We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Wildflowa . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.

Samantha , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I am currently in the midst of sharing my most meaningful artistic project to date. In April 2023 I launched my “Opening of the HeART Chakra” solo exhibition at Normandy Park City Hall. This collection has a total of 37 individual pieces, most of which were created during the months of February and March 2023.

The concept for this collection was birthed from surrendering to heartbreak and embodying all emotions that come with grief/ loss (of self and other). In August of 2022 I walked away from my three year relationship, my heart no longer recognizing the man I survived the entire pandemic with. As my heart broke, I looked around and noticed that much of the Collective was also experiencing this raw, loss/ heart break, mourning what was, “pre-pandemic”, while slowly adapting to this “post-pandemic” way of life.
This Collection truly started by me forcing myself into my Magenta Era — rather than mourning with the color blue, I forced myself to be uncomfortable and primarily use Reds and Pinks.

As I revisit the different stages of grief, loss, heartbreak and ultimately rebirth that I’ve experienced throughout the creation process of this Collection, I cannot deny that moving through my own Inner Child work – getting to know and love my inner child once more – was the bedrock for this collection.

The Heart Chakra is usually represented by the color green, but I chose to use magenta instead because magenta is symbolic for universal love and I really wanted to portray the Collective heart break and rebirth, rather than individual.

Upon finishing this intense, heart centered collection: I feel renewed.
I have learned that the iron bars we line our hearts with, in survival mode, do nothing for protecting us from outside forces – but rather create a cage, binding our true selves deep within, hidden from the world. I have learned by surrendering to the pain – to heartbreak – to grief – this is truly how we let the light into the darkest parts of our consciousness. I have learned once we break, and let those pieces be seen and allowed room to express themselves, only then are we able to alchemize the entered light and shape it into divine protection in the form of discernment and love for self

For many years my heart was bound with iron.
Today I stand in full clarity and absolute surrender — Heart Chakra Open to the World

I hope this collection inspires viewers to open their hearts to new possibilities, outlooks and perspectives…. Hard times truly are some of our greatest blessings.

When met with pain, we get to choose whether we become inspired – or imprisoned.

The choice is ours… Always.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Samantha Wildflowa. Artist. Photographer. Visionary

My name is Samantha Wildflowa. No, Wildflowa is not my “real” last name, but it is my chosen last name. Wildflowa is a tribute to my late friend Katelyn L Flowers who transitioned a month before her 19th birthday. The Oxford definition for “Wildflower” is: a flower of an uncultivated variety or a flower growing freely without human intervention, which is a beautiful ode to my own existence. A free and passionate flower who continues to grow and shine no matter what kinds of adversity she is met with.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou.

I am 27 years old and I share a birthday with Kurt Cobain. I was born to create in Seattle, Washington. I have been drawn to the arts since I was a child. Growing up my parents always encouraged creative expression – whether that was through visual art (painting/drawing), performance arts, photography or church choir.

Growing up, money was tight, so to limit the amount of printer paper my sister and I used while creating, my mom would tell us “there’s no such thing as a mistake, only a new creation”. This lesson has stayed with me my entire life, allowing me to expand and stretch my artistic style, through the use of technique and mediums, in every direction – never afraid to “mess up” but rather creating for the pure sake of outpouring something new.

As a child, when I would get upset that my art wasn’t meeting the incredibly high standards my mind’s eye had set for a drawing, my dad would tell me “let your hand do the work. Allow your hand to guide your pencil where it wants to go, don’t overthink it”. I believe this was my dad teaching me at the age of seven how to be a channel for intuitive art.

Both of these life lessons have shaped my artistic style and journey immensely. These are the foundational pieces of why I am able to create so boldly from a space of raw expressionism x intuitive art.

I grew up in a traditional Italian household, Catholic Mass every Sunday and Catholic School from K-8th grade. God was a focal point in my adolescence. Even though my beliefs have transformed greatly since my youth, my spirituality and closeness to Spirit is still a prominent aspect in my daily life and a vital component in all of my art forms.

In college I studied Philosophy; I am an incredibly deep thinker. As a child, growing up with an overactive, abstract mind I developed a difficulty in expressing myself verbally. I found that creating visual art allowed me to express feelings and emotions that I was unable to express using words.

When I am creating, I fall into trance and let my hand take over – most times I have no idea what I am creating until the work is complete.

I have no formal art school training. Though my parents highly encouraged artistic expression, their old school ways did not believe in art as a career.
I am completely self taught, and incredibly driven. I find artistic inspiration in thrifted art books, a vast genre of music and the beauty of the Pacific NorthWest. Even though I have been creating visual art since I was a child, I have only been publicly sharing my art for the past year and a half.

For a long time I was too scared to share my art publicly, I was terrified of being judged for the way my art looked and felt. In high school I often heard that my art made people feel uncomfortable. As an adult, I was afraid people would think it was too weird, too emotional.

In January of 2022 I decided to conquer my fear and become incredibly disciplined with my creative practice. I would create art and post it on my Instagram (@SamanthaWildflowa) every single day. In doing so, I cultivated the most beautiful garden of soulful individuals. I can’t thank them enough for joining me on my artistic journey.

I am a Multidisciplinary Artist who specializes in Abstract Expressionism, Maximalism, and Intuitive Art.
At my core I am an energy reader. I am able to translate the unseen into visual art by the use of color and texture.

I describe my artistic style as Abstract Expressionism, working with mixed media, though I do believe my artistic style transcends barriers into Intuitive Art, Experimental Art, and Spiritual Art. I understand that my style is so unique and ‘new-age’ that there is not yet a specific genre that best describes my work. I am proud to be a pioneer within the Post Covid Art Era.

I enjoy using mixed media. I feel like there is something primal, and raw, in the use of multiple mediums at once. Experimenting on canvas with how the different mediums interact with one another; sometimes I feel like a mad scientist.

By choice of colors, marks, and textures I am able to display extreme emotions and sensations that are not easily transcribed through words alone. My mediums of choice include but are not limited to: acrylic paint, watercolor paint, oil paint, oil pastel, spray paint, charcoal, colored pencil, plant matter/ organic material, elemental mediums like fire and salt water, textiles, mirror pieces, collage, photography, etc. I prefer to use multiple mediums at once and experiment with mixing and layering different additives. I enjoy pushing myself outside of every artistic comfort zone.

I love wandering the hardware store for new, unexpected materials to play with.

As a tribute to the women who came before me, I sometimes sew items onto paintings, like buttons, pieces of painted watercolor paper, and fabrics. I have heard that textile art has always been considered a woman’s work, and in a way I find that powerful to tap into and bring forward in the now.

I often say that my art is “for the future” – for future generations to study and learn from, a glimpse into raw expressionism from this Post Covid Art Era.

I am a creative channel for Spirit to move through. Often I do not know what I am creating or why I am creating it, until someone expresses to me, with tears in their eyes, how my painting has moved them and the symbolism/ downloads that they received from viewing my art. My art activates the parts of you that you have forgotten. It is truly an honor to offer collective healing in the form of visual art to the world.

I recently started offering Watercolor Aura Portraits. I create these using watercolor paint on 6″ x 4.5″ watercolor paper. All I ask is that the individual sends me their favorite self portrait/ selfie. Auras change, evolve, grow and dissipate. When someone sends me a portrait, I will translate the aura that they hold within the exact photo sent, so it may not be the same aura the person is currently emanating. Aura Portraits are a “snapshot” into a person’s energetic field during the time the photo was taken. This is why I ask the individual to send me their favorite photo of themselves, because when a person is in love with themselves in the moment they are emanating the aura of their highest self.

While creating Watercolor Aura Portraits, I have observed that much of the Collective is energetically stagnant. I believe this is due to lack of physical movement and exercise. This is currently something I have been sharing with my following for the past year and a half. I believe if everyone prioritized daily movement, lymphatic release through sweat, we could change the world – starting with ourselves from within.

My vision in this life, as an artist, is to fully embody the alchemist archetype – to be able to come face to face with the fire that is raw, sacred emotion and then be able to translate the codes and lessons into beauty so that others may consume the knowledge without having to experience the intensity of the flame.

I wish to inspire other creatives to listen to their intuition when creating and to push themselves out of every creative box that society tries to put on them.

As we continue to step into this Post Covid Art Era, we see old paradigms fall within the contemporary art world. As art degrees hold less value, raw creativity takes center stage. 

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The difficulty of moving through Resistance. Whether you are a painter, a photographer, a bakery shop owner, an author, a swim coach, a repair shop owner, a news reporter, etc, Resistance affects us all the same.

I truly believe that everyone is called in some way to create in their lifetime – however that looks for each individual is vast and incredibly different. Creation comes in many forms, not only artistically. To the small business owner it’s cultivating and creating their products or services. To the swim coach or teacher, they have some of the most important creative practices, teaching and nurturing our youth.

So many people never allow themselves to follow their creative calls, the hobbies that gave them joy in their youth, due to this thing called “Resistance”, a term I learned from reading “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield.

Pressfield solidified what I already felt to be true: If you want to excel in something you need to show up for it every single day. Whether that be an art form, a business, a relationship, your physical health etc, you need to show up ready to work on it every single day.

And what gets in the way of us showing up every single day? Resistance. Resistance is the little voice in your head telling you that you aren’t good enough. Resistance is what feeds Imposter Syndrome. Resistance tells you to stop before you’ve even truly begun.

For myself personally, Resistance kept me from sharing my art with the collective (with the world) for many years out of fear of judgment.

At the end of the day Nike’s catch phrase “Just DO IT!” is a powerful mantra, because once you get into a daily rhythm and the task at hand becomes habitual, your horizons will expand past your imagination. How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think something that society can do to best support artists/ creatives in this current time period is to truly support and show up for authenticity. I believe we are entering a time when there will be a lot of ‘copy cats’, or watered down, cheaply produced products.

As online shopping continues to grow, we see a push for fast production, fast distribution, and fast consumption. If society was able to respect the process, time and raw creativity that comes with creating authentic, fresh, and innovative products, I think the creative ecosystem would skyrocket.

For example, and I am guilty of this as well, it’s much more drawing to purchase a piece of clothing from an online retailer that mass produces their products. Because I know it will be delivered to my house in X amount of days, for little to no money.
Whereas, purchasing from a small business owner who creates and sells all their own products in house, takes longer to be made and shipped, and usually costs what it’s worth, which is more.

Another example, I personally know so many talented portrait artists – digital and traditional artists. I personally feel like this is probably one of the most popular artistic styles on social media right now, portrait art. Yet, when Lensa App dropped because it was so sensational, so fast, and so cheap – people who would have never considered purchasing a self portrait decided to upload their 10-20 selfies to the app and choose a price point

I think what it would take for the collective to truly see and honor the creatives within society, would be the death of “fast” fashion, art, clothing, food, retail, etc.  

Contact Info:

• Website: samanthawildflowa.store
• Instagram: @samanthawildflowa
• Twitter: @samwildflowa
• Other: Please contact [email protected] for all art purchases, bookings, and inquiries.

Image Credits
Featured Photo: Sabrina Vance