 A special gift for a friend opening a new padel club — turning functional sports gear into sculptural art.
The paddle is layered with iron-rich Utah dirt, Great Salt Lake salt, foraged sawdust, refurbished paint, and gold pigment. Baked in the intense Utah sun, it developed beautiful natural cracks and fissures. Rope fills the paddle holes, with some strands emerging organically for a striking tactile effect. The tennis ball carries rich Utah red dirt embedded in plaster and paint, finished with gold. Together they celebrate the alchemy of everyday objects — where pressure, time, and material memory create beauty from the ordinary. Grateful to Gallery MAR for helping bring this to life.  So thrilled to see this project come to life.
A triptych commission is now permanently installed at the new HELIX building at the University of Utah of Utah Heath. Deeply grateful to Utah Health, and Utah Division of Arts & Museums, along with Gallery MAR, for making this possible. It means so much to have my work become part of a space where students, clinicians, researchers, educators, and visitors will live with it every day.  Last year, my neighbor received a grant to beautify our local park and asked me to design a simple mural that anyone could help paint — primary colors and geometric shapes to the rescue!
It was my first time painting a mural, and it turned out to be a wonderful challenge. Thank you to Jaimee Frederick for leading the project, and to Love Your Block: Salt Lake City for the grant. A beautiful reminder that one person really can make a difference.  I feel so honored to have created this commissioned painting for my friend Matt’s beautiful new Qi Gong school, Inner Warrior.
The piece is titled “You Are a Circle” and speaks directly to the heart of this practice — wholeness, flow, balance, and the endless cycle of growth and healing. Matt, thank you for pouring your energy into a space that uplifts and strengthens our community. My family and I have been longtime supporters of SLC Qi Community Acupuncture https://www.slcqi.com/, and we can’t wait to step into this new chapter with you. Grateful beyond words. Art for healing spaces. Always.  Visiting my work in public spaces always feels like reconnecting with old friends. Immense gratitude to collectors and venues supporting local art. Three commissions grace an award-winning Salt Lake City restaurant, including my contemporary piece, The Golden Calf.
https://www.urban-hill.com/ https://semplebrown.com/  Painting big, feeling grateful. Three commission paintings in progress for the new Helix Building - huge thanks to the University of Utah, Gallery MAR, and my cat Georgia O’Keeffe for the support.
https://www.utah.edu/ https://www.gallerymar.com/artists/samantha-da-silva  Absolutely love visiting this piece at Mosaic Yoga! It's such a delight to see one of my works displayed in such a thoughtfully curated space. Huge thanks to Akasha Kirti for creating meaningful opportunities for our community to come together and support one another.
I Am Courageous, mixed media on canvas, 36" x 60"  Recently, I had the opportunity to transform Hawaii’s breathtaking natural beauty and rich cultural stories into two mixed media pieces. Creating these commissioned works while I’m here has been an incredible adventure—being immersed in such inspiring scenery has truly fueled my creativity. I feel like this version of myself, deeply connected to the land, is a reflection of home, probably because I was born on an island too.
The process wasn’t without its challenges—tight deadlines and high humidity affected drying times—but it was deeply rewarding. I incorporated foraged materials such as mulberry bark from Waihee Ridge, sand from Baldwin Beach, and local newspapers to add layers of texture and meaning. These works explore Hawaiian myths of sky, earth, and sea, weaving cultural symbolism with my personal story. They are my way of celebrating the island’s spirit and deepening my connection to place through art.  Moon at my back, I’m gathering inspiration for a new commission here on Maui — and honestly, just being on this island ignites my creativity in the most extraordinary ways.
To start, I created three small moons using local materials as a “warm-up.” It’s a way for me to connect with this place, to soak in its energy, and to feel truly rooted in where I am. Sometimes, the best ideas come when we allow ourselves to be present and embrace the beauty around us. Feeling grateful for this journey and excited to see where it takes me next.  Delighted to deliver this textured, large-scale piece to my friends at Echo Arts in Bozeman! It’s headed for framing before arriving at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky. I truly appreciate the leap of faith that commissioning art is—thank you for trusting me to bring your vision to life. Can’t wait for everyone to see it in its new home!
https://www.echoarts.net/ https://www.moonlightbasin.com/ |