(1950 - 2014) Russell Hamilton's ideas always began as sketches, drawings, pastels or monotypes and became paintings only after multiple variations. Originally from Springfield, Missouri, Hamilton relocated to New Mexico in 1976. He began to move from abstraction into representational art and launched a career as a master printmaker at Tamarind Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Artist Statement: I’ve been picky about papers for a very long time. From the crayon drawings under glass on my grandmother’s kitchen table through a B.F.A. in printmaking and drawing, paper has been the foundation of my creative process. As a printer and papermaker I handled thousands of sheets of fine paper and paper speaks to me. Paper Trail, October 2010*