Joe Sam is a contemporary mixed media painter and installation artist. Born on August 17, 1938 in Harlem, New York, he received his B.A. degree in sociology in 1961 from St. Paul’s College in Virginia, his M.S. degree in educational psychology from Columbia University, in New York, and his Ph.D. in education and psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a self taught artist who has been practicing for over 40 years.