Samuel Swap first started telling stories as a camp counselor at Bushy Hill Nature Center, his first job. During his days working there and in high school, the photographers that lined the pages of National Geographic drove him to pick up a camera and begin documenting the shorelines of his hometown, and the way his campers interacted with the natural world he taught them about. Upon graduating and going to college at the Hartford Art School, Sams drive to tell stories only grew. While being exposed to more artistic mediums than he could imagine, Sams influences began to shift, grow, and contort. Through the college radio station he was the creative director of, he documented the lives of the underground music scene pre and post covid (of which it slashed a saber directly through the direct center of Sams college experience), and while studying photography, Sam found a love for a medium that felt the world truly open up to him: Illustration. At some point, Sam switched out his every day carry film camera for a sketchbook, and became obsessed with the stories that could be told with the medium of the line from a pen chock full of ink.
It was at this point Sam began to feel all the influences he draws from across all mediums begin to coalesce into his grand vision: telling stories that help relate the people whos voices may not be heard to the creatures and land in our world that has no voice to advocate for itself. Visually drawing from the works that he grew up reading, from Bill Watterson’s flawless pen, ink, and watercolor work in Calvin and Hobbes (paired with the wit that could sharpen a steak knife), and the overwhelming detail of Walter Wicks ISPY and Martin Hanfords Wheres Waldo series. While studying abroad in Italy his senior year, this obsession was only deepened upon viewing the countless middle ages paintings packed to the brim with religious allegory, namely Pieter Brueghel and Heiryonimous Bosch(admittedly, not Italian), Sam began to seriously study the work of Wimmelbilderbuch, the German phrase for childrens illustration packed to the brim with detail. Upon returning to complete his senior year, it had felt like a Bosch style character had descended from the heights of purgatory to deliver him his message and duty; use your wit, artistic style, education career, love for the outdoor world, and create something for kids today to counter the digi-slop that seems to be creeping around every corner, and help them understand and appreciate the natural world around us.
Upon graduating, Sam started up Third Cat Press, an independent self publishing venture to publish his own children's books. In 2024, Sam published The ABCs of BATs, and alphabet adventure exploring his favorite nocturnal navigators, mainly meant to pay tribute to the bats that flew around his local pond growing up. As well, Sam began working as an educator at Old Lyme’s Florence Griswold Museum as well, using his wealth of experience as an educator and an artist to help the next generation learn to express themselves. While there, Sam discovered the work of Thomas Nason, a prolific Wood Engraver from Old Lyme. Upon seeing the detail that could be achieved, Sam began to obsessively study the art of wood engraving and perfecting his own carvings. Now drawing from the Naturalist perspective of the Old Lyme Art Colony, Sam continues to use art as a way to communicate and advocate for those in the natural world that have no voice to speak for themselves.
