The Sacredness of Mark Making
I am an artist. I specialise in printmaking and frottage (a fancy French word for graphite rubbing). I love to teach and be immersed in creative storytelling. The work I do explores many layers of meaning. I am also a poet!
My Story
Anne-Marie Hamilton is a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller born in Aotearoa New Zealand, carrying a proud Scottish heritage. Her creative spark was first ignited in childhood, inspired by a neighbour who was an art teacher and mentor. It was here, in those early years of drawing, observing, and learning to see the world with curiosity, that her deep love for texture and story began. This passion was further fuelled in 1993 when she won the prestigious Telecom Southland Art Awards, cementing her path as an emerging artist.
Anne-Marie spent many years sharing her skills as a secondary school art teacher, guiding rangatahi through creative projects that still grace the walls of schools today. Her teaching was rooted in the belief that art is not just something we make—it’s something we live.
After a decade of service as a paramedic, Anne-Marie returned to her creative calling and studied at the Southern Institute of Technology, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Screen Arts, majoring in Concept Art and Design. During her studies, she was recognised with several awards and has since contributed to various creative industries while developing her own practice.
Her signature medium is frottage: the ancient technique of graphite rubbing. Through this process, Anne-Marie transfers the textures of woodcuts, and built surfaces onto paper, giving visual form to the silent stories embedded in the world around us. Each work is an echo—a layered conversation between the whenua and the artist’s own memory, whakapapa, and sense of place.
Inspired by sacred geometry, printmaking, and the subtle language of patterns, Anne-Marie’s work is both meditative and intentional. Her eye for symmetry and detail, combined with her intuitive connection to land and ancestry, results in artwork that is not only beautiful but deeply meaningful.Her creative studio, Amo Artlab, is more than just a workspace. It is a living laboratory of curiosity, connection, and artistic inquiry. Here, art becomes a way of listening—of tracing the past, mapping the present, and imagining new futures.
Values
Whakapapa | Ancestral Connection
Every mark we make is part of a larger lineage. Anne-Marie honours the threads of ancestry—both New Zealand, and Scottish and connection to te ao Māori. —that inform her identity, artistry, and the stories etched into the land and sky.
Whenua | Deep Relationship with Land
Amo Artlab is grounded in relationship with nature. The whenua is not just a backdrop—it is an active collaborator. Each work begins with listening to the textures and whispers of the earth, stone, wood, and water.
Wairua | Sacred Practice
Art is a spiritual encounter. Anne-Marie’s work is a meditation, a ritual, and a way of acknowledging the sacred in the everyday. From the spiral of a fern to the imprint of a stone, she works with presence and reverence.
Storytelling | Tracing the Invisible
Every piece tells a story—sometimes whispered, sometimes bold. Whether through rubbings, prints, or patterns, Anne-Marie weaves narrative into form, giving voice to what has been hidden, forgotten, or left behind.
Integrity | Slowness, Stillness, Precision
This is not fast art. It is intentional, methodical, and intuitive. Each piece emerges over time, through a process of noticing, engaging, and letting the work speak in its own time.
Interconnection | Geometry as Universal Language
Sacred geometry runs like a thread through Anne-Marie’s practice—reminding us that we are all part of a greater pattern. Through circles, spirals, and symmetry, she seeks to reveal the deeper structures that connect us.