Marla Hamilton Is Getting to Know Her New Community

New Anderson Artists Guild member Marla Hamilton isn’t an artist herself, but her appreciation for the arts runs deep. She especially enjoys works using glass, fabric, and mixed media. “I enjoy seeing what people are doing; it’s fascinating,” she said.

She grew up in Philadelphia and Charlotte but has moved around a lot for both her father’s and husband’s job relocations, including New Hampshire, Alabama, and South Carolina. She eventually settled in Lexington, S.C.

She majored in education at West Chester University in Philadelphia and taught secondary school in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, then part time at a private university while raising her children. Her subject was English and communications, and she liked the variety of a job where “every day was a little bit different.” In Lexington School District 1, she coordinated the early childhood program, called The Parenting Center, working with parents to get their preschoolers ready for school entry. She enjoyed the diversity of a population that spoke multiple languages, including Mandarin, and getting to understand the different cultures of the families.

After retiring, she and her husband moved to the Upstate, where Hamilton is getting to know her new community, joining the Anderson Artists Guild and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. She also continues to travel. Favorite trips have ranged from the Outer Banks to Salzburg and Vienna, Austria.

“I’m enjoying the time to do what I want to do,” she said.