Randall Sahmie Jr. can’t be pinned down to one art form. “I can find inspiration anywhere,” he said when asked. He’s mostly a photographer, sometimes a painter, occasionally a filmmaker. He’s done stunts, dabbled in writing, even pottery. Randall’s wife Cheri Sahmie pointed out that he has natural gifts, “He can throw the perfect pot without a pottery wheel.” By day, he works as an electrician. By night, art is what keeps him moving forward.
That passion runs in his blood. His father was a prolific artist and Randall Jr. grew up following close behind him to shows and studio showcases across the Southwest. He remembers his childhood not in years but in artworks. “I can look at one of my dad’s pieces and tell you where we lived, when he made it and what was going on at the time,” he said. For him art has been a major part of his life since the very beginning.
For the Sahmies it’s also what creates community. Randall sits on the Winslow Arts Council, where he helps bring life to the annual Winslow Arts Festival and where you’ll often find him and Cheri side-by-side selling their work in multiple events throughout the year. Most recently, he helped put on FAB Fest, a blues festival honoring Tommy Dukes, Winslow’s own blues legend and celebrating the town’s unique food and arts culture.
Cheri’s journey looks different but points to the same truth—that art is how you connect, how you tell a story. Also an electrician, she paints, she designs costumes and builds special effects. She remembers the first spark: being handed an old film camera by her grandmother, waiting with excitement for the prints to come back from the developer. “I remember getting so excited going to Walmart to get the film developed not knowing how it would come out,” she said.
Years later, they launched More Than a Corner, a community photo project that handed film cameras to beginners and set them loose. Participants shot with black-and-white film, developed it by hand in a portable darkroom, then scanned the results digitally.
“Almost everyone who participated fell in love with photography,” Randall said proudly. “And some of them are professionals now.” He pushes back on the saying of those who can’t do, teach. “When you teach, you actually get better than when you’re just working alone,” he said.
Together, the Sahmies thrive on collaboration. They’ve competed three times in the State 48 Film Festival, where teams are given a prompt and 48 hours to make a short film. Last year, they placed third. For Randall, the bloopers are the best part. For Cheri, it’s the details; the costumes, the effects, the illusion that sells a story.
Now they’re channeling all of that into Broken Focus Studio, located at 200 W. Second St. in Winslow. “We wanted a place that could work as a workshop,” Cheri said. The space is a gallery where art is for sale, but also a teaching space. In one corner, shelves of photography and art books form a small library, meant for anyone to sit, flip pages and spark ideas. The vision is clear: a place where art isn’t just displayed but passed on, where another generation of storytellers can find their own voice.
“All forms of art are just reinterpretations of other forms of art,” Cheri said. “It’s all storytelling.”
Broken Focus Studio opened its doors last Saturday and the Sahmies say they plan to keep it open on weekends as they both still currently juggle day jobs, with the space available most days since the space is shared with Yancey Katoney’s Spotted Toad Tattoo Shop. All are welcome to learn, create and be inspired.
