By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — Surviving a chaotic, unconventional childhood — including hastily organized transoceanic trips on German freighters in the dark of night and a Draconian education in the hands of Catholic nuns — Jack Hamrick emerged to find some level of catharsis in every one of his artistic creations.
Hamrick is one of the featured artists during the week of July 14-20, in the Artists in Residence series at Edgewood Cottage, hosted by the Blowing Rock Historical Society.
The Hamrick family’s first uprooting was packing up in the middle of the night and boarding a German freighter bound for Australia, leaving everything behind without explanation. As a seven-year-old, he knew nothing of the whys and wherefores. For him, it was all a great adventure filled with wonder and excitement. Years later, he realized the stimulation overload on the mind of a child had a direct impact on his art.
“We were the only passengers on the freighter, so the crew sort of adopted us. Most of them had families of their own,” explained Hamrick in a July 15 interview with Blowing Rock News.
Our parents were thrilled we had something to do on the voyage.
Hamrick said he had the run of the ship, with Leonardo di Caprio-like instincts long before the movie Titanic.
“I was unsupervised. I liked to go out on the bow and feel the spray and wind in my face. There were flying fish and whales breaching the surface. It was magnificent. The first mate also gave me some instruction on reading navigational charts and maps,” he said, eyes flickering with the recollection. “My brain was, of course, just forming as a child. I was learning to tolerate a high degree of stimulation and autonomy. Certainly that helped shape my personality.”
En route to their eventual destination on the outskirts of Brisbane, the freighter stopped in Suva, in the Fiji Islands, either to offload or take on provisions, or perhaps to refuel. He wasn’t sure of the purpose for the stop but the imagery of the moment has stayed with him.
“This was in the 1960s, so Suva was still somewhat primitive. It wasn’t yet the developed tourist attraction that it is today. I remember the children about my age, running around naked and swimming in the ocean, diving for coins that the ship’s crew would toss into the crystal clear water of the harbor, where you could see all the way to the bottom. I so much wanted to join those onyx-colored other kids in swimming, but that didn’t happen,” Hamrick said. “I was allowed to visit the village, but not to swim.
“On the ship, the crew built us a swimming pool of sorts out of a wooden shipping container, which they lined with something and filled with sea water. With the movement of the ship, we sloshed around in there, but it was 12 feet deep, so it was literally sink or swim. You had to be able to hold your breath and float, and keep swimming! There was no supervision, no lifeguards,” he said. “Our parents were thrilled that we had something to do on the voyage.”
The nuns ruled by fear and intimidation — and physical extremes, at times.
As Hamrick recalled the journey, he reported that they landed in Brisbane after being processed through an immigrant hostel.
“It was reminiscent of how European immigrants came to America through Ellis Island, in New York, in the late 1800s and early 1900s,” Hamrick pointed out. “From the first day, we were cast into situations which, for a child, is full of awe and wonder, exploration and stimulation. In Australia, we had a large, marginally functional family unit where supervision was minimal. And it was a harsh village environment with other immigrants.
In the small Italian community where they settled, near Brisbane, the only available education was a convent school run by very strict Catholic nuns.
“Everybody went to that school or it was no school at all,” said Hamrick. “The model they were using was a sort of Irish education invention. I don’t want to embellish this, but the atmosphere at the school was nothing short of Draconian. The nuns ruled by fear and intimidation, and physical extremes at times.
“My first day in school, I was called to the head mistress’ office, Sister Mary Barabus. I thought she was going go greet me and welcome me to the school. Instead, she took this black leather strap from her side and whacked me across the back of my knees, sending me to the floor. ‘Are you an unruly boy?’ she asked. ‘God doesn’t like unruly boys.'”
Hamrick recalled that although the treatment was sometimes harsh, the academic studies were exceptional.
“We were being very well educated,” he said. “From a scholastic standpoint, the rigor was far superior to what we would get in a U.S. public school.”
But the drama of the Hamrick siblings’ experiences at the school had a longer-term impact.
“Like survivors often do, one of my sisters wanted closure,” said Hamrick. “In her middle ages, she reached out to the Catholic hierarchy. She wanted to get off her chest what her experiences were and she wanted to know if there were other victims. Physical and emotional abuse were the order of the day and that was simply their disciplinary model.
The chaotic upbringing was a character builder for us. We each developed a sense of autonomy and being independent.
“All in all, it is an interesting story and it certainly had reverberations, like childhoods do,” said Hamrick. “My father bristled at authority, so we very well could have been running from something. Were we running away from the IRS? From the police? The answers died with my parents several years ago, but for a seven year old boy there was a sense of awe, wonder and adventure, a heightened sense of excitement that sometimes careened into emotional extremes when you take into account the freighter voyage and the harsh education.
“In so many ways, that chaotic upbringing was a character-builder for myself, three brothers and two sisters. We all responded in different ways, of course, but each of us developed a sense of autonomy, being independent. We take care of business and don’t rely on anybody else,” said Hamrick.
Those extremes now manifest themselves in Hamrick’s art, particularly in his use of color. Sometimes subtle but often vivid, the colors scream out of the canvas with purpose.
Hamrick pointed to a large painting on display, with softly colored mountains and hillside meadows in the background. He noted what appeared to be Impressionistic skyscrapers sticking out in the foreground, some with vivid hues.
“There are a number of small towns in Western North Carolina,” noted Hamrick, simply, “where the natural scenery is losing its innocence because of the encroachment of urban landscapes.”
For another, with splashes of vivid color representing flowers among the tangled green vines, Hamrick reflected on a former Blowing Rock neighbor who was a master gardener.
“That garden was beautiful, stunning, and so well maintained,” he recalled. “They moved away and the garden remains, but here the weeds are beginning to take over with neglect.”
The featured artists are on site at Edgewood Cottage, with their exhibitions, for the entire week. The Cottage is open daily for visitors to see their work and interact with the artists from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Many, if not most of the pieces on display are for sale.
