Sam Kennedy is an experimental artist specializing in sculpture, textiles, printmaking, and installation residing in St. Louis, Missouri. Kennedy’s work investigates the theme of bodily adornment, fragmentation, and hybridity through the exploration of silicone, hair, and textiles. She earned a BFA from the University of Missouri - St. Louis with a concentration in printmaking in 2017. She then went on to earn both a MA and MFA from the University of Tulsa in 2021.
Kennedy has exhibited her work in various cities across the South and Midwest. Additionally, she was awarded the Graduate Student Award of Excellence from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition in 2019 and also placed 1st for both the 51st and 52nd Annual Gussman Juried Student Exhibitions. Most recently, Kennedy received the Windgate Scholarship to attend Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the 2020 Jerri Jones Advanced Study Grant.
Artist Statement
The sculptures and cyanotypes I create explore the ephemerality of bodily memory and its adornment and preservation. In my most recent exhibition, Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, I created a sanctuary devoted to my closest memories. I transformed intangible memories into undying silicone reliefs by casting various items, including my family’s body parts, foliage, and animal bones. The resulting silicone casts call to mind the allure of Lalique glass and remind us of the fluidity and metamorphosis of natural processes—from plant to human, flesh to bone. This transmogrification allows me to embellish bodily memory into a relic, in memory of a time where the body would never exist in that exact state again. Together the sculptures serve as reliquaries of materialized memories.
My cyanotypes are snapshots of memories as they move through the psyche. The deep blue encapsulates the ethereal, eerie qualities of the silicone skins that float like elysian organisms through a tranquil blanket of deep ocean. Overall, these works encourage viewers to pause and reflect on the impact of memories and how they are materialized as a means for deciphering the strangeness and unpredictability of life.