She is known for her social realism murals created while working with the Public Works of Art Project, Federal Art Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture during the Great Depression era in the United States and for her decorative style paintings of the American desert.

[1][2] Born in Oakland, California, she was exposed to art by her father, Charles Hamlin, who took her on sketching trips as a small child.

Hamlin won a scholarship to the California School of Fine Arts (1922–1924) and later attended the Teachers College at Columbia University from 1929 until 1932.

[10] Hamlin completed another project for the WPA as she painted two large murals for the Mission High School (San Francisco).

[12] She married the artist Frank Knight Dale[13][better source needed] who did not live long and she returned to San Francisco in 1953,[3] where she died in 1992.