SHELBY — The Proximity of Fate exhibition might be wrapping up at the Mansfield Art Center this weekend, but has it forever changed the fate of a local artist from Shelby?
Samantha Schneider graduated from The Cleveland Institute of Art in 2021 with a double major in painting and drawing, which kicked off her journey of painting massive figurative works.
She is the main character in her art, which begins with staging photos in costumes to create the concepts she wants to paint.
What is most remarkable about Sam, is that once she has the idea and the staged photo in her hand, she stands in front of a giant canvas and free-hand paints, completing an 8-foot canvas in about two weeks time.
In fact, she often works on canvases so large that she has to paint them on their side and never sees them upright until they reach a gallery, due to the short ceiling height in her workspace.
Most artists take months or even years to create a single artwork of the same scale.
Sam is so talented that her vibrant color-saturated paintings seem to explode one after another as she challenges herself to complete a certain number of pieces in a year.
If you look closer you will see that there is something special about her brushstrokes, a magic that only exists in the rare artists that lead the contemporary art world.
So what if you aren’t in a bustling art hub city?
What if you have an incredible talent that the art world never sees?
Your opportunities are limited to the confines of rural central Ohio, financial struggle, and by the lack of the right connections.
This is where the Proximity of Fate triennial exhibition levels the playing field by removing the obstacles that have blocked her path, as is the goal for every artist included in this exhibition.
The Mansfield Art Center would like to congratulate Sam on selling ALL of her work that is currently on display, and to wish her well on her journey to an artist residency in New York in 2025.
The MAC team has had the pleasure of working with Sam and watching her talent build as she took on her first solo show, continued to win awards from our guest jurors, and then was selected by the curatorial visionaries for Proximity of Fate.
Is Mansfield changing the art game, and becoming a part of the national discussion?
Perhaps we are one step closer than we think.