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Peggy Snider,
Peggy Snider Designs
California
Email: PeggySniderSculpture@gmail.com
Website: http://www.peggysnider.com
Artist Statement: Mostly self-taught, my style is informed by time as a circus performer & theatrical designer. My human figures are worn, laced with found-object tool-marks - simultaneously whimsical and profound. My work is a diary of life’s successes & struggles.
Studio Description: A 2-car garage next to my house. I love it, but it's too cramped, so the completed work is banished to the gardens. A Skutt 1027 kiln means I build taller work (over 6') in sections, engineering which I enjoy.
What type of clay do you use? I use a variety of clays, depending on the project; however I rarely use porcelain.
What temperature do you fire to? Mid-range: about 2200
What is your primary forming method? Hollow hand building in a modified slab process.
What is your favorite surface treatment? Leatherhard, marked by shipping bags & rocks, oxides & underglazes are painted & washed repeatedly.
Do you make any of your own tools? Most of my tools are found objects: driftwood and rocks clay bags.
What one word would you use to describe your work? Expressive
What is your favorite thing about your studio? When I walk in, I feel like I am home.
What is the one thing in your studio you can’t live without? My found object tools.
What are your top three studio wishes? More room to work Running water A show room
What’s on your current reading list? At the moment Louise Erdrich.
How do you save money on materials and supplies? Everything is recycled. Every bit of clay, even the oxides I wash off the work, I decant & reuse.
How do you recharge creatively? Lively discussions with friends (artists and non-artists), painting, going to shows and being in nature including gardening.
Do you have any DIY tips for studio efficiency? I don't cover my tables with canvas, but black vinyl. You can see what's there, it cleans up perfectly and no canvas prints on the work.
What challenges have you given yourself to overcome? Love building pieces 3 times taller than my kiln & having them not look stacked. Now with smaller work, I am trying to have it have the same impact.
What did you first piece look like? It was 1966. I made a series of Ugly Pots. Working where I could get snowed out, I left my work in the frig so it wouldn't freeze. Ugly=Beautiful.
What ceramic superpower would you have and why? I wish that firings would complete in 20 minutes, so I could go on to the next step. They are colored before I bisque so I already know where to go.
Who is your ceramic art mentor and why? 2 mentors: De Stabler because his work moves me so and Coeleen Kiebert who helps me to be me.
What is your studio playlist? Currently NPR feeds the work I am doing but Elias Prayer Cycle.
Why do you create art? I always have, I don't know anything else.
What is your best studio tip? I don't cover my tables with canvas, but black vinyl. You can see what's there, it cleans up perfectly and no canvas prints on the work.
If you could change one property of clay, what would it be? It's perfect. I love that I need to collaborate with its many properties: I dance with the clay.
