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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
Samara Doumnande has found solace in her artwork. As a young
adult, her dream of going to Rhode Island School of Design was cut short by unexpected
health issues. In the face of this adversity, she was able to finish college closer
to home, meet the love of her life, marry and create a family. Her art has been
her mainstay and has helped her to cope with an enduring illness.
Samara has begun to show her work in regional art shows. She is currently a House Artist member at The Shoe Factory Art Co-op where her still life paintings and animal portrait prints are on
display.
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| Pastel by Samara Doumnande |
Shoe Factory: Where
did you grow up and where do you live now?
Samara Doumnande:
I grew up in the South Wedge
neighborhood in Rochester, NY. I am
currently a stay at home Mom and live in West Henrietta.
SF: When did you
start creating art? Where did you learn your craft?
SD:
I started creating art as soon as I could hold a pencil. I was taught from an
early age from the many talented artists in my family; my mom, my uncles, and my
brother, although none of them pursued art professionally. I believe that I am
the first to do that.
I was also guided by art teachers in school. In my middle
and high school years I attended School of the Arts where I majored in Visual
Arts.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: Did you attend
college?
SD: I attended Rhode Island School of Design for freshman year.
I had to transfer to Rochester Institute of Technology to be closer to home for
health reasons. My major at RISD had
been architecture, but I ended up getting a BFA in Interior Design at RIT.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: What materials
do you use in your art?
SD:
I use graphite pencil, pen and ink, Prismacolor
markers, pastels, acrylic paint, and oil paint. I paint on everything from illustration
board to canvas.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: How do you
make your art?
SD:
The majority of my work is done using photos
as a reference. When I’m doing a portrait commission of a person, pet, or a home,
I work from my clients’ photos.
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| House portrait by Samara Doumnande |
When I take my own photos, my subject matter
usually consists of the people, places, and things, which surround me. I paint
my children, my husband, the houses on my street, and favorite places in my neighborhood.
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| Samara painting in her home studio |
When working from a photograph, I
like to put my artistic touch to it and spin it in a different direction. Sometimes
I change the color, scale, and texture of objects. Sometimes I will omit objects
from a composition or add objects that weren’t in the reference photo.
SF: What are you
currently working on?
SD:
I’ve been snapping a lot of photos of
my three little girls to use for portraits. Most of the portraits I’ve done of them
have been in pastel, but I plan on doing a series of them in oil. I’ve been doing
a lot of still life paintings and I’m working on some pet portrait commissions.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: Who are your artistic
influences?
SD:
When I’m doing portraits, my
influences are the late artists Mary Cassatt and Henry Ossawa Tanner. Like Cassatt,
I love painting women and children, especially my own children.
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| Pastel by Samara Doumnande |
Like Tanner, I try to capture
the treasured scenes from every day African American life. I love his “The Thankful
Poor” and “The Banjo Lesson”, two great and humbling paintings that everyone
should know about.
When painting a still life, I really admire the
work of Dutch artist Simon Luttichuys. I love his rich colors, dark backgrounds, shadows, and glistening reflections. He made his objects pop out from the
canvas, and I seek to do the same in my work.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: Have you
always been a creative person?
SD:
Yes. Besides art, I also enjoy writing.
I’ve published several of my own children’s books and poetry books. One of them
is called Bible Tales: The First Five
Books in Rhyme (For Children and Adults), which paraphrases the first five
books of the Bible.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: How has being
an artist changed or affected your life?
SD:
I have mental illness and suffer from paranoid
schizophrenia. Having to live inside of a sometimes tortured mind can be very
overwhelming. However, painting is a release for me. It is my "exhale". When I get to see
what I create on canvas, and breathe it all back in, that is my
"inhale". Painting allows me to breathe fresh air inside of myself. It
cleans out my soul, rejuvenates it, and brightens up my internal world,
beautifully offsetting some of my internal struggles.
Painting is also something
that the voices I hear, as a schizophrenic, can never take away. I’ve been so
tortured, in my past, that I have had difficulty with not just reading and
writing, but also prayer. I can remember
those times crying, with tears in my eyes, looking up to the heavens crying
out, “Dear Lord, You won’t even let me pray to You!”
Those were tough times, but
I got past them. What helped me to get through them was my art. It’s one thing
the voices have never succeeded in taking away from me—no matter how sick I
got.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: What is your
favorite art-related experience in life so far?
SD:
My greatest art experience is seeing
the love and pride in the eyes of my children when they see my work. They think it is so cool having a mommy who is an artist.
Occasionally we’ll have small painting parties where we all paint together,
dancing, eating, and listening to music. It’s a lot of fun!
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| Samara and her girls |
SF: What is your
ultimate goal as an artist?
SD:
To create beauty. Not just for myself, but for those
who will enjoy my works after they have left the studio. With my art I hope to
brighten up someone’s day, rejuvenate someone's soul and take their mind away
from the struggles of everyday life.
I believe that all artists have
one shared goal. That is to create harmony, whether it be someone’s voice over
a melody, someone’s rhythmic rhyme over a poem, or someone’s brushstrokes over
a painting.
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| Oil painting by Samara Doumnande |
SF: Is Rochester a
good place to be for artists?
SD:
I think Rochester is doing a terrific
job with helping to shape the careers of artists through such events as FirstFriday and Second Saturday. There is a lot of opportunity here in Rochester and
we, as artists, just have to take advantage of it.
Rochester is also a great place
to network with other artists. I can be shy and nervous at times, but despite
this I’ve been able to meet some really kind hearted, caring artists who do not
hesitate in sharing helpful information.
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| Samara Doumnande with husband Ramadji |
