Award-Winning Pencil Artist, Samantha Messias, is Using Art to Express, Heal, and Transform Emotion

Regarded as the ‘expert of her craft’ and a visionary artist that has totally changed the global art scene as we once knew it, Samantha Messias is certainly making headlines in her pencil artistry that almost looks as if it was a photograph. Diving into details and adding extra touches that weren’t there in the original image, Messias’ work is totally unique and all its own, winning adoration, awards, and invites to exhibitions around the world.

Some might think that this kind of success and happiness has been the norm for an artist like Samantha Messias. They would be sorely mistaken to learn that her art is a cathartic release and an effort to express, heal, and transform her emotion. In fact, the emotion and darkness that Messias carries is not for the lighthearted, nor for those who are hoping to learn that her rise to artistic stardom has been easy.

It has been anything but that.

Hardship from the Beginning

Born in 1989 in Liverpool, England, Messias was dealt a bad hand. Both of her parents were raging alcoholics and her mother was neglectful. Worse, her father would sexually abuse her before the age of 5, leaving her childhood in absolute ruins. Fortunately, the law interfered and she was adopted into a loving home at age 5, where she bonded with her family until adulthood.

Upon learning that her biological parents had died by the time she was 20, Messias knew she had a new family that loved her even more. That was until both of her adoptive parents passed away due to cancer by the time she was 22. Alone again, Messias turned to her art as a means to channel and express her emotions when at times, there were no words to express what she was feeling.

“The English language can fail us at times, leaving us empty or without an expression that is strong enough to relay what we are feeling,” said Messias. “In my case, the hurt and pain I had endured was so deep and so strong, I didn’t even know how to tell people what resided in my body. I felt it was this burden I was tasked with carrying all by myself.”

The Savior of Drawing

While drawing with a pencil, Messias said that kind of value and present creativity would make it easier for her to get on paper what she was feeling. With each pencil-to-paper movement, she felt like she was processing pain out in a way that made her feel more accepted and understood. Most importantly, it made her feel less alone.

In 2020, the trials were not over yet for Messias. She and her partner suffered the loss of their child at 5 months in pregnancy, leaving Messias heartbroken and at a loss for words again. Although nothing can feel the hurt and aching of a mother’s heart, her drawing pastime was there to collect her yet again. For that, Messias is forever grateful and wants people everywhere to know that art can collect them, too.

For more information, or to work with Samantha, visit: https://www.samanthamessiasart.com/.