About Vanessa Snyder

I have been painting since childhood. Private oil painting lessons, and degrees from the University of Toledo provided educational introductions, but it was many years of art classes at The Toledo Museum of Art that inspired me most. I have been fortunate to be able to work professionally, and my work has been featured in many institutions: Toledo Area Schools and Hospitals, the Metroparks of Toledo, the Detroit Institute of Art, and The Detroit Zoo.

The subjects of my work are as varied as the things that intrigue me. Science calls my name, and I am drawn to historical imagery.  I pivot from subject to subject the same way I listen to music:  Jens Lekman, Dvorak, Andrew Bird, Einaudi, Jeremy Dutcher and an occasional nostalgic sneak back to Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny or Motown childhood memories!

I'm happy to report that I continue to learn and change and hopefully evolve, so my subjects continue to vary. There are a few exceptions.  No mixing of politics and art, because I appreciate nature and humanity so much, including all the beauty and perils and unflattering elements they include. 

From past careers, I still love interpretation; looking at one thing and translating, condensing, or expanding it into another medium. Analogy never disappoints. My aesthetic sensibilities to color are always front and center, so painting is my favorite medium, but language will always be a delicious distraction as well. Titles on the work are either clues, or synopses.

            Global landscapes, botany and zoology, psychology and physiology, microscopic explorations, and invisible subjects all contain the magic I believe is necessary to make art… my umwelten has changed over time with age damn it, So large a universe, so little time.