Hello, and thank you for checking out my first Inside The Artist’s Studio blog post on the Main Street Arts blog!

I would like to introduce myself…

I am originally from Baltimore Maryland and started working with clay in high school. I was instantly hooked to the material’s responsiveness  to the sense of touch. I knew that I wanted to continue my exploration of this material in college and completed my BFA at Cleveland Institute of Art in 2003. After completing my degree, I worked for local potters in Baltimore until moving to Rochester to complete my MFA in Ceramics at Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Crafts. After my experience at RIT I began teaching and making work at the Lorton Arts Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia. Then in 2009 I became a resident artist at Genesee Center for Arts and Education which brought me back to Rochester where I continued to make work and teach. After my residency  experience  at Genesee Center I decided to stay in the Rochester area. I have a private studio located in the Susan B. area, downtown. I also currently teach at Genesee Community College, Studio Sales (Avon) and the Genesee Center.

I enjoy making both sculptural and functional work. Most of my sculptural work focuses on the forms of action and reaction that occur in natural environment. A sense of simultaneous deconstruction and construction—such as what occurs when a mountain slowly weathers or the way that water erodes a stream bed. Given the primary influence of nature, these pieces can be seen as metaphoric landscapes. I create these clay pieces by exploiting the responsiveness of the clay. I push, pull, and tear the clay in an attempt to create a physical dialogue between myself and the material.

On the other hand, my functional work is fun and fresh with an attention to detail. I use a wide range of glazes for my color palette and then layer the surface with unique hand painted brush marks. These marks are very fluid and intuitive. I enjoy layering glazes and washes to create contrasts within the glaze surface. I love to use my functional work everyday. I would want you as well to use it everyday. All of my functional works are food, dishwasher, microwave and oven safe.

Part Two: Inside the Artist’s Studio with Samantha Stumpf: Process and Perspective
Part Three: Inside the Artist’s Studio with Samantha Stumpf: A Little Bit of Process…