Samantha Mack
Artist Statement
When I was born, my great grandmother Ida crocheted a blanket for me. When she died, she was buried with a pillow I made for her. We come full circle. Like crochet, we work in the round, following each other’s paths, eyes and hands tracing the same small, meditative motions that came before. I pick up the stitch where my great grandmother left off.
Through a process of meditative repetition, I work stitch after stitch of delicate crochet, forming it into a chain of lace, a granny square, or a thousand butterflies. In my light-based works, this accumulation of detail is diffused through pure light into intricate geometric shadows that shift and dissolve, creating patterns that can only occur through a sheer veil of transparency — a boundary as thin but tangible as the border between life and death. In my paintings, this kaleidoscopic effect is flattened into vibrant layers of pattern and narrative; in my video work, it becomes an infinite loop of composition and decomposition. Through this hybridization of the generational tradition of crochet with image, electricity and motion, I establish experiential signifiers for the beauty of mortality.
There is no machine that can replicate handmade crochet. It stands apart from other applications of fiber arts as innately biological. It is the single most effective method for modeling hyperbolic geometry, the process by which cells replicate into ever-expanding layers, folding and curling into kelp, coral reefs, and perhaps, some speculate, the very shape of our universe. It is through this gradual process of overlapping that I come to code and recode, catching my breath only to have it taken away again.
E X P E R I E N C E
Gallery Assistant and Director of Public Relations
Sulfur Studios | Savannah, GA | 2020 - Present
Studio Assistant
Rachel Mica Weiss Studio | Pittsburgh, PA | 2018 - 2020
Print Department Extern
Carnegie Mellon University School of Art | Pittsburgh, PA | 2018 - 2019
Teaching Assistant and Studio Monitor
Carnegie Mellon University Pre-College Program | Pittsburgh, PA | 2018
Graphic Designer and Glass Etcher
Specialty Etching Shoppe (Formerly Etched in Glass, Inc.) | Gibsonia, PA | 2015 - 2019 (Seasonal)
Artist Intern
Aimee Manion Studio | Cranberry, PA | 2015 - 2017
E D U C A T I O N
M.F.A. Candidate in Painting
Savannah College of Art and Design | Savannah, GA | 2019 - Present
B.F.A. in Art, Minor in Professional Writing
Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA | 2014 - 2018
Study Abroad: Advanced Liberal Arts
CIEE and University of Barcelona | Barcelona, Spain | 2017
E X H I B I T I O N S
2021 | Simulacra
National Juried Exhibition | Sulfur Studios | Savannah, GA
2021 | Summer in the City
Supporter Exhibition | Sulfur Studios | Savannah, GA
2021 | Awigami International Miniature Print Exhibition
Awigami, Inbe Art Space | Yoshinogawa City, Tokushima, Japan
2021 | Alexander Ink Print Exhibition
Alexander Hall, Savannah College of Art and Design | Savannah, GA
2021 | SCAD Open Studio
Hosted virtually by Savannah College of Art and Design | Savannah, GA
2020 | Curator: In Place
Co-curated with Shaye Garrigan at Sulfur Studios | Savannah, GA
2020 | White Elephant VI
Sulfur Studios | Savannah, GA
2020 | SCAD Open Studio
Hosted Virtually by Savannah College of Art and Design | Savannah, GA
2019 | Adivine
The Loft Gallery | Savannah, GA
2019 | SCAD Open Studio
Alexander Hall, Savannah College of Art and Design | Savannah, GA
2018 | Metamorphosis
Percolate Gallery | Pittsburgh, PA
2018 | Family Meeting
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts | Pittsburgh, PA
2018 | Senior Exhibition: dot.gov
Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA
2018 | Solo Exhibition: In Loving Memory
Ellis Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA
2018 | Solo Exhibition: Messy
Ellis Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA
2017 | 15MinutesArt
Duolingo East Liberty Storefront | Pittsburgh, PA