Born in Johnston, Pennsylvania, 1940
Lives and works in Oakland, California
Studied at Brown University, Rhode Island (B.A., 1962); University of California, Berkeley (M.A., 1964)
Teaches at the California College of Arts and Crafts

Artist's Statement:

Bay Area artist, Mary Snowden, offers a whimsical, playful exploration of feminist issues. Her work, frequently discussed in Artweek and American Art Quarterly, has been described by one critic as "a wry look at postwar domesticity through a modern-and distinctly feminist-lens." By incorporating 1950s comic strip characters, fashion models, and household objects into her work, Snowden evokes the birth of a feminist consciousness. Depicting her subjects with remarkable accuracy, she reflects on how the media portrayed the role of women while baby boomers were growing up. Her use of iconography from the popular culture of the '30s, '40s, and '50s makes a nostalgic and penetrating statement. Using vintage cookbooks, magazines, advertisements, and other printed materials from popular culture for the sources of her images, Snowden pieces together "slyly humorous" commentaries on suburban life. She shapes some of the works like puzzle pieces, which Artweek has explained as "rearranging into an alternative configuration" that which "…had fit together to form a rosy picture of suburban contentment."
-What's a Girl To Do, Schneider Museum of Art,
Southern Oregon University

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Last updated: 4/3/09