Annie Hamilton’s career as an artist began soon after graduating. Her early works were concerned with the environment and to a lesser extent personal issues. She explored the use of the sewing machine as a drawing tool, and used it to create interesting features in her work. Images were executed in mixed media using machine embroidery, dying and applique. Her stitches were unconventional created by manipulating the tension of the machine.
Hamilton found a meaningful source of content for her work while studying in England. The works she made there, reflected her continuous search for material and techniques that could best illustrate her ideas, not only using the embroidery, applique and dyeing techniques that she was accustomed to , but also using the computer, photographic images and papermaking. The fact of being away from home also affected her choice of materials and prompted her to work with family letters and postcards she had collected. Now she says:”The patchwork has become a metaphor for my own life. I collect letters, photographs - tokens of my environment and personal tokens - and then I find ways to integrate them into a meaningful whole. More recently I have explored working with felt and other fibres. My involvement with a variety of techniques and material reflects my continuous search for new forms of expression.” PA-S 2000