We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sammy Bennett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sammy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

I was working for a gallery and we were driving art upstate for the weekend. I had forgotten to order a truck that had a lift gate and had to scramble to find another truck. I finally found one outside the city limits and swapped them out.

I learned that you are always going to make mistakes, it’s only a matter of time, it just depends when and where it will happen. Human error is a reality. When you eventually do mess up, make sure you fix the problem. Don’t let it go, attack it as promptly as you can. Challenge yourself to see if you can do it by yourself. When that doesn’t work put your ego aside and as for help. Make calls, see who is willing to help and if people ignore you just move on to the next person and don’t take it personal. Don’t be a hero.

After that little mis-hap I worked on being more organized and trying to avoid making little mistakes.

Sammy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a toddler, before I could talk, I would scribble on paper, draw from my young imagination, and copy cartoons, and magazine or book illustrations. My journey as an artist started with drawing and illustration, then transitioned into oil painting and screen-printing. I now work in textiles, but also combine all of these techniques to form intricate yet delicate collages.

My unique blend of painting and printing techniques produces dense multilayered imagery. My paintings feature cluttered domestic settings, vibrant wood grain flooring, and dirty, windswept sidewalks. In my work, my apartment and surrounding neighborhoods become an overarching portrait of myself employed through specific objects and locations.

Motifs of worn-out shoes, house plants, and found objects merge with biographical artifacts uniting the personal with the universal. Pockets of commentary hide in plain sight that tap into a shared collective memory. Through this imagery, one can enjoy the beauty or see the ugly realism scattered throughout our world.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

While I was in grad school , a professor of mine said to one of my colleagues that the artwork I was making at that time, painting on blinds, would be the only thing I would ever be known for. I was so angry at the professor for so many reasons. I had a lot of respect for them and they just trashed my work — and me as an artist. It fueled me to make more and different work and not be a one-trick pony. After graduating I expanded the materials I was using, moving from painting to textiles, and feel I am a more well-rounded artist because I strive to not be known for only one thing.

Being an artist takes resilience, I have to apply to shows, grants, residencies, etc… Many of these opportunities ask the artist to pay a fee anywhere from fifteen to fifty dollars. It’s a funny thing to pay someone to tell you that they don’t want to show your work, over and over again. No matter how many times I get denied I will keep applying because I know the work I do has value and meaning.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

My old boss has impacted my entrepreneurial philosophy. He started a company during the pandemic — the worst possible time. His creative thinking skills allowed him to find a small niche in the art handling world — now I’m always on the lookout for small pockets of jobs that I wouldn’t have thought to look for previously. He is a diligent man and runs a tight ship, but is also generous and patient with his employees. While working for him, I learned the value of being enthusiastic and industrious, while still making room to be empathetic to the people you work with.

While working at this job with an incredibly organized boss, I recognized that I needed to hold myself and my work to a higher standard. Being organized, implementing higher attention to detail, and slowing down to make sure I do things right – not quickly – all proved to be powerful tools in my own life and work. I can see that no matter what the job is, there is something to learn from it. I learned to be a better problem solver from him and try to think outside the box when faced with a problem.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://sammybennett.net
• Instagram: sammy_bennett1