Dan Snyder is known for life-size figurative ceramic sculptures and large scale public art. His work encompasses a wide range of styles, media and content. Mostly autobiographical, and depending on time and place, his work can be classical or primitive, subtle or screaming out loud.
Chasing a science degree at Penn State University in 1969, Snyder found his calling while holding a ball of clay in a ceramics class. His subsequent round-the-clock clay work led him to Bob Arneson, and an invitation, in 1970, to the U.C. Davis MFA program and his association with Arneson, William Wiley, Wayne Thiebaud, Roy De Forest, and Manuel Neri. His ceramic sculpture graduate show garnered a solo exhibition at the Wenger Gallery in San Francisco, a National Endowment for the Arts Special Projects Grant and a Rome Prize fellowship in sculpture for 1973-75.
Snyder was afforded an unusual amount of freedom by the galleries which supported his early work. Shows from the 70s through 90s led to much experimentation; there was his love of working with clay, but also a need or necessity to step back and communicate with splashes of paint and mixed media. The latter is the work which led to his years of involvement with public art and community based problem solving.
Currently he is using recycled auto glass instead of traditional ceramic glazes. If one might characterize much of his past work as shouting, the latest (2019-2022) bas relief sketches of glass and porcelain might be in contrast, delicate whispers.
Highlights
In 1972, Snyder received U.C. Davis Chancellor’s Patent Grant for experimental lightweight rice hull infused clay bodies.
In 1973, Snyder received the The Rome Prize for Sculpture, becoming a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. (as Daniel Cotton Snyder)
In 1973, Snyder received a National Endowment for the Arts, Special Projects grant for work with Iron Age engravings in Capo di Ponte, Italy and to study the imagery in the original Lascaux cave in France.
Snyder has had 21 solo exhibitions and completed 20 public art commissions. His work is in many public and private collections located both nationally and internationally.