Deborah Sams

“Much of my work is painted from life - en plein air and in the studio. Light and the abstract contours found in natural surroundings of the countryside and architectural structure in the city are my inspiration. I challenge myself to use as few shapes as possible in defining a rhythm or connection. Composition and value fuel most of my work. My best paintings convey a believability with the goal of giving the viewer a fresh way of seeing and feeling.”
Deborah Sams is a contemporary impressionist painter based in Blowing Rock, NC. She studied at the Washington Studio School and Yellow Barn Studio in Washington, D.C., where she has lived since 1996. In 2024, she began centering her work in the mountains of North Carolina.

Representation
Blowing Rock Frameworks & Gallery, Blowing Rock, NC

Exhibitions
2024
New Artists Show, Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery, Blowing Rock, NC
March Juried Exhibition, Arts Club of Washington, D.C.

Awards and Recognition
2025
Longlisted, Jackson’s Art Prize

2022
First Place Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, Blowing Rock, NC

Deborah Sams is a contemporary impressionist painter based in Washington, D.C. and Blowing Rock, NC. She is inspired by the works of Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Eardley, and the Society of Six: California Colorists, especially August Gay, Selden Connor Gile, and Maurice Logan. Her work Valle Crucis Bees took First Place in the 2022 Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival. Her landscape paintings are presently featured in the 2024 Juried Exhibitions at the Arts Club of Washington.

Before turning her focus to painting, Deborah was a manufacturers’ representative in the furniture industry working with commercial and residential designers. She began her career in development working with arts, educational, and healthcare organizations, and eventually co- founding and leading a national public policy initiative to reform child representation and foster care in the U.S. Deborah has studied at the Washington Studio School and Yellow Barn Studio, and in workshops with Walt Bartman, Aimee Erickson, Sarah Sedwick, Maggie Siner, and Trevor Young.

She is an associate member of the American Impressionist Society and Oil Painters of America. Deborah holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from High Point University, with postgraduate studies in management and organizational development at North Carolina State University, and certifications from the Stanford Social Innovation Nonprofit Management Institute and Harvard Executive Education.