Artist Brings the Mountain to the People
Sally Snipes’ Paintings Capture the Views
Sally Snipes has lived in the shadow of Volcan Mountain for decades, observing and admiring its beauty from all vantage points. She has wandered through cattle ranches on the west during the 1970s and ‘80s, and the desert region to the east, where she began her life as a gardener. Now, the southeast side has been her home for the past 15 years, and it is where her artistic vision has matured.
Thanks to the Marjorie and Joseph Rubenson Endowment for Art and Science at Volcan Mountain, Snipes recently completed a year as the 2018 artist-in-residence, enabling her to create a collection of paintings that capture for posterity the region’s distinctive and diverse landscape.
This is the fourth year the endowment has sponsored an artist-in-residence.
The endowment is administered by the Volcan Mountain Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to preserving the Volcan Mountain Range and its watershed, wild lands and wildlife. Visit www.volcanmt.org.
Snipes’ paintings will be presented in library exhibitions around the county in an effort to bring the beauty of the mountain to other communities.
The combination of the artist’s history in the area, her love for the local mountain and her talent as a painter uniquely qualified her to participate in the residency established by the Rubensons, whose mission was, “To
create original works of art or engage in scientific research that will enhance the public appreciation of the mountain, its unique beauty and environmental attributes.”
Once Snipes had been selected for the residency program and accepted the challenge to come up with a related group of paintings that addressed the endowment’s mission, she got right to work, visiting the mountaintop with her camera to collect images for the paintings she would create in her studio.
The photos served to provide references for the details in her paintings, rather than be a resource for the entire composition. At times while working on a painting, Snipes would realize that she needed to go back to the mountain and have another look. Other times, seeing the clouds in the sky inspired her to head back up for another perspective.
Painting with thinned acrylic paint on canvas, Snipes recreates the look of watercolor paintings, for which she is well known in the community.
While working on the first painting, Snipes asked herself what draws her up to the mountain.
“I go for the views,” Snipes realized.
At that moment, the idea was born to create a series of images that brings the viewer up to the mountaintop to see the view from all sides — 360 degrees around its peak. Like her life spent living around the perimeter of the mountain, the challenge she set for herself was to create paintings that would echo that circle.
Grateful for the opportunity to be an artist-in-residence, Snipes believes her time was very well spent.
“I feel excited when I see the images that I produced on display as a group,” said Snipes, who hopes the paintings will remain intact as collection and viewed together.