Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Dunne.
Hi Samantha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The Ugly Art Studio has been my life’s work, coming together one experience at a time. I feel incredibly proud and lucky to have been in business for 8 months, pioneering a mission-driven art studio and trying to bring more good into the world. My story starts with the values I was raised with as a child growing up in Wisconsin. My parents were, and still are, are true examples of “love-thy-neighbor”, always helping others without question or judgement, and defining what community building means through their actions. They raised me to give what I can to help others, to always seek creative solutions to problems big or small, to be resourceful and make the best out of what I am given, and to take care of ourselves and our Earth through stewardship and wellness practices.
This wholesome, open-minded, and compassion-filled upbringing supported me as I found my love for the visual arts in grade school, and nourished that love until it became my life’s passion. I went to college for Art Education at Edgewood University, a values-driven institution in Madison, Wisconsin, where I graduated summa cum laude with a double degree in Art and Global Culture, and a full degreeload of Arts Education courses under my belt. Upon graduating, it was clear to me that I wanted to have a career in the arts, but the k-12 teaching environment did not inspire me. So my boyfriend at the time (now husband) and I picked up and moved to Australia, where I passionately pursued and completed my master’s degree in Architectural Science – Sustainable Design at the University of Sydney. It was an amazing program that combined my love for design, care for the environment, and my desire to do good in the world – just as my parents taught me.
I worked in the field of sustainable building design for 4 years, diving deep into topics of product toxicity, the impact of design on health and wellbeing, and global sustainability frameworks. Although I felt passionate and fueled by this work, the analytical and compliance-orientated nature of the field caused the passionate artist in me to slowly wither away, until I realized that my wellbeing was severely impacted. I knew I had to make a drastic change. In 2019, we were living back in the US when I quit my job in sustainable design, and began again as an artist. I started teaching as an Adjunct University Instructor, which I continue to do today, alongside running The Ugly Art Studio.
My reintroduction to the arts felt like a homecoming. I taught for two years before I started to once again feel the pull to do more – this time, to re-engage with sustainability and wellness. It was although I couldn’t have the arts without sustainability, or sustainability without the arts. In my rigorous search for connection and answers, I stumbled upon the book, Your Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. This book changed my life – it was the catalyst. Magsamen and Ross explain the scientific connection between aesthetic experiences (like making art, listening to music, dancing, etc.) and health and wellbeing, sharing the research that continues to prove that art has a direct and significant impact on our bodies and minds.
Suddenly, my core values from childhood – creativity, wellness, sustainability, and doing good in the community – all seemed to coalesce. I have always lived by these passions, but the magic happened when they began to intersect. A picture of my future was being painted effortlessly before me, and I knew exactly what I was being called to do. On April 15, 2025, which also happened to be World Art Day, I established my art-for-wellbeing business – The Ugly Art Studio was born.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having only launched in April of this year, we have been learning and growing at what feels like the speed of light. The more we learn about the field of Arts in Health and better understand our clients’ needs, the more we adapt and refine. As a start-up company in a budding field, we have a lot of growing pains, but we intentionally embrace each situation with a learning mindset. As an artist and a teacher, I know the importance of the design process, which also happens to apply to business development too: information gathering, ideation, prototyping, testing and evaluating, then realizing. We incorporate this design process philosophy into how we run the business, so that we can create services and offerings that truly answer the needs of our community.
One struggle that I am currently navigating is funding. The company is run out of pocket, so we are taking slow and steady steps forward, ensuring that we are growing sustainability and building a strong foundation upon which to grow. My dream is to have studio locations nationwide, but this will take time and thoughtful planning.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Ugly Art Studio is an arts-in-health initiative providing creative engagements for healthcare, workplaces, and community groups — with a mission to reimagine artmaking as a trusted tool for health and wellbeing. We’re here to disrupt the traditional art world, broaden what’s possible in healthcare, and change the way people think about creativity.
We believe art belongs to everybody, regardless of age, ability, background, or skill level. Creativity shouldn’t be reserved for trained artists or those who can paint a “pretty picture.” Our work fills the space between fine art and clinical art therapy, opening the door for more people to access the proven benefits of making art. Research shows that the impact comes from the act of making, not the final product, so we design experiences that remove stigma and make it genuinely easy to use art as a wellness practice. At the heart of it all is a desire to do good in the world by making creativity more human, accessible, and connected to how we care for ourselves and each other.
To realize our mission, we partner with workplaces, communities, and healthcare providers (including hospices, assisted living communities, and hospitals, etc) who want to bring meaningful, science-backed creative engagement to the people they serve. We’ve organized art activities for bereavement groups, designed custom art kits for hospital patients, and facilitated process-art workshops for team-building events. And for the public, we offer 10 different art kits from our website, so anyone can get started creating right away.
All our offerings are wellness-based and turnkey. We handle the research, design, and assembly so the art activities arrive ready to use — no prep, no stress. Our turnkey experiences include:
-Art Kits with all the supplies needed to begin
-Activity Guides with step-by-step instructions, images, and Pinterest inspiration boards
-Spotify Playlists intentionally crafted to support mood and wellbeing
-Eco-friendly, non-toxic supplies that are safe and accessible
-Low-barrier activities designed to make art feel easy, enjoyable, and open to everyone
I’d love to share a testimony from one of our clients. We recently curated an Art Workshop Kit for a hospice bereavement group in South Florida. The kit included supplies for 15 participants to create mosaic memorial candles in honor of their loved ones who had passed. We shipped the art kit to our clients, and they facilitated the workshop. When the workshop ended, our client send us this note: “That was the most beautiful, perfect workshop that I’ve led thus far in my 7 years doing this. You made it so easy and so simple for the Art Therapist to facilitate, not having to worry about supplies and projects. She could come in at the last minute and was able to facilitate such a beautiful healing night that was perfectly curated – you thought of absolutely everything. Everything was absolutely beautiful, so detailed, and so perfect. It gave everyone a safe space to open up and share.”
We’re incredibly honored to do this work and to reimagine what arts engagement can look like for health and wellbeing. At the heart of our mission is a simple belief: you don’t have to be an artist to create something meaningful and uniquely your own, and we’re here to make that process easier and more accessible for everyone. At The Ugly Art Studio, we’re spreading the word far and wide — art doesn’t have to be good to be good for you!
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
It’s hard to choose just one! I feel as though I am constantly learning, and that’s one of my favorite things about being an artist and entrepreneur. But if I were to choose just one, I would say the most important lesson I’ve learned along this journey is: Don’t come in with the answers, come in with questions. If you learn to ask good questions and listen openly and honestly to the answers, you will gain far more than by assuming you know it all. And among those questions asked, one of them should always be “what can I do to help?”
I’ll sprinkle in my second favorite lesson too: Positive change can happen through creativity, resourcefulness, and dedication, when led with a pure heart and with a clear direction. Change is possible, inevitable actually, and we have the power to steer that change towards good.
Pricing:
- Art Workshop Kits: starting at $20 pp
- Facilitated Art Workshops: starting at $35 pp
- Custom Art Kits for Organizations: we work with your budget
- Direct to Customer Adult Art Kits: prices vary, starting at $30
- Direct to Customer Kids Art Kids: prices vary, starting at $20
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.uglyartstudio.com
- Instagram: @ugly.art.studio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theuglyartstudio
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/UglyArtStudio/
