Sam first picked up a camera as a release. A healthy way to discharge the ever-growing angst of being forced to grow up, get a job and work will she died. In doing so, she re-discovered a long-forgotten dream world, misplaced to the monotony of domestic survival. Sam pulls inspiration from stop motion animators, building puppets and sets to bring to bring her serious, yet lighthearted dreams into reality. As a self-taught artist, using the traditional methods of trial and error, she is always evolving the procedures to which these additions get built. In creative recycling efforts, Sam has challenged herself to mostly use what she has available or what she can find second hand.
I desire to photograph the unphotographable. It is a challenge that leads me to build things, photograph things, then marry them together through digital editing.”
Sam’s work can be found scattered around Oklahoma City, popping up in the annual OVAC 12×12 fundraiser, Paseo’s Art Space shows, including, Photofest, Small Show, Members Show and the 4×4 fundraiser. Sam just completed a year long residency at the Paseo’s Arts District which culminated in a solo show debuting on July 2nd 2021. She was also one of the first artists to display work at the brand new Oklahoma Contemporary Museum in 2020.
Sam is currently occupying a shelf or two in the Plaza’s DNA Galleries and at the Literati Press book store in the Paseo and in 2019 and 2017 Sam’s two Franz images made top 40 in Natural Cannabis’s High Art contest winning a cash prize and being featured on packaging, social media and at the High Art gallery in Santa Rosa, CA.
Sam creates art to say something truthful, to share a story, and connect with strangers. Her unique vision nudges at the imagination of her viewers, sparking curiosity and with any luck, digging up a long-forgotten dream of their own.
