Biography

I was born in philadelphia, pennsylvania and currently live in providence, rhode island. i completed my undergraduate degree in photography and sculpture at the kansas city art institute in 1974. i received a british arts council fellowship in 1975-76 for postgraduate work in sculpture at lanchester polytechnic, coventry, uk. my postgraduate work in sculpture was completed in 1978 at the school of  the art institute of chicago.  my work has been exhibited in both group and solo shows nationally and internationally.  i have  received artists fellowships from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, The Berkshire Taconic Arts Foundation, the national endowment for the arts, the new england foundation for the arts, the vermont state council for the arts and the illinois arts council , the rhode island state council for the arts and the hawaii state foundation on culture and the arts. 

Academic Research/Areas of Interest

Biological forms that lure, seduce then snare are prime subjects in my sculpture. I am mining an aspect of eroticism in biology that is often dangerous, sometimes lethal and endlessly alluring. Rendering images through formless materials is the philosophical portal of my studio work. The images emerge though shaping, molding, laminating, sanding and polishing “mute” materials such as resins, powders and fibers. I characterize my approach to making sculpture as “Garage” tech as I often reinvent low-tech versions of high tech forming methods. The candy-colored, sometimes glitter-flecked surfaces are a key elements of my aesthetic. The objects are elements in an ongoing fiction where elegance merges with the carnivalesque. 

Dean Snyder

Professor
dsnyder@risd.edu
401-454-6190

• BFA, Kansas City Art Institute
• MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

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