Samwise Fox is the cutest kid in town. When he’s not updating his art blog, or nerding out of over Dungeons and Dragons, he’s making pamphlets to explain how people on Women, Infants, and Children(WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) can get fresh produce at the Pittsfield farmers market. He also works with kids at MASS MoCA’s Kidspace.
Hometown: Pittsfield, Mass.
Major: Art
Activities: Treasurer at gaming alliance, video games, tabletop games, I work at MASS MoCA, and I keep an Art Blog called Phoksy@tumblur.com
Relationship Status: Single
What sorts of art do you find yourself making?
“Recently I’ve been into surreal art, just like scribbling on a page, or throwing ink at a piece of paper, or paint on a canvas and just smudging it around and looking away from it for a period of time, and then kind of looking back at it and seeing what it means to me at that period of time then working with that. But on the other side of the spectrum I really like comic book art. I really like drawing dragons, and swords, and super heroes, just inventing characters in worlds that don’t exist.”
So are you a comic book nerd, or a fantasy nerd?
“I would consider myself a comic book nerd, but I don’t read a lot of comics. I read one series of comics, but I like video games and video game art.”
What video games do you like?
“Well I like the classic Gameboy color games, like Pokémon yellow and Super Mario Bros, and I play a lot of Steam games, and I’ve been playing a lot of Undertale, which is a game someone made from Tumblr. It’s this really cute 8 bit game about this human who falls into this underworld. The game is really cool because you don’t have to fight anything. The game is you trying to talk through your problems with monsters. There is this one ghost monster that tries to fight you and it’s sad all the time, and one of your actions is that you just compliment it over and over again, and then it feels better and the monster goes away.”
What about tabletop games?
“I really love Dungeons and Dragons and I started playing that when I was around 14 or 15. I just started a new campaign with the people in gaming alliance. I’m treasurer of gaming alliance, a lot of the games we play are card games like magic the gathering—which I’m obsessed with.”
What is your current D&D character?
“My character right now is a half elf ranger and he’s true neutral, because I see myself as a chaotic good sort of person, but I chose true neutral because this character lacks empathy.”
What attracts you to D&D?
“I like these games because it is a fantasy. It’s a way to unwind, but it’s also a way to connect, and learn different things for empathy and experiencing other differences in perspective, which is what I appreciate about games.”