Everything happens for youARTWORK BY
SAM JUAN
LARGE-SCALE ABSTRACT PAINTINGS ROOTED IN BREATH, PRAYER, AND THE BODY'S RETURN.
Samantha Juan is a multidisciplinary artist whose work moves through abstraction, color, gesture, and present-tense attention.
Her current paintings are large, layered, and alive with botanical forms, bold movement, and the physical trace of emotion moving through the body.
This is not art made to explain the past. It is work made from presence.
THE BODY IS WHERE THE WORK BEGINS.
My paintings begin before language.
They begin with breath, tension, irritation, joy, grief, prayer, movement — whatever the body is honest enough to reveal before the mind tries to manage it.
I work in layers, often beginning with fast, instinctive marks before allowing form, color, and rhythm to emerge. Floral and botanical shapes often appear through the process, not as decoration, but as evidence of something opening.
The work is abstract, but not detached. It is physical. Devotional. Feminine. Unapologetically alive.
I am less interested in making paintings that need to be decoded than paintings that can be felt before they are explained.
PAINTING HONESTLY
Plant medicine may have helped me walk through the door, but it is painting that is teaching me how to stay.
CURRENT BODY OF WORK
01
Release
Acrylic on Canvas 20 × 16
02
Nothing to Prove
Acrylic on Canvas 24 × 18
03
Beyond the Edge
Acrylic on Canvas 56×58
04
Free to Grow
Acrylic on Canvas 24×36
05
Untethered
Acrylic on Canvas 62 × 24
06
What Remains
Acrylic on Canvas 62 × 30
07
Like a Dream
Acrylic on Canvas 36 × 48
08
&kisses
Acrylic on Canvas 32x40
09
DREAMING
Acrylic on Canvas 16 × 20
10
EMOTION
Acrylic on Canvas 92 × 100
11
HAZY
Acrylic on Canvas 16 × 20
12
HUDDLE
Acrylic on Canvas 24 × 62
13
HUGS
Acrylic on Canvas 32 × 40
14
JOY
Acrylic on Canvas 54 × 72
15
THE COMMUNITY
Acrylic on Canvas
16
LIFE
Acrylic on Canvas 16 × 20
17
NEIGHBORHOOD
Acrylic on Canvas 50 × 50
18
RESONANCE
Acrylic on Canvas 36 × 72
19
RISING
Acrylic on Canvas 16 × 20
20
RUSHHOUR
Acrylic on Canvas 50 × 72
21
SENSATION
Acrylic on Canvas 16 × 20
22
VIBRANCE
Acrylic on Canvas 24 × 60
23
WATCHERS
Acrylic on Canvas 92 × 100
INSIDE THE STUDIO
My working studio is located at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia. If you’d like to come down and view the work in person, you’re more than welcome to during our business hours. I also take private viewings for serious buyers.
My working studio is located at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia. If you’d like to come down and view the work in person, you’re more than welcome to during our business hours. I also take private viewings for serious buyers. ttps://www.workhousearts.org/
9518 Workhouse Way Lorton, VA 22079
Hours
Wednesday - Saturday, 11am-6pm Sunday, 12pm - 5pm
2nd Saturday of the month, 11am-9pm
ARTIST CV
Education
2025 Visionary Arts Painting Intensive, Alex and Allyson Grey, Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Wappingers Falls, NY
2019 MLA - Liberal Arts, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
2015 BFA – Drawing and Design, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
Solo Exhibitions
2026 In Bloom, Book Hill Gallery, Georgetown, DC (Upcoming)
2026 Unbound, Tabernacle Whitebox, College Park MD
2014 Surf The Rainbow, Taste Unlimited, Virginia Beach, VA
Group Exhibitions
2026 The Veterans Experience Through Art, McCord Gallery and Cultural Center, Palos Park, Illinois
2026 Strength in Stories, Arlington Artist Alliance, Arlington, VA
2025 AllTru Gala, The Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA
2022 Working on My Masterpiece, Austin, TX
2018 Art and Chocolate, Lofty Spaces, Dallas, TX
2018 TVAA New Members Show, Dallas, TX
2015 D’art Center, Norfolk, VA
2015 Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Norfolk, VA
2014 Intro to Compass Reading, Alchemy NFK, Norfolk, VA
2014 Surf and Sands, The Artist’s Gallery, Virginia Beach, VA
2014 Student Juried Art Show, Baron and Ellin Gordon Galleries, Norfolk, VA
2013 Halloween Showcase, Jerry’s Artarama, Virginia Beach, VA
2013 Fabulous Forgeries, The Artist’s Gallery, Virginia Beach, VA
Print Media
2026 What The Uniform Rewarded, Veteran Breakfast Club Magazine, Print (upcoming)
2026 My Body Knew Before I Did, Brown Sugar Magazine, Print
2026 The Survival Skill the Army Rewarded That Followed Me Home, Troop Insight. Published Essay
2025 Everything Happens For You Memoir (in progress)
2025 I Left The Military and Tried to Heal, But I Was Unraveling. This Helped me Reset. Published Essay, The War Horse News
2014 Excavate: Unearthing Artistic Skeletal Remains, Out of Step Books Publishing
Online Media
2026 Veteran Archives Podcast
2026 Veteran Led Podcast
2026 Still Serving Veterans Podcast
2026 Still Serving Podcast, VFW
2025 Combat Veteran to Storyteller, MisFit Nation Podcast
2025 Psychedelics in the Trump Era, One Thing Podcast, CNN
2025 Healing Veterans Globally: Psychedelic Approaches Panel, Global Psychedelics Week
2025 Ibogaine Therapy for Veterans Interview with DAV
Two-Person Exhibitions
2014 Cure Coffeehouse, Norfolk, VA
Grants/Awards
2026 DAV Disabled Veteran of the Year
2014 Pat Tillman Foundation Scholarship
2014 Navy SEAL Foundation Scholarship
2014 Army Women’s Foundation Legacy Scholarship
2014 Harvey Ronald Saunders Memorial Endowed Scholarship
How To Order / Buy Art-
Share the space, desired size, general palette, timeline, and what drew you to the work.
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We discuss the emotional direction, practical needs, and alignment of the commission with my current practice.
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The painting develops through layered mark-making, breath, prayer, color, and intuitive response.
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Once complete, final images are shared before pickup or shipping arrangements are made.
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Each work is released with care, intention, and any relevant documentation.