More about our Art & Listening teacher, Samantha Simmons

Samantha Simmons boasts a rich artistic background rooted in visual arts. She holds an MA degree and has further honed her skills through painting workshops in Spain. Additionally, Samantha has an extensive 20-year tenure as an art instructor for children, showcasing her commitment to fostering creativity in others.

Transitioning into the realm of sound installation art and composition, Samantha has made waves in the international art scene. She enriches her artistic practice with diverse cultural influences, splitting her time between Berlin and Los Angeles. Her career highlights include a seven-year residency as a DJ on the freeform radio station WFMU.

Samantha's artistic vision revolves around collaborative sound installations and hybrid compositions, blurring the boundaries between musical genres to challenge established hierarchies. Coming from a painting and drawing background, she listens through a visual lens. When she works with sound, she has a specific idea of how the soundscape could create an aesthetic. Her work pulls from sound memories to create overarching themes inspired by distance, locations, weather, glass, heat, cold, airlines, trains, food, fog, animals, water, and shopping malls. She is interested in exploring the elemental in sound, and expanding on recurring themes of place, weather, and natural elements that she finds in it.

Samantha's contributions to the arts have not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by her accolades, including the prestigious DAAD Performing Arts Award in 2021 and the MusikFonds Award in 2022. These recognitions underscore her innovative approach to sound art and her commitment to pushing the boundaries of artistic expression.