Senior Spotlight: Sam Taube

Oct 31

Meet Samantha Taube! She is a Studio Art BFA major with a focus in Painting.

Samantha Taube grew up in Raleigh with the NC Museum of Art in her backyard. The proximity of museums, studios, and art classes supported her passion to be an artist. This passion along with her background in catholic school inspires her work today. Catholic school for her was a window into traditional iconography, methods in creating religious sculpture, and other explorations into religious art. Another aspect of her life that motivates work today is her and her families practice in Jiu Jitsu.

Her personal origins are represented in her work now. The first body of work we discussed were her paintings depicting catholic iconography in humorous light. As a former catholic she has explored the absurd history of the catholic church and uses plays on classic saints. An example of the symbolism she uses is the doe representing St. Rita, the saint of domestic abuse represents how women subject to abuse are seen and treated as well as a deer on the side of the road. It hurts took at, but the sight is quickly forgotten and dismissed. Her plays on religious iconography bring humor and more importantly questions into the true meanings behind the teachings she grew up with.

The second body of work she is focusing on is inspired by her practice of Ju Jitsu. She highlights the gestures during points of Kuzushi which is when the body is off balance. She uses charcoal drawings with figures in motion and the texture of their canvas Gi’s to highlight the feelings of this practice. This is one of her larger scale works which again humanizes the experience to the audience matching the size.

During her time here she has appreciated the different perspectives of her peers. Although she appreciates these different perspectives, she emphasizes the importance of creating based off your own experience. She urges every artist to dig deep into themselves for inspiration because art should be personal so that an audience can learn something new or realize their own personal experience can be compared to build a feeling of unity.

Thank you so much Samantha for your perspective as an artist and a look into your studio!