Meet Sam Fazio

We were lucky to catch up with Sam Fazio recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sam, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I think that my creativity and art practice has always been what has pushed my sense of confidence and self esteem. Before I had art, I had dance. I began taking dance classes as a little kid (and still take ballet every week) and while dance taught me to be hard working to learn technique and choreography, it also encouraged a sense of silliness and experimentation. You can just listen to the music and move to it however feels right. Just try it out. That is where ideas come from! I try to apply this attitude of silliness and non judgement both to my everyday life, as well as my art practice. Just try it out. The most important thing is that you tried!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a graphic designer, illustrator, and muralist and recent graduate of the University of Akron Myers School of Art with a BFA in Graphic Design. I love creating exciting color combinations and patterns, screen printing, and designing greeting cards and packaging. I enjoy spending lots of time outside and often draw inspiration from nature, including illustrations of flowers, leaves, and other natural materials in my work.

My connection to my community is central to my art practice and the ways that I think about making. I see art as a tool for community building. I love collaborating with other artists on projects, seeing how we can each push each other to create more exciting, more thoughtful ideas. Through my experience painting murals, I have become very interested in public art and the ability that the arts have to benefit a community, socially, culturally, and economically, as well as the ways that participating—whether through creating or interacting with—art can uplift and empower an individual, bring people together, and ultimately create more connected, inspired communities.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Something that has been very impactful to my art practice is my ability to talk to people and create a community for myself. I love people and find a lot of value and enjoyment in getting to know the people around me. My ability to make friends everywhere I go sparks a sense of joy and inspiration that I try to encapsulate in my work.

In painting murals, nothing ever goes exactly as I had planned in my head. Having a sense of flexibility has proven to be very useful in working on these types of projects. Learning how to adapt to unexpected challenges that come up, problem solve on the spot, and reevaluate as I work often leads to creating a better, more exciting piece.

And finally, learning to not let perfectionism run the show. I often times find myself getting caught up in the details and allowing fear to hold me back. Stepping outside of my comfort zone is a good thing, and I can continue to use it to push myself as an artist.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I think one challenge I am currently facing is the process of rebuilding my art practice since graduating college. During school, you get used to creating such a large amount of work in a short period of time, which is both exciting and stress inducing. At first, I found it difficult to create without an assignment deadline to motivate me, but I have since been learning to adapt to a new way of making. Currently, I am enjoying having the time to play with different materials, experiment, and create things just for fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://samfazio.com