What a Mother Keeps

About the artist

My practice is rooted in materiality, process and the tactile qualities of printmaking. I am particularly drawn to drypoint etching, where mark-making, texture and the physical relationship between plate, ink and paper become central to the work.Through careful observation and experimentation, I explore the expressive potential of line, surface and repetition. My background in conservation continues to influence my approach, informing a close attention to craftsmanship, materials and the subtle traces created through process.

Samantha Foster is a British artist and educator. After completing a BA (Hons) in Furniture Conservation, she worked as a conservator of high class decorative art, paintings and antiquities, developing a detailed understanding of materials, surface and craftsmanship. She later completed an MA in the History of Art & Architecture at the University of Reading, expanding her engagement with theoretical dimensions of visual art.Samantha is currently a teacher of Art and Photography at secondary level, where for the past 16 years she has inspired young artists to explore creative expression through both traditional and digital media. She is now focusing on her own printmaking practice, particularly drypoint etching.

More about Samantha Foster

About the artwork

What a Mother Keeps is an intimate drypoint that explores memory, inheritance and the fragile persistence of care. The image depicts a christening dress suspended against an empty ground, its small scale and intricate surface drawing attention to the labour of both making and remembering. The dress belonged to a friend whose mother was living with dementia and had recently passed away. The garment became more than an object of clothing: it became a vessel for memory, carrying traces of maternal love, ritual, and continuity even as personal history was slipping away. I was drawn to the christening dress because of the emotional weight ordinary domestic objects can accumulate over time. Clothing absorbs touch, gesture, and presence. A christening gown marks a beginning and is often kept carefully for decades, handed down to new generations. Through the slow, tactile language of drypoint, What a Mother Keeps becomes both a portrait of absence and a quiet act of preservation.