Freedom Hamlin
Metalsmith & Designer
After having a child, passion for me is: designing and creating jewelry, parenting, and how I live my life. Being happy with the end product is always nice, but the process of creating a piece of jewelry is inspiring in itself.
My daughter started coming to the shop when she was very young. Without her I never had to settle and put everthing I had into something. Patience is definitely needed, yet my impulses drive me to venture into unexpected places. Making jewelry is creating and creation is the essence of life. My daughter is the fire in my eyes and the jewelry is the fire in my hands. I hope to make people smile, cry, feel a bit teased, and somehow affect their lives.
As a metalsmith I have learned that metal is a medium that can be manipulated to do anything if you have passion for patience. Learning as an art student brought me into contact with many media, however, metal continues to fascinate. It is fluid, it is hard, it is sculptural, but also painterly. Each composition presents challenges and a desire for a creative solution. Nature continues to inspire and awe me. Putting all of this together is a process that is not done immediately, and luckily it never has to be done. My spirit is an endless well of inspiration that I continually draw from and will never stop.
I have tried hard to expose myself to a variety of artistic influences. Art has always been in my life. In High school I began doing sketches of jewelry, although we did not have a metal department. After high school I thought I was going to go to nursing school. Needless to say the first week of nursing school I was designing their t-shirts and they had no art program at all. I left. Then I took a year off, got an apartment on Casco st. My mother who was a nurse was taking care of a painter named William Thon. I met Bill and he showed me new ways of looking at things and how he used paint as his media.
This is when I knew that I had to go to Maine College of Art. After attending the Maine College of Art in Portland, I apprenticed with George Holmes for five years now. He has owned By George for 24 years and is my surrogate father/business partner/studio buddy/absolutely amazing. His designs are very lively and we work off of each others energy.
In addition to my coursework in metalsmithing and jewelry, which featured instruction by Tina Rath and Sharon Portelance, among others, I have taken an intermediate stone setting course offered by Rio Grande in Arizona. I have taken a week long intensive jewelry course with Rachel Alvarez, we were both pregnant. I have also been working with Jacob Snow a local artist whose work speaks for itself, and just recently took a casting workshop with Tim McCreight at Haystack. This classs has motivated me emotionally and I cannot wait to learn more from Tim. The most important thing is that I learn everyday because if I don’t I am not using my time wisely.
Contact Us
Our phone number
207.5944.552
Store Hours
Monday–Friday
9am to 5pm
Saturday
9am to 4pm