Artist of the month: Jim Snider

Marianne Graff

The PebbleCreek Art Club is proud to award Jim Snider October 2018 Artist of the Month. A valued member of the Art Club, he comes our way from Columbus, Ohio. He spent fifteen years in the United States Marine Corps as a cryptographer in the Near East embassies. When he returned to civilian life, he attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he studied math and art and earned a degree in Arts and Science. He also attended Columbus Art College and took classes in oils, watercolor, acrylics and crafting and continued to pursue acrylics beyond the other mediums. Jim moved to PebbleCreek in 1997 together with his partner, Carol Kane.

Jim’s career in art began at age 12 when his grandmother, an artist in oils, introduced him to the world of painting and taught him many techniques and a love for expression on canvas. After moving to Arizona, Jim started taking lessons in acrylics from Bonnie Kitchens whose studio was located in Buckeye at that time. He continued under her mentorship when she began to offer classes here in PebbleCreek. Just as Bonnie is a popular instructor, so Jim is a popular student because of his generous participation in class and his active engagement with fellow students. He enjoys painting and remains a prolific student of the acrylic medium, producing creative works utilizing bright colors with strong contrasts and depicting a wide variety of subjects.

Jim currently serves as Vice President of the Art Club and is active on several committees; in particular, organizing and assisting set-ups and take downs for PC art shows. As a member of the wider PebbleCreek community, Jim has served on various committees and has been a prize-winning participant in the PC Veterans Day Parade taking first place for a Corsair plane float, and second place the following year for his tribute to the Pearl Harbor Arizona Memorial. In addition to painting, Jim enjoys golfing and reading. He has collected logo golf balls from about four thousand courses he both played and visited, and airplane models from World Wars I and II.

You are invited to view Jim’s artwork in the Creative Arts Center and in the Eagle’s Nest and Tuscany Falls clubhouses.