Joining me this week, Sam Pooley Stride

Sam is an artist, curator, and founder of @swanhillstudios, a not-for-profit gallery and studio in Shrewsbury.

Before art, Sam spent over a decade in London’s advertising world helping young creatives find their way. she co-founded Cream, a graduate exhibition that launched many creative careers, and the Saatchi & Saatchi Book Club, connecting art directors and copywriters. Later, she led the careers department at NABS, the advertising industry’s charity, supporting people on their creative journeys.

After moving to Shrewsbury, she studied Fine Art at Birmingham School of Art, graduating in 2013, and founded Compost Kids Art School, which ran for six years nurturing children’s creativity.

Now her world revolves around Swan Hill Studios — curating exhibitions, running The Circle, an artist community, and painting whenever she can. Her work is intuitive: experiments in texture, colour and depth that explore the space between expression and escape.

Swan Hill Studios

Sam's Insta

My letterboxd: 

My film Reel Terror: 

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