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About the Artist Peter Etril Snyder
Having been raised in a Mennonite family, all be it a more progressive group, has heavily influenced the whole body of my work. From my early choice of subjects to my work ethic, the plain-spoken, straight-forward approach to my presentation proceeds directly from my background. As a child I developed an interest in the horses that pulled the milk wagons for my father's dairy. I am sure that this also tipped my interest towards painting the conservative horse-powered Mennonite/Amish groups. As the years went and I travelled more, I expanded my group of topics but always stayed with a painting style rooted in factual presentation. My first painting instruction was in landscape painting which continues to influence my compositional approach.
Since we have no children and no “jobs”, Marilyn and I have been free to travel a good deal during our 40-year marriage. We have journeyed extensively in North America as well as Europe many times. Cruises also have figured into our travel plans quite frequently. These “foreign” destinations have provided me with an entire work segment that you can see if you visit the Travel section on our website.
Top on our list of interests is the United Kingdom which we have visited 30 times. Both Marilyn and I enjoy British culture. The many accents, the history and landscape, along with the literature have added greatly to the lives of these two Waterloo County Mennonites. As a regular listener of B.B.C. Radio 4 and avid reader of magazine articles on Britain as well a weekly British newspaper, I have a parallel life in “this Sceptered Isle”.
My background, along with the broadening of my reading and travel, are the ingredients of my recipe for painting and indeed my recipe for living.
I am often asked how we find the houses (cottages) that we rent in Britain. We have had excellent luck with a Toronto agency run by Gordon and Martha Tamblyn. sales@villastay.com
My Point of View
It is against my better judgment that I talk about what I do as a painter. I don’t have any problem chatting about the objects or scenes that I paint. I am happy to explain the where and when of each painting. For me, however, painting has very little to do with the subject. Painting, for me, has to do with the process - the applying of paint to a ground. I work almost exclusively in acrylic paint.
I see myself on one hand as a craftsman. Carpenters, harness-makers or practical crafters of any kind hold great appeal for me. There is something so satisfying to start with raw materials and make something. There is a reward to realize a project at the end of the day. On the other hand, there is that Marshall MacLuhan thing about the medium is the message. Aesthetically satisfying painting is the content, not the subject that I painted. I do not ponder this idea very much as I would rather paint. I find it dangerous and wrong to intellectualize something that, for me, is emotional, spiritual.
I am afraid there is a great deal of claptrap put forward by academics who know much about paintings but nothing about the act of painting. As an aside, it seems to me that there is a way too much overblown discussion and analysis from academics on many subjects. Now a brief description of the way that I paint. Working with no preliminary drawing on the canvas, I start with a two inch wide brush. Because I am attempting to setup the big shapes of colour very quickly, the white space of the canvas is the enemy. The fast drying quality of the acrylic paint allows me to change the relationships of colour very quickly. I paint one version over the other. As I progress I break the large shapes into smaller component parts. As the shapes that I paint become smaller, the brushes likewise decrease in size.
For almost forty years, Peter Etril Snyder has demonstrated his versatility in paintings of Mennonite country life as well as in scenes from across North America and Europe. Since his time at the Ontario College of Art, this Mennonite-reared, Waterloo-born artist (b. 1944) has exhibited his style through original paintings, murals, limited edition reproductions, collector plates, books, and posters.
In addition to his celebrated works of Mennonite life, his paintings of Britain are eagerly collected. His frequent travels also provide new material from around the world. These travel sketches formed the basis for a weekly newspaper column in two newspapers.
Peter Etril Snyder is a Paul Harris Fellow, a member of the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame, and the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is frequently commissioned by corporations and individuals to create unique pieces for their collections.
With a point of view that is distinctive, this acclaimed artist continues to present his work in his gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and on his web site:
Further Biographical Information
Continuing association with Grand River Conservation Foundation includes “Downsteam” acrylic painting, series of drawings, and set of three train paintings for Rails to Trails fundraising Presentation of the painting, “The Homestead”, to H.R.H. Prince Philip First gallery representation in London, England Opened new gallery in Waterloo's City Centre for original paintings “Afternoon Outing” painting and reproductions for Juvenile Diabetes Foundation as a fundraiser Placemats and coasters with Jason of New Zealand Opened new reproduction boutique at St. Jacobs “Riverworks” Work first displayed by Windjammer Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda First paintings dealing with thoroughbred racing honoured by Ontario Agriculture Museum Began producing a yearly Monthy Planner for Volunteers, which for 2002 has been distributed free of charge to 25,000 individuals in national, provincial and local organizations Mural at KidsAbility (formerly Rotary Children's Centre), Waterloo Artist-in-Residence, Ontario Agricultural Museum Commission for Home Hardware Calendar Published A New Harvest, 123-page, full-colour book Monthly guest on “Daytime”, Rogers Television Published The Painted Horse, 120-page, full-colour book Weekly feature on CKCO-TV Noon News Gift of 52,000 negatives to Mennonite Archives of Ontario, Conrad Grebel College Published Painting the Grand River Valley, 62-page, full-colour book Commission for the Galt Country Club to celebrate their Centennial Personal Commission of the Harmony Lunch, Waterloo Mural of the Parasaurolophus Dinosaur for the Earth Sciences Museum as part of the University of Waterloo's 50th Anniversary Historical painting of the Schneider House, Queen Street, Kitchener, for the Joseph and Barbara (Eby) Schneider 200th Anniversary/Reunion Planning Committee Commemorative painting of the New Hamburg Historic Grandstand Introduced a new interpretive style of painting to complement the traditional work of the past forty years |
