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bio

Samantha is a London-based artist, painting and drawing in her studio in Brixton. She returned to the UK in 1997 after receiving a BFA in Fine Art from Oregon State University (magna cum laude) and she just finished the Correspondence Course with Turps Banana Art School in June, 2023.  She has exhibited regularly in London and her work has twice been selected for the BP Portrait Award Exhibition (2016, 2018), the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize and Lynn Painter-Stainer's Award.  In 2017, she was commissioned to paint Dame Valerie Beral for Oxford University as part of their Diversity in Portraiture project.  Her work has been acquired by the Paul Henderson Collection, USA. She is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters. 

statement

My work is concerned with capturing moments; the sense of an experience generated by the slippery manipulation of oil paint and glazes over a glossy surface.  While painting, I carefully manoeuvre and slide the translucent layers of oils over a shiny white ground of enamel paint: brushing, softening, disturbing, wiping back until the image reveals itself. My focus is to try to conjure a sensation that seems almost multi-sensory, to tap into a nostalgic mood or reminiscent feeling that the viewer can instantly recognise and feel for themselves, no matter how sentimental.  I like my paintings to present a photographic sensibility, the suggestion of a forgotten snapshot from the back of a drawer or behind the sofa.

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education

2022-23 Turps Art School Correspondence Course

1992-95 BFA Fine Art Oregon State University, USA

exhibitions

2023

  • Unearthed 54 The Gallery, Mayfair, London

  • Under Their Skin One Paved Court, Richmond, London

  • Do Not Swallow Safehouses, Peckham, London

  • Small and Mighty Ladies Drawing Club

  • Contemporary British Portrait Painters The Dept Store, Brixton, London

  • 12 x 12 Show Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, USA

  • ING Discerning Eye Mall Galleries, London

2022

2021

  • Portraits in Isolation Virtual Exhibition, Old Fire station, Oxford

2020

  • Perceptions, works by the CBPP The Space, Cass Art, London

2018

  • BP Portrait Award National Portrait Gallery, London

  • Lynn Painter-Stainers' Award Mall Galleries, London

2017

  • The Full Picture : Oxford in Portraits Bodleian Libraries, Oxford

  • Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize Piano Nobile, Kings Place, London

  • Royal Society of Portrait Painters Mall Galleries, London

2016

  • BP Portrait Award National Portrait Gallery, London

  • The 248th Summer Exhibition Royal Academy of Art, London

2015

  • RBSA Portrait Prize RBSA Gallery, Birmingham

  • Society of Women Artists Mall Galleries, London

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