Introducing Samantha Sigur

22 hours ago

3 min read

Samantha Sigur is a 22-year-old Lafayette native and senior studying sculpture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Samantha has been a part of Lafayette’s arts community for nearly her entire life, from participating in LPSS student art expos as a child to attending the Visual Arts Academy at Ovey Comeaux High School and now exhibiting her work throughout South Louisiana while earning her BFA at UL Lafayette.

Samantha’s work explores themes of femininity, adverse childhood experiences, and domesticity shaped by growing up in a single-parent household in the Deep South. Through her sculptural practice, she brings together traditionally gendered materials, processes, and objects, including blacksmithing, metalworking, textiles, and toys, as a way of challenging convention and expressing her disinterest in the orthodox.

If you’d like to see some of Samantha’s work in person, she’ll be exhibiting at Speakeasy Gallery as part of a fundraising exhibition hosted by Love Your Neighbor. The exhibition will be on view September 12 through October 3, with an opening reception during ArtWalk this Saturday from 5:00–9:00 PM at 409 Lee Ave., Lafayette, LA 70501.

Who makes up your art circle?

Growing up in Lafayette, I have been so lucky to always be surrounded by artists and patrons. As I’ve gotten older, that circle has rapidly expanded. I’ve found my immediate art circle through the other members of the Visual Arts Department at UL Lafayette, more specifically within the sculpture area.

Having a group of peers who share a common passion but have vastly different lived experiences creates a space for innovation and true connection. I value my classmates because we can have philosophical and conceptual conversations without fear of judgment, openly give and receive critique, and grow as artists together.

Through exhibiting my work over the last few years, I’ve also been inspired by the many generations of artists in Louisiana who come together in harmony, passing knowledge and ideas back and forth. I’ve met many incredible artists who work in similar mediums or explore similar themes and openly share their experiences with me. I feel like I’ve experienced hospitality in my own “home” in a way I didn’t know was possible.

How do you expand your art circle?

I’ve learned a lot about expanding my art circle in recent years. My best advice is to go places, see things, and talk to people. Go to art shows, art markets, workshops, performances, conferences, and residencies.

Going into my last year of college, I still don’t feel like I’ve been to enough events. However, when I have attended, I’ve been blown away by the people I’ve met and the conversations I’ve found myself having. In some cases, you’ll leave these places with more questions than answers. That’s how you know you were in the right place!

What value do you see in having a creative community?

A creative community is one of the most valuable things you can have, both as an artist and as a person. Not to be the “now more than ever” gal, but now more than EVER, it’s important to surround yourself with people who see creative solutions and easily missed instances of beauty in this big, scary world.

As an artist, your practice can become very isolating. You can get stuck in your head about what you’re trying to convey to an audience or feel inadequate in a culture that has turned its back on the power of handmade work. Having a creative community can help pull you out of that funk and make you feel seen.

Even if no one in the community has a direct solution to a problem, being around people who face similar challenges and share the same values can be extremely comforting and inspiring.

How does your artistic approach contribute to your community?

I hope the impact my artistic approach has on my community is to give some level of joy and comfort to a viewer, even if only for a moment. Some visual elements you can usually find in my work include bright colors alongside muted elements or imagery of something old, whether that be people, homes, or objects.

I think our childlike wonder comes back to us later in life, once we’ve gone through the trials and tribulations of finding ourselves and fitting in. I’m trying to hold on to that whimsy in my work, especially alongside heavier themes, because I think reconnecting with the things that brought us joy as children can be monumental when it comes to healing or coping with the weight of the world around us.

By pairing imagery of older things with the exciting and fantastical, I hope to challenge the preconceived ideas American culture has about aging: new, new, new. Better, better, better. Tear down and rebuild.