A senior with a double major in engineering and studio art, F. Hambelton “Ham” Sonnenfeld ’16 has always enjoyed creating projects.
In high school, Sonnenfeld was more mathematically and scientifically inclined. Although he took several art classes in high school, Sonnenfeld never considered art seriously until his junior year, when he took an accelerated open media art course instead of AP physics at the suggestion of his sculpture teacher.
Now, while he is still interested in mathematics and physics, Sonnenfeld focuses more on his art.
Unlike many interested in both engineering and physics, Sonnenfeld is not interested in architecture or being a traditional engineer. Instead, he sees art as a way to make more interesting projects.
Sophie Sheeline ’16, who worked alongside Sonnenfeld in both studio art and engineering, sees Sonnenfeld’s interest in art reflected in his work as an engineer.
“As an engineer, he’d much rather be doing a project than a problem set and loves to get his hands on things as well as sort of defining the overall vision of what he’s making,” Sheeline said. “That’s what excites him about engineering.”
At Dartmouth, Sonnenfeld has been particularly interested in creating three-dimensional sculptural art, incorporating some of the concepts and methods found in technology production.
In his drawing class, Sonnenfeld brought some of these technological concepts into play. Using shapes and contradicting patterns to simulate binary logic, Sonnenfeld created a visual discussion on digital, polarized thought processes and complexity. This is one of Sonnenfeld’s first highly conceptual projects.
Sonnenfeld often also uses his art as a way to generate self-awareness.
“It’s a tool to understand myself, my thought process and how I think about the world,” Sonnenfeld said.
Besides using art as a way to better understand his own thinking, Sonnenfeld aims to engage his audience.
One of his pieces, titled “The United Artists of Dartmouth,” is a series of six photographs, five of other students in his digital drawing class and one of himself, photographed in specific poses and then edited in Adobe Illustrator to look like superheroes, as the title suggests. The series is being displayed on the balcony on the second floor of the Black Family Visual Arts Center.
Sonnenfeld considers this piece to be one of his best. Although it was not for a class nor the focus of his work, it combined his sense of humor and several of his interests.
Although Sonnenfeld often uses humor in his art and his titles to engage his audience, he does not consider it the driving force in his work.
Sonnenfeld focuses primarily on sculpture, often using trees as a medium.
One of Sonnenfeld’s most recent pieces is “Lord Rocktree,” a 700-pound sculpture that depicts a figure with stone arms and a stump body, suspended by chains. The rocks were collected from a local stream, and much of Sonnenfeld’s inspiration for the piece came from his interest in welding, which he had recently learned in class.
Much of the inspiration for his pieces, Sonnenfeld said, come more from the materials that interest him. The concepts generally arise later in his process.
Fellow artist Maria Wade ’15 noted that this is a key marker of Sonnefeld’s work, as he lets the work evolve on its own.
“It has really evolved, but has really remained so process-based and process-driven,” Wade said.
However, Wade notes, Sonnenfeld has a very distinct style, seen both in his sculptures and in his two-dimensional works, such as “The United Artists of Dartmouth.”
“The presence of his hand in all of his work allows it to sort of maintain his vision no matter what medium he’s in,” Wade said.
Sonnenfeld said that this sculpture is supposed to represent a mythical beast, inhibited by the chains. The title, “Lord Rocktree,” is an homage to one of the characters in the children’s fantasy series “Redwall” written by Brian Jacques. Unlike the character, however, this sculpture is quite literally composed of both rock and tree.
Sonnenfeld’s senior thesis is composed of eight pieces, all of which will contain wood from the same tree. He hopes that it will serve as a culminating experience, combining the methods he has learned in his engineering classes with those he has learned in his art classes.
Although Sonnenfeld has not figured out the particular designs yet, he said that all of these pieces will have an overarching theme that alludes to both evolution and human progress. Presenting trees as a sort of champion of evolution, he compares this slow evolution to the faster evolution of human technology, as well as his own progress in his 21 years as a human and as an artist.
Outside of art, Sonnenfeld enjoys hanging out by the Connecticut River, Mink Brook and Pine Park, as he enjoys being in the wilderness and away from hectic campus life. Sonnenfeld also played on the men’s lacrosse team until his junior winter.
After Dartmouth, Sonnenfeld plans to work in art as well, although he has not yet figured out the exact details.
Quick Quotes:
Favorite band: PARTYACROSSTHESTREET
Favorite TV show: “Rick and Morty”
Favorite artist: Louise Bourgeois
One cool thing about you that most people don’t know? His goat helped him get into college. Sonnenfeld made a sculpture based on his pet goat as part of an art supplement for his college application.
