Life & Work with Sam Temple

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Temple.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in rural Georgia and discovered art and my own creativity at a very young age. I grew up attending art classes, going to art camps, having art mentors, and eventually pursuing a graphic design degree in college. I decided to drop out of college (…in my last semester) to move to Los Angeles, as my last semester was heavily impacted by the start of the pandemic. I made the choice to leave in pursuit of a packaging design job position that I had accepted in LA.

I got laid off only a few months into the position and only a few months into being in this brand-new city! As you could imagine, I was absolutely terrified as a then 22-year-old. As someone who has always been a major hypochondriac and someone with sensorimotor OCD, a pandemic was absolutely my worst nightmare. It took a horrific toll on me, and I decided to start seeing a therapist about my severe anxiety.

Art had always been an outlet for me growing up, and it had been something that I had lost touch with when my anxiety became nearly debilitating at the start of the pandemic. It took almost a year of therapy to feel like I even had the strength to pick up my pencils again or try to get inspired. The creative block I was facing, and I’m sure many others faced during this time, made me feel like I had lost it. I wasn’t “a creative” anymore. I felt hopeless and so disconnected from my identity.

A year and a half into therapy and the pandemic, I realized that I had an incredible amount of notes taken from my therapy sessions. This was the first time I felt inspired in years – to put my mental images with my therapy notes and self-affirmations onto paper.

I created three pieces that I called the “Things I Learned in Therapy” series that corresponded with the three main themes or triggers of my anxiety – existential anxiety, health anxiety, and fear of losing control. It started with my piece called “Metamorphosis”, which is comprised of all my affirmations for when existential anxiety ruled my mind. This piece focuses on the ability to change one’s mind and perspective on life – even when you think it’s absolutely impossible. The second piece, “Body and Mind”, is a piece focused on health anxiety and the hardships of overcoming it (especially in a global pandemic). Each drawing in this piece represents different aspects of my health anxiety – the heart due to my fear of heart attacks, the “mind/body” representing the feeling of mind over body, and the ice because of the positive impact of cold therapy that I experienced. The last piece of the series, “Window of Tolerance”, is a conversation about the fear of losing control and the discomfort we experience with uncertainty.

During this time, I found the importance of practicing gratitude and self-compassion was absolutely crucial to my healing journey. I decided to open my online print shop, samtemple.shop, to share these as well as some other art pieces of mine with those also on a similar journey.

Nothing makes me feel more whole than knowing that over 500 people on a healing journey own these prints. I often hear from therapists, doctors, teachers, nurses, and school counselors that have ordered these prints that they’re great visual reminders of affirmations for their clients, patients and students, which is exactly what they’re intended to be.

I can’t stress enough how much I thought I couldn’t be helped. Rediscovering and falling back in love with art was life-changing at a time I needed it most. Being on the other side of things from where I was a year or so ago, I’m so glad I decided to show up for myself.

I now run my online print store, samtemple.shop, while also working as a Creative Director and Production Designer at The H3 Podcast. I strive to find a way to exercise my creativity every single day, whether it’s doing a 10-minute doodle or making a lampshade out of film negatives. I plan on continuing my journey of self-discovery through art and sharing it with the world.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was a rough road at first, but being on the other side of where I was three years ago, things are much smoother than they were and the inspiration flows to me a lot easier than it had. My own personal mental health was a huge obstacle, adjusting to adulthood as a fresh college dropout alongside the struggles of starting a business during the pandemic. Even learning HOW to start a business alone came with its own set of challenges, but thankfully I found incredible mentors that helped me graciously during the beginning stages.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in digital art, graphic design, and colored pencil drawing. I own an online store, samtemple.shop, where I sell prints of my work. I am most proud of my print series, “Things I Learned in Therapy”, as it’s an incorporation of affirmations and visual art.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Finding a mentor was absolutely crucial for my success. My best advice would be to find someone that is successful in what you’d like to do and who is also someone realistic to get in contact with. When I decided I wanted to open my online store, I consulted with a friend that has had great success in marketing their art. Early on in my art career, a few times a year I would hire creatives from RookieUp to do portfolio reviews and this was a major help in strengthening my portfolio for design positions.

Contact Info:

• Website: samtemple.shop
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samtemp1e/?hl=en 

Image Credits
Christina Posztos, @forhysterics on Instagram