I Love What I Do
Read all about why I love making art so much and about what it does for me!
ARTIST STATEMENT
When I was just the tender age of twelve years old, I heard my first schizophrenic "voice." But no one knew, neither my mother, nor my father, because I was so ashamed and embarrassed about my experiences.
As I walked through the halls of my middle school (and then, later, high school), I was convinced that the whispers that I heard, about me, were false rumors spread by the students whom I shared the hallways with. And in the classrooms it was the same: the delusion, my delusion, that the other students were whispering, laughing at, and insulting me under their breath. Never did I imagine that the insults were not real. I thought, instead, that there were quite a few students, at the school that I attended, who were just plain jealous, who wanted to slander my good name. I did not tell my parents about these experiences because I was so ashamed, and I wanted to make it look like I had friends, when truthfully, at the time, I felt like I was all alone.
And then I received my first diagnosis, at the age of nineteen, while attending the art college of my dreams: Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). By then my symptoms had escalated, and I was no longer able to function in my physical world on account of my tortured internal world. When I had reached this point, I no longer could hide my symptoms. People began to take notice. I wasn't sleeping or eating properly, and a few times I spoke out loud to the voices, in defense of myself, thinking that the voices belonged to real people. And so, I finally broke down, and had to leave the school of my dreams in order to recover from my first, diagnosed, full blown schizophrenic episode. And so I flew home from RISD, to Rochester, NY, where I was admitted in Spring 2000 to Strong Memorial Hospital. After recovering, I transferred to a college closer to home, and attended Rochester Institute of Technology, where I received my Bachelors in the Interior Design program.
Fast forward 2016: I am now a full time artist, wife, and mother. I still struggle every day with the voices, but I refuse to let them win. And despite the misery I feel inside of me, I still see beauty on the outside of me, and I love to bring those objects of beauty to life, breathing new air into them through the process of capturing what I see in my external world, on canvas. Painting is a release for me: it is my "exhale". And when I get to see what I create on canvas, when I get to breathe it all back in, well that is my "inhale". Painting allows me to breathe fresh air inside of myself, it cleans out my soul, rejuvenates it, and brightens my internal world up, beautifully offsetting some of my internal struggles.
My ideal goal, as an artist is a concise one: and that is to create beauty. And not just for myself but those who will enjoy my works after they have left the studio. I want to brighten up someone’s day, rejuvenate someone's soul and take their mind away from the struggles of everyday life, by allowing them to stop, freeze, gaze at one of my beautiful paintings, and breathe it all in: Inhale the beauty that was gestated, ironically, while living in the midst of voices.
Yours,
Samara Doumnande
BIO
Samara Doumnande has studied at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design as well as the Rochester Institute of Technology where she graduated with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts and a degree in Interior Design.
A versatile artist, Samara works in nearly every medium: from oil paint to acrylic paint, and from pastels to pen and ink. Her subject matters, for her paintings, range from enchanting landscapes to charming portraits; from exquisite still life's, to sleek, crisp, and clean abstracts.
In Samara's pastel and oil paintings, she loves to capture beautiful sweet moments and freeze them into time, so that they cannot be forgotten or ignored. She loves to savor sweet precious moments that can all too quickly be lost, and thus unappreciated, on account of the pace and influence of time. She loves to freeze the rapid scenes of American daily life and capture them in her paintings so that they can long endure on her canvas for everyone to savor and enjoy for as long as they'd like.
When Samara draws her kaleidoscopic/snowflake pen and ink drawings, they are really special to her, as she's not just copying what she sees around her in her physical world, that is life and nature, but instead, is creating something unique and new—Something that's never been seen before and something that cannot be seen anywhere else in the universe, except for on her canvas. She's not drawing from observation, instead she's drawing from her imagination, and when she creates each kaleidoscopic/snowflake piece, she's sharing something with the viewer that would, otherwise, never have been seen by them before, had she not shared it, because the idea for the painting originated her head, and not anywhere in our natural landscape or environment. Drawing kaleidoscopic/snowflake pen and ink drawings is an impulsive non-planned kind of artistic journey for Samara and with every piece, she creates something completely new and unique.
Recently, Samara has been exploring the “wet on wet” technique, a technique once made famous by the late Bob Ross. Her recent paintings, utilizing this technique, are also very special to her, as here, too, Samara creates from the heart and mind with no reference from the physical world outside of her.
Samara is the author and illustrator of two children's picture books: "Grab My Hand" and "Snowflakes: A Counting Book."
Samara lives in W. Henrietta, New York with her husband and three children.
RESUME
Education
2005 BFA, Rochester Institute of Technology
Fall 2000 Rhode Island School of Design
Press
Carlet Cleare. " New Exhibit Accompanies Documentary on Mental Illness at the MAG " WXXI News 09 May 2012
Affiliations
Artist Member – The Shoe Factory Art Co-Op
Exhibitions
2016 Group Exhibition, Courage. Hope. Healing. , Creative Wellness Coalition of the Mental Health Association, Rochester, NY
2016 Solo Exhibition, Landscapes & Still Lifes, Mellow Mug, Rochester, NY
2016 Solo Exhibition, Happy Little Trees: Ode to Bob Ross, Mellow Mug, Rochester, NY
2015 Solo Exhibition, Rochester Mini Maker Faire, Rochester, NY
2014 Group Exhibition, Small Works 2014, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
2014 Solo Exhibition,Through My Eyes, Creative Wellness Coalition of the Mental Health Association, Rochester, NY
2014 Group Exhibition,Sirens & Seahorses, The Shoe Factory Art Co-op, Rochester, NY
2014 Two-Person Exhibition, 8"x10", Zak’s Avenue, Rochester, NY
2014 Group Exhibition, Reel Mind Film Series: "My Name Is Alan, and I Paint Pictures", The Cinema, Rochester, NY
2013 Two-Person Exhibition, Beauty in the Midst of Voices II, Creative Wellness Coalition of the Mental Health Association, Rochester, NY (with fine artist, Ramadji Doumnande)
2012 Group Exhibition, Reel Mind Film Series: "Crazy Art", Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
2012 Solo Exhibition Beauty in the Midst of Voices I, Creative Wellness Coalition of the Mental Health Association, Rochester, NY
Collections
Creative Wellness Coalition of the Mental Health Association, Rochester, NY
Publications as Author
2011 - Present, The Blog of SamDoum Art
2014 "Snowflakes", Written & Illustrated by Samara Doumnande
2014 "Grab My Hand", Written & Illustrated by Samara Doumnande
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