Neighbor Featured Artist #11: Gary Sams

ART THAT MAKES YOU SMILE

I hope you will enjoy the images accompanying this column as much as I have. Quite often, artists are accused of taking themselves too seriously. For Gary Sams, though, a good sense of humor is not only part of what motivates him to create, it is an essential tool for the medium he prefers. The phrase “luck of the draw” can be traced to card games. In Gary Sams’ case, it not only describes what he does so well but might even appear in one of his creations.
Gary Sams is one of your artist/neighbors whose roots are deep in Northeast Tennessee. Born and raised in Greene County, he has spent most of his life and career here, married his high school sweetheart, and has been part of giving two more generations to the region in his children and grandchildren. He is a graduate of Greeneville High School and served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1974. Although he is a pretty low-key fellow, who doesn’t do a lot of bragging about his talent as an artist, chances are you’ve seen some of his work in Greeneville. For three years in the ‘90’s he produced limited edition calendars with his drawings of Greeneville’s historic buildings and sites as subject matter. The calendars, of course, are long since out of date. But Gary’s images were so evocative that the pictures from those calendars still hang in many of Greeneville’s businesses to this day.
In our conversation, Gary told me that he doesn’t recall being creatively inspired by other artists but gives his mother credit for recognizing his drawing talent at an early age. “At five or six I would tag along with her to her women’s meetings,” he says. “I was kind of shy so she would give me pencils and cards to draw on.” Over time it became a habit for him to draw on whatever was handy. In school, this gained him quiet support from his teachers. “I was a doodler in class when I got bored. I had one teacher who would assign me to draw whatever president we were studying in her history class.” Since his childhood, pen and ink has been Gary’s preferred medium. His only formal training, other than a couple of weeks training with Johnson City legend Urban Bird, was one high school class in mechanical drawing. It was during his service in the Navy that his talent took definite shape. “I had a captain who asked me to illustrate pamphlets for him and to create visual aids for him to use in doing presentations. Just before my discharge I crossrated to Draftsman Illustrator. But that wasn’t what I really enjoyed. I got my fun from doing cartoons.” Gary noticed that All Hands, a Department of the Navy magazine, was holding a contest for cartoons. He submitted two entries, gaining a second place and honorable mention. “One of the side benefits of this was that my ship mates would ask me to do caricatures. Today I do something similar for my hunting buddies.”
Gary’s first serious approach to his illustration came after his discharge from the Navy. “For a short while I worked at the old Magnavox plant in the mail room. This was when I started doing pen and ink drawings and selling them in limited edition prints. Before long, they were publishing my cartoons and other artwork in the company magazine.” At this same time, being back home with an avid interest in hunting and fishing brought another dimension to Gary’s creativity. “Overall, my work mainly deals with the outdoors and the simple beauties of nature that we often overlook.” He found that being out hunting or fishing with friends was very much like his years in the Navy as an experience of comradeship well seasoned with humor. “You spend a lot of time waiting in tree stands while you’re hunting,” he says. “Sometimes an idea for a cartoon came from one of my hunting buddies doing something stupid. But there’s also an awful lot of nature going by while you’re waiting and a lot of that is pretty funny, too.” In addition to his limited edition calendars with historical subjects, Gary has also produced cartoon calendars for hunting magazines. His work has appeared in Archery World, Bowhunter, Boar Hunter, Beard and Spur, and Buckmasters. “Currently, Rack and Tennessee Valley Outdoors publish my work on a regular basis,” he says.
Looking ahead to retirement a few years down the road, Gary would like to explore painting in oils and acrylics, a departure from the black and white expression that has characterized most of his creativity. “I have only done one limited edition print in color,” he says. “I’ve got an acrylic and an oil painting that were inspired by my study with Urban Bird.” But for the most part, Gary’s work is meaningful because it is a product of relaxation. “The ideas for my cartoons just pop into my head when I’m thinking about something else,” he notes. “My creative blocks happen when I’m trying to force ideas to come. That’s one reason I find the work in oil and acrylic kind of stressful. The cartoons happen spontaneously, and can be sketched out with whatever’s handy. They’re a natural part of what I do for enjoyment.”
It is his belief that “cartoons are relaxing” that makes Gary Sams’ work delightful fun apart from his tremendous talent for drawing. If you haven’t had a chance to see this side of his creativity before, it’s a pleasure to introduce it to you. Gary’s evocative historical images are also available in limited editions prints. As part of the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Collection, his work can be obtained locally and is displayed with both pride and affection at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.