Dr. Fredessa Hamilton - Full Circles: From Phone Wire to Art - Clinic 1A & 1D Galleries

Biography of Dr. Fredessa Hamilton

I have had five different careers, with almost all revolving around Communication. I have extensive experience in teaching Communication and Telecommunications courses at colleges in North Carolina and Maryland, along with positions in program management, technology training, and adult basic education. Highlights of my career include working at National Public Radio (NPR), and at the now-defunct Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), where I received the first digital satellite phone call from the South Pole. Ironically, I used to work on telecommunications renovation projects, and encountered the very same materials I use for my artwork.

Along with my work experience converting copper wire installations into fiber optic operations, I have also been a public radio announcer, playing music, writing and reading news, and other programming. In my retirement, I have continued making wire art, and hope to demonstrate and display my artwork at schools and other locations. I can discuss the role of telephone wire in our past, present, and future regional telecommunications landscape, and highlight unique ways to recycle building materials into art.

I am a proud graduate of Duke University (class of 1977), and have earned a Master’s degree in Telecommunications from Ohio University. My doctoral dissertation in Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media (CRDM) from NC State University focused on how low-literate adults use new communication technologies.

Since I was 8 years old, I have been making baskets, wall art, Christmas ornaments, dream catchers, and other pieces from discarded telephone wire cable. Each piece I create uses recycled (discarded) plastic-covered copper telephone wire. The wire comes in 25 pairs of color combinations, and the wire was designed to last 100 years, as will my artwork. What excites me about this material are the numerous ways I can combine colors, which allow me to make unique art pieces of different sizes and designs. Every piece is different, and the sizes and color schemes are rarely the same. Most importantly, using this wire for baskets and other artwork is a great way to recycle discarded copper wire, keeping it out of landfills, and reducing the need to continue to mine copper for telecommunications.