PEOPLE OF INTEREST
tainment business, she earned a master’s degree in directing
and theatrical production from the Kemerovo State University
of Culture and Arts.
“During my university years, occasionally, I had to do
stage and costume designs,” she says. “I also taught world
history of arts and culture to high school students. After
receiving my master’s degree, I worked as a manager of an
advertising agency, and later accepted a director of audience
position with a state theater.”
In 2006, the former Olga Astapova married an American
named Robert Hamilton on a cruise ship. Shortly afterward,
she left her hometown in Russia, which was in a metropolitan
area that offered an abundance of culture, and the newlyweds
88
moved to a farm in Okeechobee. Hamilton was immediately
taken by the variety of wildlife that she saw. With a
camera in hand, she began to study the beauty of nature up
close through a lens.
“I’m on the porch, and I say, ‘Robert, there are parrots on
the tree!’ And he said, ‘No, that’s a Painted Bunting,’” she
says. “I don’t recall seeing a squirrel in my Siberian city. So,
here are all these critters, and of course, I wanted to take their
pictures — huge dragonflies, grasshoppers, spiders — and
that’s when I got interested in macro photography.”
Hamilton and her husband moved to Stuart in 2012 and
began working in event photography. It was during this time
that the couple attended an event at Osceola 32 Gallery run
by Rachel Goldberg and Michael Gordon Penn. Hamilton
remembers being instantly drawn to an amazing group of international
artists. As she spent more time at the gallery, she
became exposed to art in different mediums and styles.
“The more I was around them, it pushed me to create more
of my digital art,” she recalls. “At the same time, I would look
at the paintings, and I thought, ‘I need to pick up a brush.’ But
I was so hesitant because it was such a long time ago.”
Robert Hamilton gave his wife the push that she needed
when he brought home a 50-bottle acrylic paint set that he
happened to find on the side of the road. Not wasting any
time, she soon began her journey back into the world of
painting and drawing.
Today, Hamilton enjoys working with acrylics, soft pastels,
oil pastels, watercolors, India ink, colored pencils and mixed
media as a combination of different mediums and techniques.
She also enjoys creating digital art.
Hamilton creates a golden sunset at the iconic House of Refuge.
OLGA HAMILTON
Age: 49
Occupation: Photographer with
a paint brush
Lives in: Stuart
Family: Husband,
Robert Hamilton
Education: Master’s degree in
directing and theatrical production
from the Kemerovo State
OLGA HAMILTON
People
University of Culture and Arts
Hobbies: “I love knitting, sewing, gardening, and traveling.”
Who inspires you: “Poets, writers, and my fellow artists. In
Martin County, we have a wonderful group of artists, the
Martin Artisans Guild.”
Something most people don’t know about you: “Deep
inside me is an introvert who enjoys Charles Baudelaire’s
poetry and Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings.”
People
People
OLGA HAMILTON
The Eternal Ballad of the Sea by Hamilton was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s
story The White Ship.
“My artworks are diverse in medium, color, techniques,
styles and subject matter,” she says. “They range from
whimsical to philosophical and from abstract to more realistic
representations.”
Hamilton’s passion for art, history, and her community led
her and her husband to acquire a building that once housed
Stuart’s first community church built in the 1800s. She says
that she fell in love with the building, which the couple has
named the 1895 Church of Art. They plan to turn it into an art
gallery and a venue to host exhibits and weddings.
During her upbringing, the Soviet Union’s tight controls
could not squelch Olga Hamilton’s drive toward selfexpression,
which she so freely celebrates today in a local,
historical setting.
“Art helps me to distract myself from everything,” she
says. “It helps me to unwind and reboot my brain. It’s metime;
it’s me and my piece of art in whatever I am doing.”