Denise M Snyder - Artist Statement and Resume

Commissions:
2013 Church Ranch Marriott, Westminster, Arizona
2010 J.W. Marriott Hotel, Phoenix, Arizona
2009 Sheraton Hotel, Dallas, Texas
2009 Stonebridge Spa, Boston, Massachusetts
2007 St Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2007 Hyatt Hotel, San Antonio, Texas
2006 Hyatt Hotel, Jacksonville, Florida
2004 Camelback Marriott, Scottsdale, Arizona
1999 Wild Buffalo Club, Bellingham, Washington
1998 Bellagio Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

Gallery Representation:
Lucia Douglas Gallery, Bellingham, Washington

Publications:
Adventures NW magazine, Summer 2013, eARTh The Art of Nature
The Cascadia Weekly, Dec 20, 2006, Luminous Nature, Taming the Wild
American Craft Magazine, Feb/March 2002, Aug/Sept 2000, Gallery
Fiberart Magazine, Sept/Oct 1999, Swatches
The Guild Sourcebook for Designers and Architects #12, #14, #19, #22

Education:
2005 Bellingham Technical College, welding for artist, Bellingham, WA
2004 Understanding metals, Ward Lynch, Everson, WA
1988 Apprenticeship with fiber artist Vivika Nygren, Orebro, Sweden
1988 Saterglantan Hjemsloydens Gard, Handweaving, Insjon, Sweden
1981 Western WA Univ., B.S. Ecosystems Analysis, Bellingham, WA

Exhibitions:
2013-14 City of Bellingham, Outdoor Public Art Sculpture, Bellingham, WA
2013 Confluence Gallery, Twisp, WA
2013 Lightcatcher Museum, Nature in the Balance, Bellingham, WA
2013 Allied Arts Gallery, Richland, WA
2012 Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA
2012 Lucia Douglas Gallery, Bellingham WA, three person show
2012 Newport Visual Arts Center, Nest, two person show with Trish Harding
2010-13 Light Catcher Museum, Family Interactive Gallery, Bellingham, WA
2011 Gallery By the Bay, Stanwood, WA
2011 Matzke Fine Arts, Camano Island, WA
2010 Blue Horse Gallery, Bellingham, WA
2008-10 City of Bellingham, Velocity, Outdoor Sculpture, Bellingham, WA
2008 Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle, WA
2008 Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR
2008 Museo Gallery, Langley, WA
2007 Contemporary Gallery, Twisp, WA
2006 Mindport Gallery, Luminous Nature, Bellingham, WA, solo show
2006 Bellevue Art Museum, Looking Forward, Glancing Back, Bellevue, WA
2005 Contemporary Crafts Museum, Looking Forward, Glancing Back, Ptld, OR
2005 Whatcom Museum, Looking Forward, Glancing Back, Bellingham, WA
2002 Teck Gallery, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, two person show w/ Jo Morgan
2001 Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland. International Fiber Art Symp.
2001 Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, solo show
2000 Skagit Valley College, Mt Vernon, WA, solo show
2000 Miniartextil Como, miniature exhibition in Como, Italy
2000 Allied Arts Gallery, two person show with Jo Morgan, Bellingham, Washington
1999 Little Gallery, solo exhibition, Bellingham, Washington
1999 Northwest International Art Competition, Bellingham, Washington, curator: Lloyd F. Herman
1999 Edison Eye Gallery, group show, Edison, Washington, curator: Pamela Richardson
1997 "Upon Reflection 1997" Washington State Trade and Convention Center,
Seattle, Washington, curators: Lloyd F Herman & Vicki Halper
"Fiber Celebrated '97" Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, Colorado, curators: Tom Lundberg, L. Verschoor, Lillian Whipple
1996 American Tapestry Biennial I, a one-year traveling exhibition, curator: Carol K. Russell
1993 "Fiber Celebrated '93",Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, Awarded the Katherine Ramus Award


Denise M Snyder
Artist Statement

Scenes in nature inspire me, scenes that are so much of a part of our inner makeup that we feel a sense of belonging in their presence. These are any number of things and places; a prairie meadow, wheat blowing in a field, the winter skyline through bare tree branches. This is where we come from and what we should stay in tune with. I work to create art whose color, texture and depth makes one feel the spirit of the world out there, the world beyond walls, streets, and us.

I am educated in the environmental sciences at Western Washington University with special emphasis on intertidal marine algae and earned a degree in environmental sciences. To complete this degree I studied and identified the marine algae along the arctic coastline of Mehamn, Norway. It is in Norway that I began to understand the richness of weaving, fine yarns, and tapestry. This understanding is what brought me back to Scandinavia for further study.

In Sweden at Saterglantan Hjemsloydens Gard I studied weaving and apprenticed with the Swedish fiber artist Vivika Nygren. Vivika introduced me to many of the basic elements of what makes fiber art work. I also studied with tapestry artists Marcel Marqois and Marta Roygoska after returning to the United States. Though I will always weave tapestry, it has mostly given way to three dimensional sculptural works. These pieces reflect the immediacy and absolute presence of the natural world for me.

At home in my studio I work with a variety of materials. It may be delicate sheets of paper cut and formed to resemble fields of grass. Sometimes it is tree limbs, whole sections of limbs or bundles of fine branches. I clean them, perhaps peel their bark away, and usually polish or oil them: whatever it takes to bring out their real luster. My question then is, what form should this take to make a statement about its own beauty. A branch suspended from rich fat rope of bright colored yarns may result or possibly tightly wrapped bundles of branches lashed onto a wooden frame. The vivid beauty of the medium is the outcome that I seek.