Life Inside the Mountain is a vibrant, tactile artwork that reimagines the ancient geological formations of the Canadian Rockies landscapes born from the shifting of seabeds over a billion years ago. Samour’s organisms, covered in eyes, give life to what might otherwise be seen as fossilized remains. These curious, colorful forms invite interaction and wonder, suggesting a living, breathing mountain that looks back at the viewer. Pinned to the wall like a natural history collection, they echo both molecular structures and fantastical creatures. The installation is dynamic and playful, bursting with color and detail. The artwork seemingly is presented as if it is a stepping stone into a child’s dream of what lies beneath the earth.

“Life Inside the Mountain was made during my artist residency at the Banff Centre– located in the Canadian Rockies. I imagined life inside the mountains, fossilized animals and flora pushed up from seabeds and coming alive again; a return to Romanticism when our understanding of the world was predicated on our understanding of nature; a return to the Garden of Eden when man and nature were one. In my invented mountainscape fossils come alive, rock becomes permeable, and hundreds of eyes gaze out at us, as we gaze back at them. I collect these specimens, pinning them down as evidence of their fantastic voyage and proof that I was actually here to imagine it.

I have always been a maker, finding great satisfaction working with my hands and creating something tangible from my imagination. Having grown up in a very creative household—my mother a painter and pianist, my father a chemist—I was encouraged to pursue my artmaking.

I was most comfortable and confident in this space, knowing that despite what might be going on around me, I could trust the process of making.

Art is a visual language that I am grateful to be able to use to speak about issues that I want to explore and share with others. There is great freedom in making art–an ownership of mind, spirit and process that is uniquely mine. I do not consider all of my work successful, but I am motivated and curious enough to make the work and see where it lands.

Being in the world can at times feel very overwhelming. Creating work that I can get lost in, that asks questions, and that tells stories in unexpected ways, generates a world within a world that feels centered and right. I hope that Life Inside the Mountain feels alive and joyful, that while the viewer is looking at it, it is looking at the viewer in shared curiosity and wonder.”

Michelle Samour is a multi-media artist whose work explores the intersections between science, technology and the natural world and the socio-political repercussions of redefining borders and boundaries. Samour has been a Scholar-in-Residence at the Tufts European Center in Talloires, France; an Artist-in-Residence at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Island, ME; the Banff Centre, Canada and P.R.I.N.T. Press in Denton, TX. Samour’s exhibitions include the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA; the Museum of Modern Art in Strasbourg, FR; the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, WI; the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, TX; the Racine Art Museum, WI; and the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA. Samour has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council including a 2014 Fellowship in Drawing, a Society of Arts and Crafts New England Artist Award, and grants from the Cushman Family Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Daynard Fund to study historic papermaking in France and Japan. Samour’s work has been featured in SurfaceDesign, FiberArts and Hand Papermaking magazines, and is included in public and private collections including the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, International Paper Company, and the Meditech Corporation (Matthew Swift Gallery).

In January 2024, the Child Mind Institute moved its headquarters to a new 82,000-square-foot space in Midtown Manhattan. From the beginning, our new home was envisioned not only as a place for clinical care and research, but as a space that feels comforting, human, and inviting for children, teens, and their families. In order to support this vision, CMI established a comprehensive Art Program to foster meaningful engagement between our patients and the artwork around them. Through a thoughtfully curated permanent collection and integrated installations, the program helps create an environment that is stimulating, flexible, and collaborative —a space where we will help tens of thousands of children from 49 states, Washington, DC, and 45 nations over the coming decades and inspire current and future scientists to change the child mental health field as we know it. We hope that the digital archive will give patients and their families further opportunity to explore the collection and learn more about the talented artists that have contributed to our space.