Katy Schneider

I paint what moves me. The faces of my six siblings inspired me to do portraiture as a child, growing up in a two bedroom apartment in midtown Manhattan. This same apartment — cluttered with clothing, bunkbeds, my father's collections of victorian antiques, clocks, pot belly stoves — inspired the intimate, small scale interiors, chock full of information I did as a young adult studying oil painting. I was inspired by my mother's wonderful ability to organize chaos and make the most of a small space.

After moving with my husband, painter David Gloman, to Northampton, MA to teach at Smith College, I sought out families to "join" and found inspiration in their body language and their homes — how they revealed psychological dynamics. At this same time, my beloved dog Rudy was also a favorite model. His portraits were a precurser to the many dog portraits I have done.

The greatest thing, however, to happen to me as an artist was the birth of my three children, Olive, Mae, and Ellis. I was moved by the unbelievable shape of my pregnant belly, the odd proportions of the head of a newborn, the gestures, antics, and day to dayness of life with toddlers. I tried and continue to try to tell the stories of my life — as a mother who paints, as a person enamored with her children.

By focusing on creating a strong sense of light and a clear sense of space, I hope to draw the viewer into my paintings. By manipulating these elements I hope to discover and reveal particular relationships. I also try to create a "forever" kind of quality to the work, though the subject matter may be of a fleeting nature. This is especially true of the recent flower paintings I have enjoyed doing. My love of light, my homegrown peonies, and Manet's flower paintings provide inspiration when I need a break from faces.

Some recent work is in some ways a mixture of all the subjects that have moved me throughout my life. In many ways though, it is a completely new step. I have the privilege of illustrating my first children's book, written by Patricia MacLachlan, (Newbery Award winning author of Sarah Plain and Tall) and her daughter Emily. In this book entitled Painting the Wind, I try my hand at landscape as well as portraiture, still life, and flower painting. The book tells the story of a young boy who lives on an island and paints alongside several artists who visit during summer. It is published by HarperCollins, 2003.


Education

1990 Indiana University, Bloomington IN, MFA
1989 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME
1986 Yale University, New Haven CT, BA, cum laude, Painting


Teaching Experience

1999-2000 Visiting Artist, Boston University, Boston MA
1990-now Lecturer, Smith College, Northampton MA
1986 Visiting Artist, Hampshire College, Amherst MA
1990 Associate Instructor, Indiana University, Bloomington IN


Awards and Fellowships

2006 Bank Street College of Education's Irma S. and James H. Black Book Award for Once I Ate a Pie
2004 Best Book Award for Painting the Wind, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio
  Visiting Artist, Hampshire College, Amherst MA
1990 Associate Instructor, Indiana University, Bloomington IN
2002 National Academy of Design, Thomas B. Clarke Prize National Academy of Design, Henry WardRanger Fund Purchase Award
2000 Blanche Colman Award, Boston MA. Massachusetts Cutural Council Grant, Boston MA
1996 New England Foundation for the Arts Regional Fellowship American Academy of Arts and Letters: Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Award, New York NY
1995 Best of Show, Juried Exhibition. Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA
1991 Williamsburg Arts Lottery Grant. Williamsburg MA
1990 Indiana Arts Competition. Third Prize, American States Insurance Company, Indianapolis IN
  Juried Competition, Best of Show, Floyd County Museum of Art, New Albany IN
1989 National Society of Arts and Letters. Best of Show, Indiana University, Bloomington IN
  Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Residence Fellowship, Skowhegan ME
1988 MFA Teaching Assistantship, Indiana University, Bloomington IN
  Dean's Award, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN
1986 Ethel Walker Memorial Award, "Most Outstanding Art Major", Yale University, New Haven CT
1985 Ellen B Stoekel Fellowship, Yale Summer School of Music and Art, Norfolk CT


Solo Exhibitions

2007 Pepper Gallery, Boston MA
2006 Pepper Gallery, Boston MA
  Riot, New York NY
2005 Pepper Gallery, Boston MA
2002 Pepper Gallery, Boston MA
2000 University Art Gallery, Wright State University, Dayton OH
1999-1997 Pepper Gallery, Boston MA
1996 Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA
1995 Bromfield Gallery, Boston MA
1994 Hampshire College, Main Gallery, Amherst MA
1993 Eli Marsh Gallery, Amherst College, Amherst MA
  Fine Arts Gallery, Springfield Technical and Community College, Springfield MA
1991 Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA
1990 Meekins Library Gallery, Williamsburg MA
1987 Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown MA


Selected Group Exhibitions

2007 Go Figure, The McIninch Art Gallery at Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester NH
  Little Women, Contemporary Artists Envision Girls and Their Worlds, Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington MA
  Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield MA
2006 Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York NY
2005 Figure, SoFA Gallery, Bloomington IN
2004 Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell, NJ
  Still Lifes and Interiors, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte NC
2003 Hiddell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte NC
2002 177th Annual, National Academy of Design
2000 Still Lifes, Wm Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton MA
1999 Summer Group and Introduction, Tatistcheff Gallery, New Yor NY
  Form > Idea, Smith College Museum of Art, Smith College, Northampton, MA
  Get Real, New Realism for a New Millennium, University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester NY
1998 Self Amused, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell MA
  Wm Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton MA
1997 American Academy of Arts and Letters Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, New York NY
1996 William Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton MA
  Pepper Gallery, Boston MA
  Five College Studio Art Faculty Drawing Exhibition, Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA
  Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH
1995 Social Life, Clark Gallery, Lincoln MA
  13th Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln MA
  Juried exhibition, Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA
  The Bowery Invites, Bowery Gallery, New York NY
  Women in the Visual Arts, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven CT
1994 Artist's Choice, The Gallery at Monterey, Monterey MA
  Works in Sequence, Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA
  Drawing Show, Salve Regina College Gallery, Newport RI
1992 Balls, People and Other Abstractions, Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton MA
1990 Juried exhibition, Floyd County Art Museum, New Albany IN
  Indiana Arts Competition, American States Insurance Company, Indianapolis IN
1989 National Society of Arts and Letters Juried Exhibition, Indiana University Campus Community Arts Center, Bloomington IN
1987 Third Annual Young Artists Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown MA
  Interiors/Exteriors, Hudson Walker Gallery, Provincetown MA



Bibliography

Naves, Mario. "Waving to the 20th Century En Route to the 19th" New York Observer May 21, 2001

Worth, Alexi. New Yorker May 14, 2001

Black, Jane. "Similarly Opposed" Dayton Daily News Feb. 13, 2001

Unger, Miles. "David Gloman and Katy Schneider" Art New England Dec. 1999

Boucher, Christopher. "Gloman and Schneider Paint from Close-Up, Far Off" Daily Hampshire Gazette Sept. 24, 1998

McQuaid, Cate. "Beauty in the Balance of Nature and Math" Boston Globe May 1995

 


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