Frederick Hammersley Artist Residency

HAMMERSLEY FREDERICK

ARTIST RESIDENCY

Frederick Hammersley (1919-2009) spent most of his formative years, time as a student, and early career in California, where he garnered a reputation as an important abstract painter in the west coast scene and began a prominent career in geometric hard-edge painting in the late 1950s.

In 1949-50, he taught himself lithography and produced an innovative group of prints through which he systematically explored the properties and interactions of color, line, value, and texture on various papers and even fabric. In 1968, Hammersley moved to Albuquerque and accepted a teaching appointment at the University of New Mexico. During this time, he was introduced to Art1, a newly developed computer program that enabled artists to create artworks using a mainframe machine and line printer. The computer drawings he made, which he sometimes called prints, are some of the earliest instances of computer art. Hammersley resigned from teaching in 1971 but continued to live and work in Albuquerque, receiving a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973 and NEA grants in 1975 and 1977. He continued to paint, draw, and make prints, including a number of lithographs at Tamarind, until his death in 2009.

In 2016, the Frederick Hammersley Foundation initiated the Frederick Hammersley Artist Residency and the Frederick Hammersley Apprentice Printer programs at Tamarind as part of the foundation’s mission to expand the public’s awareness of Hammersley’s art and life, promote the value of art in the life of the community, and support the advancement of artists’ education and creative processes through funding for research and scholarships for art students and other practitioners of the arts.

Opposite: Artist Frederick Hammersley, 2004 Photograph by Dan Barsotti Courtesy Frederick Hammersley Foundation.

Four peach-hued bare feet, the movements of which are superimposed, make their way through the gray ground of five different compositions. Each planted foot casts an oval shadow, and the angled calves, tipped toes, and lifted heels indicate a slight bend in the knees, a shifting and shuffling of weight happening just outside our view. We glimpse the bottom hem of olive green pants, merely above the ankles, a fabric checkered by dark lines. The scene is at once active and quiet, familiar but truncated.