Andrea Snyder
“Creativity is the purest form of human expression. It comes from deep within our psyche and enables us to make something totally unique in any field.”
Andrea Snyder is a prize-winning printmaking and mixed media artist who has exhibited widely in the U.S. and Great Britain. Early artwork began with sculptures of welded steel rods and polymer-coated "anti-furniture," as well as large multi-plate etchings. A bad back led her to her recent work which is considerably lighter weight. Andrea combines multiple mediums in collaged abstractions on paper, canvas, and polyester film. In addition, she works with high-shrinkage fibers to create 2-D and 3-D art out of handmade paper and pounded mulberry bark fibers. She also uses paper clay to create torsos and games.
Andrea has taught craft marketing and product development in 22 countries in Africa, plus Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Canada. She has taught art classes at the American School in London and the American International School in Zurich, as well as close to home at the University of the Arts, the Main Line Arts Center, Woodmere Art Museum, and the Philadelphia School District. Her mission is to expose students to all areas of the visual arts in a relaxed atmosphere, challenge their preconceived notions about their abilities, as well as, foster the expression of their inner selves as she does in her own art.
During the Corona Virus, even before the Main Line Art Center had set up their online classes, Andrea immediately, learned how to do Zoom and transported her students to an engaging online learning experience, which later, became the Art Center’s model. This really lifted the spirits of her mostly older students, since this was the only extra-curricular activity in their life during the early months of the pandemic.
What big ideas have propelled your career?
“Creativity is the purest form of human expression. It comes from deep within our psyche and enables us to make something totally unique in any field, either from ourselves alone or in combination with others. It has no time, no boundaries. It does not need to be tangible. It can occur in just a conversation; 2 people discussing ideas create something intangible that does not yet exist in words. It results in something that has never existed. It is indescribable.”
Biography:
Andrea Snyder, BFA, cum laude Tyler School of Art, MFA program NYU with additional studies at Wharton, University of the Arts, and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, is a prize winning printmaking & mixed media artist who has exhibited in the U.S. and Great Britain. She has taught art classes at University of the Arts, Main Line Arts Center, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia School District, The American School in London and the American International School in Zurich, as well as, taught craft marketing at the Crafts Center in MD, the Nova Scotia Designer Craft Council, Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design, and the South African & Canadian consulates. In addition, she has done product development & craft marketing in 22 countries in Africa, plus Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Currently, she is teaching Zoom mixed media classes at Main Line Art Center, virtually critiquing other artists, and creating a new series in combinations of 2D & 3D mixed media.
Over the last 3 years her art combines multiple mediums in collaged abstracts on paper, canvas, and Mylar. In addition, she has worked in high shrinkage fibers to create wall sculptures of handmade paper and pounded Kozo fibers, as well as created anecdotal paper clay torsos and games.