Name
Samaya Glazier-Bae

Brain Tumor Type
Craniopharyngioma

Date of Diagnosis
November 2019

Participant Group
Brain Tumor Survivor / 13 - 20 Years of age

Category
Drawing/Painting/Printmaking/Chalk Art

Artist Statement (include type of art, techniques & materials used, what it means to you)
“Blooming”
11x14 , Acrylic & Oil Paint,Dried Flowers, Gold Leaf, and varnish on paper.

I first started out by painting a portrait that had different layers of undertones. I layered complimentary colors into the skin tone. Next, I made the facial features more distinctive through shadow. After that, I loosely covered up the portrait with a silhouette of the face and used an abstract approach for the hair including an analogous color palette. Finally, I added gold leaf and dried flowers to add more complimentary accents. To add finishing touches I went over the flowers and gold leaf with varnish.

I love working with abstract portraiture because I can capture the emotion through the color and mixed media.

This artwork symbolizes peace, being comfortable in one’s body, and seeing oneself as beautiful. When you give yourself the proper care, you are able to bloom into a beautiful being.

I see it as a metaphor for a seed growing into a blossom. Seeds have to undergo extreme conditions and overcome the challenges of nature to bloom.

Artist Bio: Tell Us Your Story
Samaya, 13, is a young passionate artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She showed great enthusiasm and focus for art at an early age. Samaya would become immersed in her projects and always felt at home with her art.

As Samaya and her work has matured, she tends to gravitate toward portraits of people and animals. She loves to create her own art which is expressive with color. Her favorite mediums are watercolor and acrylic as well as multimedia projects.

Samaya is a survivor of Craniopharyngioma and was diagnosed in 2019 when she lost her eyesight and became very ill. She is now in recovery with lingering medical challenges but has regained 100% of her sight and her “art spirit”. Art is an incredibly healing process for her. This is her fifth year participating in Raymond Wood’s Art of Surviving. She has won in her age group, for “People’s Choice” and “Judges Choice” in the past. She is honored to participate again with so many amazing artists and survivors.

She has shown her work and/or sold her work at Brooklyn arts events: Brooklyn Children’s Museum 2018, Artmageddon 2021-2024, DUMBO Arts Festival 2023 Mural Collaboration with the public, Summer Street Fair in Brooklyn, and Brooklyn Winter Fair 2023. She enjoys making commissions for friends, family, and fans that find her through her events and networks.

It is Samaya’s wish to pursue a creative life in the Arts. While her path has not been easy, art has helped to light her way. May her work bring some hope and color into your day. She is grateful to Creatively Wild and her primary teacher Sally Novak for teaching her and instilling in her confidence and love of the craft.