Thanks for visiting Grace Snidow Art.
Grace
Griffin Snidow was raised on a ranch in the mountains in Western New
Mexico. Being a country girl was one of the things that drew her to
Gordon Snidow and his accurate portrayal of the ranch life in which she
lived.
For the past 23 years, Grace has dedicated her
life and love to Gordon Snidow and his art. She says “there is no better
artist in the world. He is amazing in all aspects of design, color and
has an uncanny ability to capture the spirit of all he paints”. She
calls herself the curator of his work, as she has studied his art,
listened to his stories behind each piece and has been essential to the
marketing of his original works and print business. When the journey
began in 1993, she was instrumental in arranging works for a
retrospective show at the Smithsonian in Washington DC as well as both
bringing together the latest book “My Story” and a production at the
Spencer Theater in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
Grace resides in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
ABOUT GORDON SNIDOW AND HIS ART
In 1959, after receiving a Bachelors Degree in Art from the Art
Center College of Design, in Los Angeles, Gordon had a career
decision to make, whether to go into advertising art or to follow
his dream of painting the West. At the time, no market existed for
realism, let alone Western Art. He decided to follow his dream.
Again he had a decision to make. The choice was whether to paint the
Old West of the past, which he had no first-hand knowledge, or to
chronicle the story of the Contemporary West. He chose the
Contemporary West.
If Gordon painted the people and
experiences while visiting ranches, then the ideas and subjects of
the paintings would be his and accurate. He thought it was important
to record the American West as he witnessed it. Being an eyewitness
to a period of the history of the west, he portrayed real cowboys,
working on real ranches. He accurately showed their lives and times.
He realized that their story continued after the settling of the Old
West. He wanted to tell their story.
Gordon eventually saw the West as more
than ranching and the American Cowboy. He began to do paintings
which included American Women, Graffiti, the Homeless, Wildlife,
Vietnam Vets, and others, while still painting the American Cowboy.
Because of this, he is now better known as a painter of Western
Americana.
To Gordon Western Americana means the expanded
reality of the Contemporary West. A West that is not romanticized in
art, as is the Old West, but the real West of today. Why realism?
Since he was painting real people and animals, he wanted to show
various types in order to better express his painting ideas. For
over fifty years, he has painted the Contemporary American West as
it is, unvarnished.
It was quoted about Gordon in the 1997
National Cowboy Hall Of Fame and Western Heritage Center’s Prix de
West catalog, quote; “He is a historian who records his time in
pictures rather than words, and as Russell and other in-their-time
“contemporary” chroniclers of the West are seen today as painters of
the “historic West”, so Snidow will be seen in the future. And as
his philosophical perceptions of the work he does and his place in
the world of western art have evolved and changed, so have the
subjects of his paintings. Although still painting the part of
Americana that has brought him recognition – the contemporary
American cowboy at work and play – Snidow is recording other aspects
of his time.”
As a charter member of the Cowboy Artists
of America, Gordon served in every office of the organization,
including three times as President. While an active member, he had
the privilege of competing with such artists as Clymer, Lockheed,
Lovell, Warren, Reynolds, Terpning, McGrew, Riley and Ryan. After 25
years of active membership, he retired from competition to become a
Member Emeritus. At that time, he was CA’s top medal winner, with 27
Gold and Silver Medals, including three Best of Show. Gordon also
co-founded and served on the first board of directors of the CA
museum in Kerrville, Texas. He is no longer a member.
Coors Brewery responded positively and created the famous Coors
Cowboy Collectors Series. This Series has appeared as part of the
sets in such movies as “RAINMAN” and “WINTER’S BONE”. He has three
books written about him as well as being the subject of a BBC film.
In 1998 Gordon was awarded The New Mexico Governor’s Award for
Excellence in the Arts. The 2003 New Mexico Legislature honored him as Artist of the American West. Most recently, he was honored as the
guest artist at the C.M. Russell Show in Great Falls, Montana. It
was requested that he exhibit his work at the Norman Rockwell Museum
in Corning, NY.
His work has been shown around the world
including, Russia, France, England, China, Germany, and many more.
In the United States, he has been invited to many major shows and
his paintings hang in the permanent collections of numerous museums.
Retrospective shows of his work have appeared in museums in New
Mexico, Texas, and the prestigious Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
Gordon was born in Paris, Mo. in 1936. He
now resides in Ruidoso, N.M.
ABOUT THE PAINTING MEDIUM - GOUACHE (Pronounced, Grr-wash) as used by Gordon Snidow.
Gouache is a watercolor medium. The binder
and the non-drying chemical are the same as transparent watercolor,
however, the pigment is slightly larger. White can be added to the
paint. The finest watercolor paper or illustration board is used on
which to paint. These are 100% rag, ph neutral, they will not
yellow. Snidow feels this is a superior combination of materials.
The oil in oil paint will turn yellow with age. There is no oil in
gouache. The pigments are the same in both mediums, so the
permanency of color are the same or better in gouache.
Gouache can be applied in light
transparent washes and/or mixed with white. It is a very difficult
medium to master, since the value of the paint that is wet is darker
than the paint when it dries on the paper.
Once the painting is finished, Snidow
applies several coats of top grade varnish to the painting for
protection. The advantage to using varnish, is to eliminate the use
of glass and to return the color to the original intensity the
artist saw when the color was wet.
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