Painting is studio art sophomore Chayse Sampy’s method of achieving peace. The canvas is there when she’s stressed or upset, and when she just wants to make someone happy. Much of her subject matter, however, is not peaceful. With her art, she seeks to shine a light on prevalent social issues.
Sampy said she has been an artist for as long as she can remember. She said it wasn’t until her junior year in high school when the shootings of unarmed black men permeated the media that her art gained direction.
“That’s when I started painting, and then that’s when I started being interested in sending a message with my work instead of just doing stuff that was pretty,” Sampy said.
Much of Sampy’s work since high school has been focused on well-known stereotypes surrounding various racial groups. She has also worked to address the issues that stem from the stereotypes, as well as issues within the black community itself.
“That was when I was like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of stereotypes, there’s a lot of racism still around,’” Sampy said. “So then I started doing stuff focused around stereotypes in different races, like hispanic, black, white, all of them. Later on I focused more on the black community,” Sampy said.
Sampy grew up in a predominantly white area, and said it took her a while to look around and ask what was going on outside of her world. Her mother is a psychologist and artist as well.
“I think that’s where most of my art comes from — the psychology of people and the history of different races,” Sampy said.
Sampy said black people don’t buy black art, and there isn’t much of a market for it. She said art not only needs to be valued more, but that people also need to listen.
“I can say things that most people can’t really vocalize or that nobody would really listen to them if they said [them],” Sampy said. “I have a pretty good following with my artwork, and I usually try to put my artwork out there a lot so I feel like I’m a voice in a way for a lot of people.”
Sampy said artists are supposed to make people uncomfortable by creating conversations and reacting to social issues. She said much of her art is fueled by things she sees that she doesn’t believe are right.
“At this point in our generation, everyone wants to be woke,” Sampy said. “Everyone wants to act like, ‘Oh, I support black people, I do this for black people,’ but nobody’s doing anything for black people, so I’m trying to put that out there and let everyone see that we’ve come a long way but we’re not done yet.”
Sampy said her ultimate goal is to create communal spaces in urban communities where children can discover black art and learn skills that may help them in the future. She said she wants to create these spaces in Houston, her hometown, as well as Oakland, Detroit, Atlanta and other cities like them.
“I feel like art can save lives,” Sampy said. “It’s a discipline. It teaches you to discipline yourself, patience. It teaches you great qualities to have and I don’t see why you wouldn’t want your child to paint a little. I’d rather them take out being angry or any sadness or any emotion in art rather than taking it and doing something volatile with it.”
Studio art sophomore Chayse Sampy covers topics like race and stereotyping in her art.
