Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Samantha Walrod. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
After high school, I was working as a bank teller, which really wasn’t for me. I deposited cheques and opened bank accounts. I felt uninspired by the work. I loved drawing in my sketchbook, watching anime and looking at books about artists like Gustave Klimt and Henri Matisse. I guess I was planning to become a professional artist when I enrolled in first year studies at Alberta University Arts in 2004. I was going to be a graphic designer until I fell in love with painting and decided to become a fine artist. I was always sure I wanted to be an image maker, and I have always wanted to be a teacher, so the two passions have gone hand in hand. Today I work as a sessional university professor in drawing fundamentals alongside my art career.
Samantha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Samantha Walrod. I live in Edmonton with my partner, Gordon and my three year old son.
I graduated from an MFA in Painting from the University of Alberta in 2013 and I have been a represented artist at Newzones Gallery since 2008. I was introduced to the gallery through word of mouth after a professor at Alberta University of the Arts saw my graduating exhibition.
I am best known for my figurative or still life collages, which are depictions of animal/human encounters or depictions of wilting flowers. Each body of work speaks to hope, loss, decay and the passage of time. In response to the ubiquity of digital imagery, tactility is very important to my art practice. Images are incorporated with collage and digital technologies, while maintaining the exploration of paint.
I have been building my style, and craftsmanship for almost 20 years and I am proud of the body of paintings and collages I have created to this date.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I’m never bored. I’m genuinely happy that my paintings and collages have been created and brought into people’s lives. I create my works because I can’t find them anywhere else.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I want to combine my social media presence with in-person viewers. I feel like I am part of a group of contemporary painters/visual artists that are in love with the act of painting and creating objects that show their care and craftsmanship to their audience.
There is something special about seeing a contemporary painting in person, when we are so used to seeing images on our screens. I want to show brush strokes to my viewers. Sometimes, I want to share images that are larger than human scale. Some people purchase my work and live with it in their homes, while others visit my work in a public setting. For example, select paintings are currently traveling around schools and libraries around Alberta as a part of Alberta Foundation for the Arts Traveling Exhibition (TREX). TREX allows people to see my work who wouldn’t otherwise travel to a gallery. https://www.youraga.
Later this year, my painting “Red and Black Flower Clock, 48×48,” 2022″ work will be permanently installed in the Bank of Montreal Convention Centre in Calgary, and my painting ” Warm Grey and Red Radial, 96×96, 2018 ” will be installed at the Art Gallery of Alberta Collection show for the public to view.
Contact Info:
- Website: samanthawalrod.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthawalrodart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sam.walrod.1
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-walrod-27311379/