Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sam Rawls. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sam, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I’ve always wanted to pursue an artistic path. I felt that have always crossed paths with this purpose. As a child I’ve had interest in creating and playing with colors. When join the military, I signed up as combat medic, however I failed in the certification process where I was relocated as video documentation specialist. Now reflecting at that moment, I knew I’m meant to continue exploring different techniques in the creative field.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Sam Rawls (b. 1990, Brownsville, Texas) received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2016 and her Master’s in Fine Arts in 2021. Her work centers on feminism and self-love to portray the variety and uniqueness of each female figure to represent that everyone has the right to be comfortable in their skin. Rawls, along with Alexandria Canchola and Monica Lugo, make up the HER.MOSA Collective a South Texas-based muralist group that promotes sisterhood within the Latina culture. She is also the co-creator of the Mujer-Eres exhibition, which brings women artists from diverse backgrounds together to exhibit their work in the Rio Grande Valley annually in March. She has completed a residency with Truchas’s De la Casa Residency (2021). Rawls was also one of four Texas women artists invited to present at the National Museum of Women in the Arts Texas National Committee’s Spring Artist Talk (2023) at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist, is people having a connection with my artwork. Having conversations of similar themes or ones that parallels with my work. During exhibitions receptions is where people interact with my work as well as them telling me their thoughts. These interactions themselves motivates myself to keep working on theme of the journey of finding self-love.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Being persistent in social media becomes tiring at times. Having to consistently record one’s process or even the process not having the impact one might of thought of. However, I do feel that because of this persistence I have built an audience whose content is similar to mine own. When I first began this work, there were several accounts I started following that I wanted to learn their perspectives on the journey of self-love through living in bigger body. I wanted to see how themselves view their body and learn their experiences. Slowly, I received the same following and they shared their stories with me and I with mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://samrawlsart.wixsite.com/website
• Instagram: @samrawlsarts
• Facebook: Sam Rawls Arts
• Linkedin: Sam Rawls