Nic Hamilton is a visual artist, working in video and animation with a strong connection to music. He collaborates with record labels and electronic music producers, creating evocative pieces of visual and aural synchronicity and combining the categories of video art and music video. His videos capture experiences of natural and constructed environments.

Nic is also Director at SquintOpera Melbourne, an international creative agency specialising in imagining the future of the built environment through film, installation and illustration. Here are his first five jobs:

1. Cherry Picking
I used to pick cherries in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley and would start at 6am and finish at 3pm. It was hot, boring and hard but paid well for a 15 year old.

2. Petrol Station Attendant
Between the ages of 17 and 20 I worked at Launceston’s only 24hr petrol station wearing serving petrol and polishing the bowsers for the nightmarish couple that ran it. My best moment was filling up a red faced man’s diesel 4WD with petrol and subsequently having to get under the car and drain it while being threatened with a bashing.

3. Foundry Assistant
My Dad ran a commercial foundry fabricating large bronze and aluminium artworks. The work was particularly hot and and dirty. Breaking the massive sand moulds apart after a pour to see the result was always exciting. Then came the clean up, grinding and finishing. Having an insight into the huge amounts of labour and technique behind a cast metal artwork was influential and instilled in me the value of craftsmanship and technical rigour. Perhaps the most boring part of the whole process is when it ends up anaesthetised in a gallery.

4. Architect
I worked as graduate architect for a few years after a 5-year degree, but quickly realised I would have absolutely no say in how anything worked or looked until I was either 50 or practising for myself. As a mild control freak with a disdain of being told what to do this profession didn’t sit well with me. On the plus side, I am now fluent in understanding the language that architects deploy.

5. 3D Artist
I taught myself 3D software and worked freelance to make club flyers, grant presentations for artists, various bad logos and design images for architects. I was working blind at this stage and learning from print books before the internet tutorial explosion. I still love learning new technologies and techniques.

More: Website | Vimeo | Twitter

//////

We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.

Ikon is an internationally acclaimed contemporary art venue situated in central Birmingham. Housed in the neo-gothic Oozells Street School, it is an educational charity and works to encourage public engagement with contemporary art through exhibiting new work in a context of debate and participation.

The gallery programme features artists from around the world. A variety of media is represented, including sound, film, mixed media, photography, painting, sculpture and installation.

Blind Spot magazine, Issue eight (1996), Art direction by Tony Arefin. Courtesy Blind Spot.

Ikon’s off-site programme develops dynamic relationships between art, artists and audiences outside the gallery. Projects vary enormously in scale, duration and location, challenging expectations of where art can be seen and by whom. Education is at the heart of Ikon’s activities, stimulating public interest in and an understanding of contemporary visual art.

Bomb magazine (Winter 1996), Art direction by Tony Arefin. Designed by Miranda Dempster.

Through a variety of talks, tours, workshops and seminars, the Learning Team aim to build a meaningful relationship with Ikon’s audience that enables visitors to engage with, discuss and reflect on contemporary art.

Yael Bartana: And Europe Will Be Stunned, Zamach (Assassination) (2011) Commissioned by Artangel. Production Still by Marcin Kalinski.

Ikon Gallery have the following upcoming exhibitions from 12 September – 4 November: a retrospective of the work of Tony Arefin, who was a graphic designer prominent during the YBA period of the 1990s, and the trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned, by Israeli artist Yael Bartana. Additionally, Ann Veronica Janssens returns to Ikon with her video work Oscar (2009), a portrait of the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer at the age of 102.

Yael Bartana: And Europe Will Be Stunned, Zamach (Assassination) (2011) Commissioned by Artangel. Production Still by Marcin Kalinski.

Ikon Gallery can be found at 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS.

Find out more:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

//////

From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Browse through more of our Featured Venues.
Contact us to talk about a feature on your venue.

—

I work in a film and animation studio in Brixton, South London called Factory Fifteen. I have always  been interested in animation from a young age, and take my inspirations from comics, manga and sci fi books. After studying a Masters degree in Engineering, and a second Masters in architecture, I founded Factory Fifteen with fellow graduates from the Bartlett School of Architecture. I am in the process of developing as a Director/Animator to build up to doing features and longer forms of films.

Where I live on-line? Mainly google!! either the image search or gmail.  I watch a lot of vimeo, and follow blogs like DEZEEN, and BLDG BLOG.

//////////

‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.