Most artists hope people will make an emotional connection to their work.
And the Aiken artist known as Shamrick has seen one of her paintings connect with someone in an inexplicable way.
“I had an experience that changed my view completely at my very first show at Augusta Con. I was very moved by the very young teacher that had been killed in a horrific accident in downtown Wagener,” said Shamrick, who is also a counselor, and some would call an empath.
Shamrick had just started working as a therapist and wished there was something she could do for the family. She felt at a loss as to how she could because she didn’t know the family.
Since the Augusta Con was on the horizon, she focused her energy on painting the Shire from “The Hobbit.” Someone attending the event, recognized what it was and said Shamrick must have painted it for her.
“The way my jaw hit the floor when she went on to explain that she was, in fact, that girl’s mother,” Shamrick said.
The young woman who died loved “all this nerdy stuff,” she said. And the mother hung the painting in her home to honor her daughter’s memory.
“I cried the whole way home. It was then that I knew that art, in its many forms, can help even if I can’t,” Shamrick said.
Shamrick had struggled with imposter syndrome, but that event emphasized the value of what she created and continues to create. Whenever imposter syndrome tries to rear its ugly head, she recalls that incident.
Shamrick, whose real name is Samantha Hamrick, derived her name from blending pieces of both her first and last names. Sometimes, she adds a little shamrock to her signature as a pun.
In addition to her painting, she’s also done inking and painting for William Glover’s Cataclysm Comics.
Shamrick said she has loved comic books and graphic novels most of her life and even had a graphic novel version of the Bible as a child.
“Superheroes have always appealed to me though I truly believe that the everyday person who cares is the true superhero of our day,” she said.
Pop culture and fantasy have also influenced her work including “The Wizard of Oz” and “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Shamrick said true creatives produce original work but can also copy the world around them to grow in their art.
“We do it as kids and we do it as artists learning new concepts and techniques,” she said.
Shamrick said, in addition to copying things they “find cool,” artists copy things that make them feel deeply and that those things are re-expressed in the artists’ own ways or perspective.
Fantasy books and films inspire Shamrick as well.
“Books have this magical way of inspiring a concept without forcing you to see it from anyone else’s perspective. It’s a chance for your own imagination to engage while taking in the story,” she said.
Shamrick’s perspective also aligns with Pablo Picasso’s idea that all children are artists and to remain one is the challenge.
She delayed creating art on a more consistent basis and selling it until 2017. Shamrick entered the “caring professions” pursuing a nursing degree and master’s degree in counseling. She also got married and had a daughter named Rosemary who also has artistic tendencies.
She’s honed her artistic technique through art classes over the years.
Through her art teacher Betty Norton, she learned not to fear watercolor and that many people do because of the lack of control they feel while using it.
Shamrick started art classes with Cindra McCoy at Art Nook in Aiken in 2018, as a way to convince her daughter Rosemary to go.
McCoy’s approach included having them do a mix of various media and switching between each project and that this helped her shake her childhood fear that she would never achieve anything. Rosemary, 16, has her own style, augmenting designs by pinning butterflies and various other insects and into the artform.
“It is the art form that she prefers to work in, though she’s quite an accomplished artist in traditional media as well,” she said.
The mother and daughter have collaborated on several pieces in which Shamrick does the artwork and her daughter pins the butterflies.
Shamrick will be among many other artists at Arts in the Heart of Augusta Sept. 19-21 and at the World Oddities Expo in Savannah shortly after that and has plans to attend various comic cons in South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana next year. She sells prints of her work at the New Moon Café in Aiken and currently has a piece for sale at the Aiken Center for the Arts.
South Carolina author, former teacher and veteran journalist Ron Baxley, Jr. is a social media manager working on a Southern television series. His latest novel, “O.Z. Diggs the Fifth Estate” is available in regional comics shops, bookstores, and gift shops. Reach him at ronbaxleyjr.com.
