Growing up I would love to peer over his shoulder while his pencil skitted and slid effortlessly over white paper bringing to life the worlds and creatures of his huge imagination. It was magic to me - his ability to call these things out of his mind and realize them in front of me. I even learned to love the sound of the pen or pencil being pushed and pulled across the surface of the paper. And of course most great artists make appropriate sound effects to accompany their drawings. I mean you have to make exploding noises when you draw a volcano, or growl as you shape the wolves jaws in living ink.
In college they told Sam that no one really makes it in drawing. That his only real hope would be in graphic design, a real job, you know. Later he went to grad school for comic book art. But then Sam realized he could built anything he could draw out of clay.
Now Sam has the gift of cheer (or cheese if you prefer my typos) and an uncanny ability to express his personality in the things he makes. In this way, Sam's work illustrates something about God. Sam's work shows me that God is not an abstraction, an idea, or an argument, but a person with personality, and tangible expression. Sam's dragons breathe out like a warming fire the warm personhood of their maker. They are so shaped in clay by their sculptor as to carry his laughter and joy out of himself and to others.
Sam has an Etsy store (bookmark it, it will re-open and restock) : http://www.etsy.com/shop/samclarkart
I am very proud of my brother for dropping the status quo and persevering to create works of art full of personality, joy, and whimsy. He is participating in the work of Jesus to communicate the reality of God's personal love, hilarity, and imagination. He helps me see again the 'face of reality' and through it to what is ultimately true about the universe: that at it's very core it is sculpted and sustained by a God of fantastic goodness and indestructible joy.
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