Aristotle probably said it best: The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. SFCJL volunteer and local artist Sam Hunt would likely agree. His recent work in the Frank Residences Friend and Davis Art Studio has allowed him to advise and encourage resident artists in their work and hone his skills by sketching residents and centering their life stories in his portraits.
Sam started volunteering in the art room four months ago at the suggestion of a SFCJL staff member who knew he was looking to do something different. “I’m a people person,” says Sam, “and as I wind down my professional life, I want to grow new connections. I hope that through volunteering at SFCJL, I can maybe do some good and connect to people.”
While he didn’t initially plan to start sketching residents, doing so was Sam’s way of finding, as Aristotle puts it, the inward significance of residents’ lives. “As I connect with SFCJL residents, I’ve started to hear their back stories. I was talking to (a resident) last week. She and her husband both lived here, but her husband went through a sharp decline, going from a very gregarious person to losing that capacity. She found solace and a way through grief in large part through the studio where she could just lose herself in doing her art.” For Sam, that resident’s story helped inform his portraiture process. “(Hers) is such a beautiful story. So much of our lives are lived ‘interiorly,’ and it’s only through our connection to others that we ourselves become defined.”
Sam says he’s reminded when doing a resident portrait that their outward appearance is only a small part of their larger story. “I think the important things that the people who live here can teach me are how to be and how to let go. In my own life I’ve had to let go of some things – I creak a bit more, I’m not as capable, I don’t have the energy I used to. The people (at SFCJL) are farther along in that journey and to see them continue to experience moments of inspiration and joy is inspiring.”