Daily Inspiration: Meet Samantha Ludwig

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Ludwig.

Hi Samantha, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Art has always been a part of who I am. Recently, I came across a kindergarten assignment where I expressed my goal to be an artist. As early as possible, I designed my schooling using art as a core that all else extended fro, and at 18, I dedicated my undergraduate degree to exploring creativity and processes at the Kansas City Art Institute. Art has been a wonderful tool to understand the world and myself and I will maintain my relationship with creativity always. It is at the core of who I am and it keeps life interesting, even exhilarating.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Pursuing a creative life comes with enormous rewards and challenges. In a technologically driven world, it’s easy to put pressure on the creative process to speed up and meet demands, but my passion remains with analogue processes such as drawing, painting, and printmaking. These skills require dedicated time, but when that extra time is allowed, it’s incredible how the artwork can unfurl and create the most beautiful outcomes while reaching more meaningful depths. Though these storied practices can sometimes be tedious, they are a touchstone of the human experience that date back to the beginning of man. It gives me great pleasure to carry on this essential human tradition.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m most well known for petite architectural portraits. I began drawing homes over 10 years ago to fashion an archive. Similar to the homes I draw, these small portraits are personal and can be cherished by an individual, or, when grouped together, they can represent a community and the individual’s place as part of a whole. Each location exists simultaneously as an intimate space as well as a shared memory and experience for those who inhabit the space throughout decades. Though this is my longest running project, I also have been painting, weaving and print making other series alongside it.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’ve been told by many that my small architectural portraits look like prints due to their detail at such a small scale. While the paper is much larger, the houses themselves are often only a few inches big. My work is freehanded – it’s not traced in any way, which provides an extra challenge and keeps the work interesting.

Pricing:

• Black and white drawings of homes are $175 and include a frame
• Water color small scale commissions are $250
• Happy to quote for anything outside standard sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samanthaludwig.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s_ludwigart/