Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
George Snyder knew from a young age that he was a good artist. He had a talent for drawing and loved to do it. But since he never met an artist as a child, he didn’t think it was possible to make a living at it.
Luckily, that didn’t stop him.
Snyder, who grew up in Charleston, took art classes in junior high and high school, but didn’t pursue the field in college, at least, not at first.
“When I graduated from high school, it was either ‘are you going to go to Vietnam’ – this would have been 1969 – or ‘are you going to go to college,’” he said. “I had parents who said, ‘you’re going to go to college’ and they would help me out.
“I was a good student,” he added.
Snyder went to Marshall University, the same as his older brother, John, and was a political science, pre-law major. In his sophomore year, he took an art class where he met art major Bob Hazelton.
“He knew he was going to be an artist,” Snyder said. “We were doing things at Marshall together. I was there for the plane crash. I was an usher in the funeral and that really affected my thinking of ‘what are you going to do with your life.”’
The horrible plane crash in 1970 took the lives of the crew and 75 passengers, including nearly all the university’s football team, all but one of the coaches and some fans.
Snyder said he really thought about what he wanted to do with his future and although he still didn’t know how someone could make a living as an artist, he took more art classes.
He came to love contemporary art and while he was talented at drawing and painting still life, portraits and more, his heart was in contemporary art.
“It’s a statement,” he said. “It’s bold. It’s strong. It’s asking, ‘stop for a moment.’ Stop. I don’t care what you get out of it but stop. That’s the difference between really good contemporary work and other stuff.
“I want to stop you with something you’ve never experienced before.”
Snyder got some good advice from Professor Michael Cornfeld, who saw his potential as an artist. Cornfeld told him that if he was going to go to graduate school, to go anywhere but Marshall.
“Which was a lesson not just in academia, but about spreading your horizons,” Snyder said. “Travel. It was get out, go learn. It was education. He was telling me how to educate myself.”
Snyder got a fellowship at University of North Carolina and became a TA, thinking if he stayed in the art field, he would have to become a teacher. After graduation, he returned to Charleston and got a job at Boll Furniture, where he previously worked as a janitor.
This time around, he was hired to do the advertising for the furniture store. The owner of the store knew Snyder was an artist and sweetened the deal by offering the top floor of the building as his art studio.
“The building was built turn of the century,” Snyder said. “It was an old dry goods warehouse, and we turned it into this beautiful furniture store. I kind of helped doing that. I get the top floor. I had a studio – biggest studio I ever had – and then I turned half of it into an alternative space. I just wanted to bring things I had seen from graduate school and travels to Charleston.
“It was really rather successful.”
Along with showing other artists’ work, Snyder displayed his own paintings in the space. He also had paintings in other galleries which drew the attention of art collectors, including a quite famous actor.
Jack Palance happened to be in Charleston for a poetry reading for one of his books when he saw a piece by Snyder at the Culture Center. Not only did Palance like Snyder’s work, but he wanted to meet him, as well.
“I’m twenty-six years old,” Snyder recalled. “Probably sold maybe four or five paintings my whole life. So, Jack comes and he says he wants to meet me for breakfast.”
Snyder met the actor at the Daniel Boone Hotel where they ate and talked art. Palance said he wanted to see more of Snyder’s paintings, so they walked to the studio above Boll Furniture and Palance bought two more paintings.
The two chatted some more, went for burgers at Wendy’s and ran into a legislator who said he would love to have some of Snyder’s work, but his house wasn’t big enough.
“Jack says, ‘you buy George’s work, and you build your house around it,’” Snyder recalled.
The comment, while flattering, also became ironic, as the first painting Palance purchased was too large to fit in his house, so it remains in Snyder’s collection, alongside the letter from Palance saying it would not fit in his house.
More than any teacher or professor he had beforehand, Palance gave Snyder the incentive to become an artist. Meeting the talented actor and writer made Snyder realize he wanted to make a go of it as a full-time professional artist.
“It wasn’t the launch [of my career], but I decided I’m all in,” Snyder said. “I’m all in at this point. It will be a struggle, but I’ll be okay. I had confidence and that sent me on my way.”
Two years later, Snyder entered his first contract agreement with an art collector who showed his art in galleries and sold the work for him.
“I had that for about eight years,” he said. “I’m still in Charleston. They’re promoting my work. I’m in “Art News.” I’m in “Art in America.” I’m having shows in L.A., Chicago, but not New York.
“I went to New York because even with all that, I was so aggressive and so wanting it now, now, now that no matter what they did, it wasn’t enough for me,” he continued. “My fault. Never been patient.”
After those eight years, Snyder knew he couldn’t stay in Charleston if he wanted to rise through the ranks as a professional artist. He went to New York and got his work in a gallery called OK Harris, in SoHo.
Art dealer Ivan Karp worked with him and had his work in the gallery. Snyder learned from that experience that one gallery wasn’t enough. He made a business plan for himself, and he took the show on the road.
He had work in L.A., Texas and Chicago.
By the 1980s, Snyder and his wife, Jennifer, decided to move to Florida and he got his work into the best gallery in Miami.
From there, a fellow Charlestonian introduced him to a couple in Boston who wanted to open a gallery of their own. He advised them not to, but they did anyway. He was their talent scout and found artists to have shows at the gallery.
“I go from the space in Charleston – non-profit – now I’m in Boston,” Snyder said. “I was with them for ten years.”
By the 1990s, Snyder was done with contract work and wanted to go out on his own. While the travel was fun and interesting, it was also tiring.
“Jennifer and I would just drive all over the country, schlepping my work all around, doing shows,” he said.
The couple moved to Pocahontas County in 2010, where they built a house and studio. The place was meant to serve as just a vacation home, but it quickly became apparent that it was their full-time home.
The house is decorated much like a gallery, with both George’s and Jennifer’s artwork on tables, mantels and on the wall, along with art by their friends and fellow artists.
The studio is a cozy place where the two have their own space to create and store their art.
Snyder paints in acrylic and has a technique in which not only do the bold colors leap from the canvases, but they also seem to glow from within. They draw in the viewer and mesmerize with how intricate the details are.
Canvas is just one of the mediums Snyder uses. He also has a series of sculptures that include painted PVC pipes adorned with resin fruit or candies. The pipes are either stand-alone pieces or can be grouped together as one sculpture.
They also include bright and bold colors with lines leading the eye around the pipes through the designs.
While Snyder likes his privacy and is humble about his achievements as an artist, he also wants to give back to future artists and inspire them – much like Palance inspired him all those years ago.
“I’ve been very, very fortunate,” he said. “I’ve had a great life as an artist. I do go and talk to other artists, and I try to figure out how to give back. I want people to be inspired. I want it to inspire you as the viewer. Not about being good or being bad, but to be the best you can.
“You have to love the process,” he continued. “I love the process of painting. It’s the only part of the art world I love. I love it, to spread paint. I’m pretty hard on myself, but I like my work. I do like it. I’ve been about to do this now for fifty years.”
