Gilda Snowden
Born(1954-07-29)July 29, 1954
Detroit, Michigan, United States
DiedSeptember 9, 2014(2014-09-09) (aged 60)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWayne State University
Known forpainting
StyleAbstraction
SpouseWilliam "Bill" Boswell II[1]
Children1
AwardsKresge Arts Fellowship

Gilda Snowden (July 29, 1954 – September 9, 2014)[2] was an African-American artist, educator and mentor from Detroit, Michigan.

Early life and education

Snowden was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 1954, and grew up in northwest Detroit.[3][4] Snowden's father was a dentist.[4] Her parents and grandparents migrated from Alabama and Texas to Detroit early in the 20th century, part of the mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North.[5] She attended Cass Technical High School with a focus on fashion design.

Snowden earned her earned her BFA degree in Advertising Design and Painting in 1977 and her MFA degree in Painting in 1979 from Wayne State University.[6] She decided her sophomore year of college to focus on fine art.[4] At Wayne State University, she was heavily influenced by the Cass Corridor art movement and studied with artist John Egner.[3][7]

She was married to William "Bill" Boswell, an actor and director of the Detroit Repertory Theatre.[1]

Teaching

In 1985, Gilda Snowden became a professor in Department of Fine Arts at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit.[4][8] She taught at CCS for 31 years, serving as chair for both the fine arts department and the painting department at various times during her years there.[9] At the college she also served as a curator and juror for art exhibitions.[7]

Work

Gilda Snowden's works are predominately abstracts that utilize vivid color. The city of Detroit sparked several bodies of work. Her Flora Urbana series features abstracted floral forms, in encaustic, inspired by the gardens now tended by Detroit citizens on plots where buildings once stood.[10] City Album: Department of Railways 1929 is an example from a series of charcoal rubbings she made of the Detroit manhole covers she discovered riding though the city on her bicycle.[3]

Snowden describes all of her works as autobiographical including an extensive series Self-Portrait of over one hundred self-portraits of the back of her head and shoulders. She has cited her experience of race, gender and fears she felt as a child as the inspiration for this series. She began again with the series after growing her hair out in the 2000s and using computer projections to help create her pieces. Monument [1988], found at the Detroit Institute of Arts, as "a chronicle of my family on their travels from Alabama to Detroit. We are all looking for something, all traveling from here to there."[11]

She was a member of the Michigan chapter of the National Conference of Artists.[7] This organization helped Snowden exhibit her work internationally throughout her career.[7]

Over the course of her career, Snowden served as an advisor on the DIA Friends of Modern Art Board, a member of the advisory board of the Scarab Club, a member of the Educational Advisory Board for the Art Education Department of the College for Creative Studies, and a gallery directory for the Detroit Repertory Theater.[7][11]

Awards and honors

Among the honors which Gilda Snowden has earned are:

Exhibitions

Gilda Snowden's work has been featured in gallery and museum, this is a select list of her exhibitions including:

Solo exhibitions

  • 2013 – Gilda Snowden, Album: A Retrospective 1977-2010, (solo exhibition) Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, New York, United States[14]
  • 2006 – Abstractions of Life Paintings, (solo exhibition) Sherry Washington Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, United States[15]
  • 2002 – Gilda Snowden, New Work, (solo exhibition) Sherry Washington Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, United States[16]
  • 1986 – Paint Creek Center, Rochester, Michigan, United States[4]

Group exhibitions

  • 2014 – Another Look at Detroit (Part I and II), Marianne Boesky Gallery, Chelsea, New York City, New York, United States[17]
  • 1993 – TransFORMING IDEAS, Michigan Gallery, Detroit, Michigan[18]
  • 1992 – Women of Color, Dahl Arts Center, Rapid City, South Dakota, United States[19]
  • 1991 – Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit (DIA), Michigan, United States[20]
  • 1990 – Signature Images, (with artist Michael Luchs, curated by Jan van der Marck), Detroit Institute of Art (DIA), Detroit, Michigan, United States[21]

Death and legacy

Snowden died on September 9, 2014, at the age of 60.[2]

Snowden's work is held in permanent museum collections including Detroit Institute of Arts,[22][23] the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland,[24] Oakland University Art Gallery, and the Wayne State University Art Collection.[25]

The Gilda Snowden Emerging Artist Awards, funded by The Kresge Foundation since 2015, honor Gilda Snowden's lifetime of work mentoring Detroit area emerging artists.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 "Mixed Emotions, Couples Who Cross The Barriers Of Race Still Face Disapproval". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. November 4, 1990. pp. 141, 146. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Furay, Steve (September 21, 2014). "Detroit artist Gilda Snowden joins the ancestors". No. volume 36 issue 46 page A6. Michigan Citizen.
  3. 1 2 3 Abbey-Lamberts, Kate (September 9, 2014). "Gilda Snowden, Beloved Detroit Artist And Educator, Dies At 60". HuffingtonPost. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Hansell, Betsy (December 4, 1986). "Her Challenging Art Has Layers of Secrents". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. p. 135. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  5. ↑ Cole, Thomas B. (July 18, 2012). "Self-portrait". JAMA. 308 (3): 218. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.3104. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 22797616.
  6. ↑ DeVito, Lee (September 9, 2014). "Detroit artist Gilda Snowden dead at 60". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Bilek, Suzanne (2012). Great female artists of Detroit. ISBN 9781609496715. OCLC 806018780.
  8. ↑ Miro, Marsha (January 31, 1993). "Waxing Artistic, professionals push edge of the wrapper using new shades". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. pp. 68, 71. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  9. ↑ Rogers, Rick (September 9, 2014). "With Sadness We Announce the Passing of Professor Gilda Snowden". College for Creative Studies. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Gilda Snowden: Flora Urbana". Art X Detroit. Midtown Detroit, Inc. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Cole, Thomas B. (July 18, 2012). "Self-portrait". JAMA. 308 (3): 218. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.3104. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 22797616.
  12. 1 2 "Inaugural 'Gilda Awards' honor the legacy of artist Gilda Snowden". The Kresge Foundation. July 8, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  13. ↑ Henkes, Robert (1993). The Art of Black Women: Works of Twenty-Four Artists of the Twentieth Century. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 193. ISBN 0-89950-818-9.
  14. ↑ Goody, Dick (2013). Gilda Snowden, Album: A Retrospective 1977-2010. Rochester, Michigan: Oakland University Art Gallery. pp. 50pp. ISBN 978-0-925859-60-0.
  15. ↑ "Painter Adds Musical Touch". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. June 20, 2006. p. 17. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  16. ↑ Cohen, Keri Guten (August 25, 2002). "Paintings Take Gallery By Storm". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. p. 61. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  17. ↑ Cotter, Holland (July 24, 2014). "'Another Look at Detroit: Parts 1 and 2' (Published 2014)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Art, Downtown". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. November 12, 1993. p. 48. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Women of Color, Art Knows No Racial Boundaries". Newspapers.com. Rapid City Journal. November 8, 1992. p. 27. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  20. ↑ Henkes, Robert (1993). The Art of Black Women: Works of Twenty-Four Artists of the Twentieth Century. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company Inc. p. 193. ISBN 0-89950-818-9.
  21. ↑ Miro, Marsha (September 21, 1990). "DIA Exhibition Affirms Strength of Two Cass Corridor Artists". Newspapers.com. Detroit Free Press. p. 31. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  22. ↑ "DIA: Search the Collections: Gilda Snowden". Detroit Institute of Arts. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Twin Tornadoes". Detroit Institute of Art. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  24. ↑ "David C. Driskell Center: Collection: Gilda Snowden". David C. Driskell Center. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Wayne State University Art Collection: Picture of the Week: Gilda Snowden". Wayne State University. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
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