A Brief Introduction
From my time during the Essere Residency (fall 2024), here’s a glimpse into my process and inspiration.
Video credit: Maria Deely.
Artist Statement
From the lens of a gardener and an artist, my work investigates the dynamics of landscape and space. The mixed-media languages of drawing, painting and printmaking speak visually about these environments where built structures merge with the curved, organic geographies of nature. Traces of humanity intersect with nature throughout. These interactions map the relationship between order and chaos in the complex system of the world in which we live.
Having moved a lot as a child, I see constructed shelters as temporary. Instead, the spaces around us, the places where nature is a part, draw me in. Nature is ever-abundant here: botanical shapes reference the varieties of native species from my home and my travels as a celebration of place. Through layered abstractions and patterns, gestural conversations of color, light, and form explore materiality and the biophilic interrelation of interior and exterior.
My abstracted contemporary landscapes expand on the vibrant interactions of color and pattern of the postmodern Pattern and Decoration Movement. Additionally, the philosophical concepts of difference and repetition (Deleuze, 1968), as repeated colors and shapes dance with one another forming varied outcomes, reflect nature’s ongoing, ever-adapting resilience. Serendipitously, the layering of translucent hues and pattern also creates the ephemeral effects of light and space. Nature provides me with an uplifting, colorful, and textured sanctuary.
Left: Entangled: Coexistence in a Complex World, two-person exhibit at Georgetown Art Center, October 11-November 15, 2024. View of Amid the Ruins, Glow Garden works and Entangled Existence, from left to right. Above: Installation view of exhibit at Link & Pin Gallery, August 2024.
Biography
Samantha Melvin (she/her) is a Texas-based artist, art educator and art advocate, who lived internationally as a child. Her research-based, multi-disciplinary artistic practice includes drawing, painting, and printmaking that focuses on the interaction between humans and nature. Exhibited nationally and internationally, Samantha’s work is included in art collections from Barcelona, Spain to Portland, Oregon. A nationally-recognized art educator, she is a contributing author to STEAM Education: An Interdisciplinary Look at Art in the Curriculum (2024). She has a M.A. in Art Education from the University of Florida (2015), and a M.F.A. in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (2023). She teaches printmaking workshops at Flatbed Press, Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Austin, TX., where she is also a community press member. Samantha is a master gardener, loves to fly fish and travel. She is fluent in French and conversant in Spanish and German.
C.V.
Education
M.F.A. in Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design, May 2023 Master of Arts in Art Education, University of Florida, May 2015 Bachelor of Arts, French, University of Michigan, May 1988
Awards
Transient Phenomena, 2023, Materials: HARD & Soft 2024, Denton, TX Best in Category (Paper). Glorious Abundance of Evening, 2023, in Project: Happiness, Downtowner Gallery, Round Rock, 3rd Place The Complex Nature of Things, 2022, in Small Works, Georgetown, TX, 3rd Place I Can Breathe Now, 2019, in Conduit, Frisco, TX Honorable Mention, Best in Show She Pulls It Together, 2019, in Nosotros, Georgetown TX 3rd Place in 2D Abstract Finding My Way, 2019, in Far Country, Taylor, TX 2nd Place in 2D Taking Flight, 2018, in Transportation, Taylor, TX 2nd Place in 2D
Solo Exhibitions
The Verdant Web, Round Rock City Hall, Chambers Gallery, September 3rd, 2024 - January 7th, 2025, Round Rock, TX The Spaces In-Between, SCAD M.F.A. in Painting, Thesis Exhibition, Cloud Tree Gallery, Austin TX, May 4-7th, 2023
Commissions
Fleeting Landscapes, March 2024-March 2025, year-long public art installation, Round Rock TX
Invitational Exhibitions
The Disappearing Prairies, ECO - Really Small Museum, TEMPO on the Trail, Austin TX Dec. 11 - Jan. 1, 2025 Members’ Show, Flatbed Gallery, Center for Contemporary Print, July 14 - August 17, 2024, Austin TX Transmissions, April 2024, an ecoartspace pop-up, Canopy Studios, Austin TX BirdSong 2023: Eve’s Picnic, McCrory-Timmerman Galleries, Taylor, TX Recalling La Romita, Flatbed Gallery, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Austin, June-August Members’ Show, Flatbed Gallery, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Austin, April-June Rendez-vous with Wax, Ross Gallery, ARTS, Fayetteville, TX, March/April Her Story/Their Story, She/They Gallery, Santa Ana CA, January (2023) Birdsong 2022: The Anthropocene, Taylor, TX Hot Wax, Cold Wax Invitational , Avery Gallery, Kerrville, TX (2016) The Buzz Stops Here Invitational, Austin Texas Wax, Austin, TX (2015) Mistakes, Special Interest Group Invitational, Murfreesboro, TN Project Loop 3.0 Exhibition, Preacher Gallery, Austin, TX Art Educator as Artist Invitational, Hammond Arts Center, Hammond, LA (2012)
Selected Juried Group Exhibits
2024 The Lamp Show III, Highland Collective, 6401 Airport Blvd. Austin, Saturday December 14th Small Works 2024, Georgetown Art Center, November - January 5th, 2025 Entangled: Coexistence in a Complex World, a two-person exhibition, Oct. 11th-Nov. 15th, Georgetown Art Center (TX) Between Natura, The PETAL Project, August 22nd - October 19th, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton TX Red Dot, September 5th - 14th, Women and Their Work, Austin TX Summer Exposure,, a three-person exhibition, August 17th - 31st, Link & Pin Art Gallery, Austin TX Women in Art 2024, February 3rd - March 22nd , Hive Gallery, Bee Caves Art Foundation, Bee Caves TX Materials: HARD & Soft 2024, February 2nd - May 4th, GDAC, Denton, TX, Postcards from Utopia, Pop-Up, January 13th, Sarasota, FL. and September 14th in Comune di Alvito, Italy
2023 NAEA 2023 Members’ Exhibition, Virtual Gallery until May 4th, 2024 Red Dot, Women and Their Work, Austin TX Project: Happiness, Downtowner Gallery, Round Rock, TX 93rd Annual Juried Artists Exhibition, San Antonio Art League & Museum
2022 Small Works, Georgetown Art Center, Georgetown, TX
2021 Verdant, Envision Arts & UNT CoLab Gallery, Denton TX Open Studios Exhibit, SCAD, online exhibit
2019 Halcyon, Continental Lofts Art Gallery, Dallas, Texas Conduit, Frisco Art Gallery, Frisco, Texas, NAEA Member Showcase, NAEA Gallery, Alexandria, VA Patterns of Influence, The Painting Center, New York City, NY Taylor Art Guild at the Annex, Round Rock, TX Taylor Art Guild Group Exhibition, Texas State University, Round Rock, TX #WOMAN, Circle Gallery, online exhibit, Maryland Federation of Art Nosotros, Georgetown Art Center, Georgetown, TX Far Country, 120Art Gallery, Taylor, TX
2018 NAEA Member Showcase, Virtual Gallery Small Works, Georgetown Art Center, Georgetown, TX
Publications
Thought Art Magazine, Issue 04, 2021, four pieces published in bi-annual art magazine
Residencies
Essere Residency, Borgo di Camporsevoli, Le Piazze, Italy (Tuscany) September 21-October 5th, 2024 Flatbed Intensive IV, a workshop/residency at La Romita, Terni, Italy (Umbria) Fall 2022
Related Experience
Instructor, Flatbed Press, Center for Contemporary Print, Austin (ongoing) Judge, Scholastic Art, 2024 Judge, Art Hop 2023, Georgetown Art Center, Georgetown, TX Guest Artist, Fresh from the Studio, Women and Their Work, April 27th, Austin, TX Artists’ Talk, Hear Their Story, She/They Gallery, Santa Ana, CA, via Zoom, January 2023 Trustee, National Art Education Foundation, (two terms) 2017-April 2023 Intern, Women and Their Work, Austin, TX March-May 2022 Intern, Flatbed Press, Center for Contemporary Print, Austin TX January-March National Art Consultant, Davis Publications, in-person/online workshops, 2016-2022 Independent Freelance Consultant in Art Education, hands-on workshops Elementary Art Educator, R.J. Richey Elementary, Burnet CISD, Burnet TX, 2008-2015 Elementary Art Educator, Hunters Creek Elementary, Spring Branch ISD, Houston TX, 2003-2007
Selected Publications: Art Education
Author, “What If,” chapter in STEAM Education: An Interdisciplinary Look at Art in the Curriculum, Hunter-Doniger and N. Walkup, Ed., March 2024, NAEA/Routledge Publishers.
Selected Awards and Grants
Texas Art Educator of the Year, 2019, Texas Art Education Association National Elementary Art Educator of the Year, 2012, National Art Education Association Outstanding Elementary Art Educator of the Year, 2009, TAEA Nickelodeon Big Green Help Grant PBS Teachers Innovation Award Robert Rauschenberg and the Lab School of Washington: Power of Art Award BCISD Elementary Educator of the Year, 2009 SBISD Elementary Educator of the Year, 2007
Languages: French, Spanish, German
With gratitude to Shana Berenzweig for the amazing photos from my exhibition in May, 2023. http://www.shanaberenzweig.com and @shanaberenzweig on IG.