Best known as a visual artist, Ian Hamilton studied electrical trades and electrical engineering in Brisbane and Mount Isa before attending the SA School of Art 1970 - 1974. He was awarded an Australia Council Living Artist Grant, 1975 and was Artist in Residence at Griffith University in 1976. He was a freelance artist 1977 - 1983.
In 1983 he published an outline of his performance art piece The Ceremony of the Golden Bowerbird - Playground for Paranoids.
He worked in arts and community development in local government (1983 -1995) which kindled his interest in the way communities function and led him to explore the politics of remote country towns. He left local government work to research Heart of the Country: Rural Leaders Talk About Their Australia (Wakefield Press, 1996)
From 1996 -2001 he was Arts Manager for Mildura Rural City Council and Director of the Mildura Arts Centre, and following this he has worked as a freelance visual artist and writer. In 2003 he was guest editor for a special edition of Artlink looking at the Brisbane art scene.
