born in Lima 59 years ago and has created art in cities around the world. Seattle awarded her its largest ever commission for an artwork last year– One million dollars, and neither she nor the city knew what she would make. Hamilton says her installation pieces are her own reactions to that space and she has to experience the room with all of her senses before she can feel what the work will be.
Hamilton works in many media but she trained first in textile design. In New York City’s Park Avenue Armory, she created an enormous curtain of white sheets that dances as people play on swings attached by cables. Her works can also be as small as a book that’s been sliced or blurred.
In awarding her one of the eleven National Medal of Arts, the White House wrote, “her work demonstrates the importance of experiencing the arts first-hand in the digital age.” Ann Hamilton’s Medal is awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.