Art education alum, aka “Sticker Sam,” focus of Watercolors documentary

Sam (SJ) Nielsen, an MSUM art education graduate and a watercolor artist and urban sketcher, is the featured artist in a short video that was Local Filmmaker Runner-up at the Minnesota Film Festival. “Watercolors, A documentary about SJ Nielsen” by Kevin Jacobsen of Story North Productions is an ongoing project with funding that will be turned into a longer film as Sam begins to conduct artist-in-residency programs.

A teacher turned full-time artist, she writes on her website how she came to her love of illustration:

I started this watercolor journey in 2014 when my college illustration class had a semester long sketchbook project. We had to fill the entire sketchbook and could only use permanent materials; this is where my watercolor journey began. I fell head over heels for the world of urban sketching, did a sketch every day for a year, and now I often travel with a sketchbook in hand. Most of my work is inspired by Minnesota or my love of travel.

Watch the video. Visit the Art by SJ Neilsen website.