Pratt Tribune
Ian Hampton Art Gallery and Studio features work of Pratt graduate
By John Huxman Freelance reporter
Forwarded a very kind article from the Pratt Tribune.
Pratt has a relatively new art studio and gallery on main street. Located on the second floor of the building that also contains Hampton and Hampton Accounting and Market 54, Ian Hampton maintains an apartment along with an art studio and gallery. Ian Hampton, a native of Pratt, received his degree in art from DigiPen Institute of Technology in Washington.
He then lived and worked in Washington for the next ten years. He moved back to Pratt during the COVID pandemic. He had already been working remotely for a computer game developer in Seattle even before the pandemic. There was no reason for him to continue paying the high rents for housing in the Seattle area, so he moved back home. Hampton works remotely in user experience design for this employer, but he has also started the art studio and gallery in his spare time.
Hampton’s training at DigiPen started with traditional media such as painting and drawing before moving on to digital painting and 3D modeling. Merely teaching how to use digital modeling software would have been of limited value since software is continuously changing.
“They wanted us to have a good foundation with basic building blocks so that once you actually got into a studio you weren’t just limited to whatever software was available at the time,” he said. “You had the foundation so that you could use whatever software was going to be standard; you can just pick it up and start using it.”
Since graduating from Pratt High School, Hampton has not had much opportunity to work in any traditional medium; all of his game development work is done digitally. Hampton returned to painting in order to maintain that skill set, because he appreciates its unique beauty, and also because it gives him a break from staring at a screen all day. Ian paints in oil and in gouache. He enjoys doing landscapes and has also begun painting more animals and portraits.
The space that Ian Hampton’s gallery occupies was formerly one of Stan Reimer’s photography studios. The room that houses the gallery has large windows that let in a great deal of natural light and showcases the pictures to good effect.
“I paint a lot in the evening or at night, so I don’t always get to use the light, but I do get to use it every once in a while,” Hampton said.
The entire floor had been unused for a time and part of it had once been the KWSK Radio station. Nine months of reconstruction were necessary to prepare the space for its present use. The construction was carried out during covid with the gallery opening in 2020.
In addition to his own paintings, Ian also sells prints by other artists from Mark Maggiori to Thomas Flouharty. All of these works are signed limited additions. Many are also large and vibrant such that they can only be properly appreciated when viewed in person.
“Seeing that in person versus seeing it on your phone is completely different,” he said. “It is not the impact you’re going to have from flipping through Instagram or seeing something on a website.”
The paintings in the gallery have high quality frames and museum quality glass.
“That prevents any sunlight from coming in and yellowing any of the images. And those frames are solid,” Hampton said.
Most of the traffic that the gallery has gotten so far has come from Pratt’s art walks. Hampton is also hoping to partner with the Vernon Filley Art Museum. He would like to have his works available in their gift shop and would also like to rotate works in his gallery with works in theirs. He is only at the beginning of making these arrangements.
Hampton said he looks forward to being married in June to his fiancé Kathryn, which will doubtless bring many changes regarding the studio and his living arrangements.
Hampton’s hope is not only for the success of his own studio, but also that Pratt would become known as a center for art.
For those interested, Hampton maintains a website at www.ianhamptonart.com and his galley can be viewed by appointment.