About the Artist

Artist Statement

My artwork explores themes of healing and identity. The work is inspired by Japanese kintsugi, wherein broken pottery is repaired with gold filling, creating a new design within the existing pottery. I have expanded this metaphorically within my mixed media relief sculptures to denote that what is “broken” can be beautiful and whole in a new way. Or perhaps, it was never really broken at all.

I sculpt each piece in its entirety out of polymer clay before “breaking” the sculpture apart. I have little control over where the breaking occurs. In that way, the breaking process is akin to how we often experience trauma: feeling out of control, isolated, and disconnected. Once the sculpture is sufficiently fragmented, I apply gold to the newly raw edges, emphasizing their irregular shapes. The gold makes it easier to see where one piece once connected to another, and how they could connect again. The gold is a healing force, visually “adhering” the fractured pieces back together again. 

Strength and resilience are prominent messages in the work. Breaking apart creates new opportunities, and in that way, destruction and creation are one in the same. In my work, these themes are united in gold, which is ultimately a symbol of the divine and of love.

Artist bio

Sam Kimberle is currently living in Greenville, South Carolina, with a studio in Asheville, North Carolina. Sam is a self-taught Artist, having taken only one 3D Art class at Dickinson College where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Religion. She returned to her passion for making artwork after a long hiatus wherein she obtained a Master’s degree in Religion from Temple University, and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Her artwork is primarily created using polymer clay, a relatively new medium within the realm of fine art. 

When Sam is not creating in her art studio, she is spending time with her husband Keith, walking her dog Frank, or out riding horses.

Curriculum Vitae

SAM KIMBERLE

Born in Baltimore, Maryland

Lives in Greenville, South Carolina

  • B.A. in Religion, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania – 2010

    M.A. in Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 2012

    J.D., University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland – 2015

  • 2023 Artisphere Artists of the Upstate Juried Exhibition, Artisphere 2023, Greenville, SC (curated by Kate Ledbetter)

    2023 Earth Tones & Gemstones, Foundations Studios, Asheville, NC

    2022 Unprecedented: Where Law & Art Converge, AXS Art, Wynwood, Miami, FL

    2022 Life in the Mountains, Foundations Studios, Asheville, NC

    2022 Mandala Madness, Foundations Studios, Asheville, NC

  • 2021 Maryland State Art Council Grant

  • Passion for Polymer Magazine, September, 2021, p. 42-44