WP3 Pre-writing assignment 3

The piece “Fragment X-O” is constructed by Juan Hamilton in the year 1991. Juan Hamilton, born in Texas as John Hamilton in 1946, is a potter and is most known for his extensive work that he did with Georgia O’Keeffe. Juan’s father was a Presbyterian minister who worked throughout Latin America in schools and churches in countries such as Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia. Their family was constantly moving throughout South America, but eventually Juan ended up attending high school in New York then, after graduating, he moved to Nebraska to go to college at Hastings College where he graduated with a double major and a degree in fine arts and literature. Juan Hamilton then went on to study sculpture for a year at Claremont. but dropped out after finding a woman who he fell in love with who also happened to be a historian of Japanese and Chinese art.

Hamilton moved to Japan with her for half a year, but shortly after divorced her.

Down on his luck, Hamilton went to Ghostranch, New Mexico to work in the kitchen of the Presbyterian conference center. Ghostranch was also where he met Goergia O’Keeffe. In 1973, when O’Keeffe could no longer see well enough to paint, Juan showed up at her doorstep looking to help her. Juan ended up doing odd jobs for O’Keeffe and helping her around the house. As O’Keeffe’s eyesight got continuously worse, Juan’s help became increasingly more useful to O’Keeffe. Many people believed that Juan was only helping Georgia out for his own good, but O’Keeffe and Hamilton developed a long lasting relationship that brought about many happier days for an elderly O’Keeffe. While working with O’Keeffe, Juan became very enveloped in pottery. The two worked on pottery together until O’Keeffe died in 1986. After she died, she was cremated and Juan Hamilton scattered her ashes from Pedernal Mountain, just as O’Keeffe had requested.

Juan Hamilton’s “Fragment X-O” is made completely of cast bronze. It rests in the Sheldon Art Garden in Lincoln, Nebraska. The piece was put there in 1991. The piece does a very good job of blending in with the environment around it. By that I mean that it is not something that seems to be intensified by any means. It is somewhat of a simple piece of art and seems to characteristically match the lifestyle that Juan Hamilton lived. Juan was a very simplistic man, and was never extremely outgoing. In fact, Juan would not be known nearly as much had it not been for Georgia O’Keeffe. When googling his name, almost all I could find were biographies and stories on Georgia O’Keeffe. When walking by this sculpture, It did not grab my attention whatsoever. Only after taking a step back and realizing that I was in its presence did I realize its true beauty. Hamilton’s life seems to reflect his sculpture very well.