Local Artist Samantha Haring Dishes About Her New Exhibit

"Pretty much the first time I held a pencil, I knew that this is what I was going to do for the rest of my life," said Samantha Haring. "There's never been anything else that I've felt this passionate about."

Haring, 21, is a local artist whose exhibit, From Italy with Love, is currently on display at the Des Plaines Public Library throughout the month of September. She is a senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a member of the Des Plaines Art Guild. She won a scholarship from the guild in 2007 towards her education at the Art Institute and along with it came a free, one-year membership.  She has been an active member since.

From Italy with Love is Haring's third solo exhibit at the library and consists of 22 oil paintings in a series of 60 that she painted during a six-week course at the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Montecastello Di Vibio, Umbria, Italy this summer.

The tiny, walled city of Montecastello, which has a population of about 250 people, offered more than enough inspiration for the site-specific art that Haring produced during her studies. "Everywhere you look it's a painting," she said. "It's very fairy tale, storybook. It's perfect." Haring considers the representational pieces as more of studies than completed paintings.  "They're more about the color and light than the paint itself," she said.

Haring said staying true to the subjects in the paintings, which were sometimes produced over three hours, was challenging due to the change in light over the course of time allotted to each session.

"When the light changes, the color changes, the shadow changes, everything changes so you have to constantly keep repainting," said Haring. "It's very frustrating but it's a great way to learn. " The change in light also affects the temperature of the colors. "People think of red as a warm color and blue as a cool color," she said. "But there are cool reds and warm blues and it's seeing the difference. I guess I learned to see the difference, which is really helpful because I can be more accurate about painting what I'm seeing."

Nancy Lejman agrees. "She's got a very good eye for color, her colors are just gorgeous, and very much jewel-like-tones," said Lejman, Des Plaines Art Guild membership chairperson. "She studies constantly and it's just amazing how much she produces. She is very dedicated to her art."

Haring readily speaks of her dedication. "I draw all the time," she said. "I never leave home without a sketchbook and pencil."

Marion Kryczka, who teaches drawing and painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago said of Haring, "She's remarkable, a truly talented and dedicated student. She's dedicated to studying the practice of painting, and has intelligent ideas."

Haring has had previous work shown at the Des Plaines History Center, Sullivan Galleries and currently has a piece, Sirens, on exhibit at the Betty Rymer Gallery in Chicago.

Haring's next move is shopping around for Graduate schools. "There a couple of good representational painting schools in New York," said Haring, who is also thinking about Yale and Northwestern.

"The dream used to be to show at a gallery, paint, have work up in a gallery, sell paintings and paint more paintings," said Haring, speaking of life after grad school. "But I think I'd rather use art in a way that's going to affect change in some way. I'd love to be a teacher."

Regarding how some artists strive to be avant garde in their style in comparison to her representational style Haring said, "I make pretty, representational paintings that probably aren't going to get me any kind of world-wide acclaim in my life time, maybe ever and I'm okay with that. I love it and that's why I do it."