Maker Profiles: Olivia Hamilton of Oh Doctor! Designs

Olivia Hamilton of Oh Doctor! Designs recently participated in ADC's Special Maker Marketplace. As a talented maker who suffers from chronic illness, Olivia was asked three quick-fire questions about their practice.

How did you begin your creative practice?

Both of my parents are creative, and I've always been busy drawing and making. Some of my earliest memories are of me, my brother and sister running barefoot through my dad's stained glass studio, and playing with the off-cuts from his stained glass windows on the light table, or getting tangled in thread while my mum tried to teach me to crochet. I stopped making art while I pursued other interests like travel, study, and work, but I still felt the call, taking up ceramics classes in the evenings. Eventually, I became so hooked that I did a Diploma in Ceramics at Gymea TAFE. I graduated from TAFE in 2018 and have been making pots and sculptures ever since.

How does your chronic illness effect your making?

There's no way to sugar coat this: chronic illness affects every area of my life. It's a part of me that I've had to learn to live with. My body can't keep up with the pace that other people set. I make slowly, with lots of stops and starts and time to rest. Sometimes this means I get so far into a clay project and then need time out from the studio, leaving the piece to dry out too much to keep working on it. Every finished piece is a battle hard-one. I've started making smaller work as a way around this issue.

I also find myself making work that speaks, in some way, to my embodied experience. Chronically ill bodies are bodies that demand attention. Even when I'm not thinking about what the finished piece will look like, I'll be making while also hyper-aware of an ache in my arms or back or hips, or feeling dizzy and short of breath, or whatever other symptom has decided to be my companion for the day. So I try to find ways to express that in my work - to make the experience of invisible illness visible, even in an abstract way.

Where do you see your creative practice leading you in the future?

For now I'm focusing on getting my brand, Oh, Doctor! Designs, up and running. I had a very soft launch, with room for rest built into my business plan, so the next few months are about getting my name out there and doing a few more events like the ADC Makers Market. At the same time, I have some larger sculptural pieces in mind that I want to make - but again, these will happen very slowly, as my body, and the clay, allow. But I'm stubborn. I know eventually I'll get some of these ideas out into the world, hopefully with an exhibition in the next year or two. I want to keep making art that speaks to my experiences, in whatever form my body will allow.

Thanks Olivia!

To learn more about Olivia's work, visit their website below:

Oh Doctor! Designs