Patrick Earl Hammie is an interdisciplinary visual artist and educator. He specializes in portraiture and storytelling, with a keen focus on the politics of representation. His art seeks to reclaim Black agency and authorship, employing techniques such as representation, abstraction, and pastiche. Through his work, Hammie presents narratives that deepen and broaden our understanding of identity, community, and interpersonal connections.
His artwork is part of several collections, including the David C. Driskell Center, the John Michael Kohler Art Center, and the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection. He has exhibited his work internationally, with shows in Germany, India, and South Africa, and across the United States. Key venues include the California African American Museum, The Drawing Center, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Madlozi Contemporary Art, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Kunstwerk Carlshütte, Bo Bartlett Center, and the Zhou B. Art Center.
Hammie is the inaugural recipient of the Alice C. Cole ’42 Fellowship from Wellesley College and has participated as an artist-in-residence at the John Michael Kohler Art Center and Millay Arts (Millay Colony for the Arts). His work has been further supported by a variety of fellowships and grants from organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation, as well as from Midwestern Voices and Visions, the Puffin Foundation, and the Tanne Foundation. Additionally, he has received support from the states of Illinois and Connecticut, along with various private foundations.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Patrick Earl Hammie holds a BA from Coker University and an MFA from the University of Connecticut. He instructs all levels of Studio Art and has co-taught seminars across the Humanities and in Physics. Hammie is currently the James Avery Professor and Chair of Studio Art at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also serves as a inaugural Director’s Fellow in the School of Art & Design and the Department of African American Studies.