Samantha S. Roberts Memorial Scholarship

I'm a storyteller when it comes to painting, drawing inspiration from lived experiences. I re-tell these experiences, whether positive or negative, to connect with others while also healing myself. I've focused my recent work on the hardships of my transgender identity for the AP Art Portfolio. While starting my first painting for the series, I grabbed the scenes from my head as if I were re-living them, picturing myself hiding in the bathroom stall while several men stormed in to barate me. I've never painted on a canvas so large, and it was my second time using oil paints. This was an intimidating experience; I felt like I wouldn't be able to complete it on time or that I would fail. Maybe I wasn't strong enough to paint such a scary moment. Instead, this piece helped me grow as an artist, enabling me to overcome my fears. Not only that, it healed me; I no longer thought of the hate crime as a traumatic experience, but as an experience that gave me something beautiful. I used to recall the events and couldn't help but cry; now I think of my painting. I think of how it gave me new experiences, such as winning awards, discovering new human connections, and bringing me to where I am now. Because of the series, I can now study art at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit with a scholarship. This was the first time as an artist that I looked deep within myself to paint. I realized before that I only created things that I thought looked cool or that I liked; I never tried to tell a story. Art made me take that next step, to go further into the unknown, even when I doubted myself. The outcome of this was growth, and I haven't stopped growing since. I also realized that my art, although about trans identity, does not have one meaning but multiple. This came to me after a mother cried over one of my watercolor paintings; she said it reminded her of a faint memory of her son. I felt a fulfillment and connection with the stranger I had just met, knowing that she was able to transform my painting into one of her own stories. These conversations I've had at galleries whilst people view my art gave me a reason to keep going. I want to tell more stories, no matter the medium, and I want to make people feel heard. I used to take my talents for granted, not realizing the power they had. However, it is clear to me that I can create a safe environment for others that I never had while growing up. I can become an advocate for minorities, especially the transgender community. I will use my art to communicate my beliefs in equality, love, and growth. I want to show people that no matter the hardships you've faced, there is always a way to find light. The lesson I learned and the one thing I want to share is that everything good takes time. I would work on communicating my beliefs throughout college and after I've graduated. I want to travel with a remote job, to move from being local and instead become global. I will experience new cultures, meet more people, and learn about traditions. All while sharing the universal language of art. I would love to tell the stories of others as well, and their struggles. I know that I can communicate inclusivity and equality more proficiently when I experience my travels. I hope to continue to grow.

Art has always been more than just a creative outlet for me—it’s been a lifeline. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where violence and generational trauma often cast long shadows over young lives. But from that pain, I found purpose through creativity. Art became the way I navigated difficult moments, told my truth, and inspired others to imagine something better. What inspires me to create is where I come from. I’ve seen my city transformed by murals on worn-down buildings and playground sculptures that make kids feel safe again. I’ve watched classmates in public schools use art to express the love in their homes—even when those homes were struggling. Growing up, I didn’t want to be known just as the “big guy who should play football.” I wanted to show people that I had depth and passion—and that my family and I could create new paths for ourselves. My love for drawing started when I was little. I would grab cardboard boxes from the basement and sketch the Avengers while watching Stan Lee’s videos on YouTube. That led to late nights watching artists like Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane, studying how they made their characters come alive on the page. One of my favorite pieces is a portrait I made of my older brother, Jamal. After we lost him to an overdose, I began working on a comic book that reimagines him as a superhero—someone his kids can read about and remember not for how he passed, but for how he lived. That piece means the world to me because it helped me grieve and gave his children something to hold on to. Art has led to some truly meaningful experiences in my life. It gave me the confidence to express myself when words couldn’t. It helped me cope during times when my dad didn’t answer the phone or when my mom was too tired to say, “I love you.” Most importantly, it reminded me that I am more than my circumstances. When my senior year was filled with grief—losing my brother, missing a life-changing college trip, and having to navigate toxic home conditions—I found healing through both faith and art. One night, I broke down, cried out to God, and finally felt lifted. I realized that if I nurtured my relationship with God and continued to create from a place of truth, I could get through anything. After college, I want to become a professional comic artist and storyteller. I want to use my art to inspire kids who grow up like I did—those who are overlooked, misunderstood, or struggling in silence. I want to show them that creativity is a form of power, and that their voices matter. I want to create stories that honor real people, celebrate resilience, and turn pain into purpose. Art gave me a voice when I needed one the most. It helped me rise above my environment and helped me begin to shape a future I can be proud of. Now, I want to use it to do the same for others.

I am a nineteen-year-old, full-time student at Beloit College. I plan to double major in Studio Art and Education & Youth Studies to one day become an art teacher. Art has always been a form of an escape for me. As someone who struggles with mental health and has a hard home life, art has always been the way to express myself and a way for me to channel all different parts of who I am into physical forms. I love being able to work in all different types of mediums, creating anything I can. When I was very young, drawing and painting were my favorite things to do. As I have grown older, I have expanded my talents into all different kinds of art and have made myself extremely proud of all the work I have done. When I was a senior in highschool I did a 3D art portfolio for my AP Art class. I created ten individual pieces of art, seven of them being miniature dioramas. I earned the highest score of 5 on my portfolio and my theme was Halloween. I have so many fond memories of my experiences with Halloween over the years. It is my favorite holiday and I love all things spooky. I have always put a lot of effort into my Halloween costumes, decorating, and celebrating. I chose this theme and based the whole concept of my portfolio on an old costume of mine. I never wore it for actual Halloween, but I always wore it around the house just for fun, no matter the season or the day. It was the cutest candy corn witch costume. I danced around in it and wore it all the time. I based many of my pieces around the concept of my costume, but one piece in particular I did for my portfolio was an entire diorama of my past Halloween costumes, (candy corn witch included). I spend hours handcrafting every single detail on miniature versions of my costumes and they all looked exactly like the real deal. It looked like I shrunk human sized clothing into 2 inch long doll clothes. I created a diorama of a walk-in closet of sorts with all my costumes hanging on the wall with clothes hangers, along with other decorations such as a spilled candy bowl and some of the props I had to match my costumes on some shelves. It was so fun reminiscing and recreating all of my fondest memories into miniature work. I remember creating my portfolio and being so hard on myself. I never expected to recieve a 5 on my work at all. However, my wonderful teacher always told me that there was no way I would get anything less than the highest score. She encouraged me and gave me so much support in my artistic journey, aswell as all my art teachers before her. My teachers are the reason I want to be a teacher myself. Becoming an art teacher after college, for me, is such an amazing dream I have had for many years. Teachers have always been the reason I am who I am today. When I felt alone, my teachers supported me through everything. Especially my AP Art teacher. She supported me through a very rough time in my life, helping me succeed to the best of my ability. My teachers were always there to aid to my emotional needs when no one else did. I want to be that person for kids like me. When I felt alone, a teacher was there. I want to be there too.

The portraits I do of people will always hold a special place in my heart. I do them of people I love, and people I've only known for as long as they were scheduled to pose in front of me that morning. Finding their features and bone structure and replicating it feels like finding pieces of their story and understanding them as it all comes together with every mark I make on the page. It's an incredible thing to become conscious of the life your subject has lived, and it's even more mind blowing to realize that inanimate objects live full lives as well. It's helped me to appreciate things more, which can be hard when storms of struggle hit. I've found that when struggle does find me, I feel like I'm miles away from civilization. I can't see anything even if it's right in front of me, but even from a stool in the back of the room, drawing makes me feel closer to the world. To people. I could never stress enough how vital this is to me, but as a creative, it's entirely my purpose to find beautiful ways to share the feelings I can't find words to convey. I enjoy exploring all the possible ways you could go about creative expression. A teacher I had liked to make sure we knew that just because we were Illustration majors didn't mean we couldn't touch other art forms. In fact, it was vital that we explored as much as possible and took in everything we could learn about a printmakers process, a painter's workflow, a carpenter's planning. There was not a single person on this earth you couldn't look to and find a different way to look at the process of creation. Realizing this was one of the many special experiences I've had the pleasure of going through while developing as an artist. I realized how vast the world is and how small we are, but when you zoom in on this earth, here we are. We're in every nook and cranny, painting our lives across every block in ways we don't even realize. The color of our house. The flowers on our porch. The bike in our lawn. The wrinkles on our faces. It's incredible. This beauty is infinite, and finding ways to share it is an effort that will transcend my time in college. I am an independent illustrator for now, telling my own stories as I study and learn to do it better everyday. After college, I'd like to be able to continue my practice not only through my own personal work, but through editorial illustration as well as concept art and storyboarding for larger projects under bigger companies. Thank you for offering this scholarship and supporting the arts, and thank you for your consideration!

I'm a girl who very rarely doesn't put blood, sweat and tears into her art. My artwork can vary from traditional art to 3D works, but some of my most valued pieces are my dolls. I'm what people with a similar art interest would call a doll customizer. With this, I take old dolls that have been obviously loved by their previous owner and turn them into my characters. However now, with my growing interest in 3D fabrication, I have taught myself to make my own dolls from scratch giving my characters even more diversity and personalized features. For me, it's a way I can bring the characters I create, which already have a special place in my heart, to life. These pieces are very special to me because I devote a lot of my time to them. They aren't only fun to make but they are also a coping mechanism for me. Creating and working with my hands has always been a way I was able to escape from the world and create my own. They kind of work as pillars holding the wall of my sanity. If something goes wrong with one of my doll projects I notice that my entire mood begins to collapse. I am very much attached to what I create especially when it takes me months to complete a project. This specific hobby has led me to some of the most important development in my overall art journey. Because of doll customizing, I've found a love for 3d printing, laser cutting, designing, resin work and much more. This is another reason I thoughtfully enjoy this hobby. finding new ways to create a thing and make effects that you previously thought were impossible never gets old, never. Because of my love for so many techniques of creativity, I would like to either become a full-time YouTuber, creating cool things and sharing my process with the world and becoming an entrepreneur or work as a prop master making cool fantasy props, beasts, and effects for movies. My plan for my future might change in the next few years but I know something this will not change is my love to create things and my determination to have a job, wheater created by myself or not, that allows me to work with my hands and create cool things that other people can find some sort of enjoyment and inspiration in.