Bonnie Steinsnyder
Statement & Resume

Artist's Statement: The Orchid Series

My current focus on orchids is driven by the lush potential for playing in watercolor. I love manipulating areas of fluid paint to generate areas of luminous color, texture and light. And it is fun to contrast the abstract eye candy of loose technique with the control of creating the illusion of the flower's form in space.

My past work has a strong narrative content; I can't help but anthropomorphize the flowers and see reflections of people in their shapes and gestures. That leads to titles like "Social Climbers" and "Three Sopranos".

Artist's Statement: City Paintings

Living in the city constantly feeds creativity. It's the contrast between the mundane realities of urban existence and the fun, culture and variety of the city that is so compelling. I look to Medieval illuminations and altarpieces for the multiple panel narrative form. My style is closer in spirit to American realism.

The decorative painted borders in some pieces respond to a rhythm or descriptive element in the painting. Other more elaborate constructed frames reflect the architecture of the subject. They lead the viewer from the painted illusion of the canvas through the physical reality of the frame into the actual space in front of the painting. I often embed objects from the site into the frame linking the piece with its subject. This echoes the way that relics linked their altarpieces with a religious presence.

Biography

I have had solo shows in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York, as well as participating in many group exhibitions. I won first prize in the New York Artists Online competition. My work is in the collections of the Museum of the City of New York, Marsh & McLennan Securities, and the Brooklyn Marriot among other corporate and private collections.

Originally from Miami, Florida, I went to Smith College in Massachusetts. I received my BA, Magna Cum Laude and graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and as a Smith Scholar in art. I received my MFA from Queens College in New York. After painting and exhibiting for several years, I studied anatomy at the Art Students' League. While there, I won the Nessa Cohen grant which enabled me to study printmaking with Deli Sacilotto.

I currently have my studio in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn and teach watercolor at the 92nd Street Y and the West Side Y in Manhattan. My daughter, Ellie, helps her mom keep a sense of humor, persistence and patience.

Abbreviated Resume

Solo Exhibitions

2017 Lasdon Park and Arboretum, Katonah, NY. 2009 West Side Y, New York, NY.
2005 The Loring Gallery, Sheffield, MA
2004 The Arsenal, Central Park, New York.
2001 Rittenhouse Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
1996 Hoffberger Gallery, Baltimore, MD.
1993 Hawthorne/Framing Gallery, Hawthorne, NY.
1989 Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center, NJ.
1986 Ollantay Gallery, Jackson Heights, NY.
1984 Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Flushing, NY.

Selected Exhibitions and Commissions

Annual participation in Gowanus Open Studio Tour
2022 Pennsylvania Watercolor Society 43nd Annual International Juried Exhibition, online
2022 North East Watercolor Society 46th International Exhibition, Kent, CT
2022 National Watercolor Society102nd International Open Exhibition, San Pedro, CA
2022 92NY Faculty Show
2022 Arts Gowanus, Atlantic Avenue Artwalk, Brooklyn, NY
2022 American Watercolor Society Members Exhibition, Online
2022 Transparent Watercolor Society, Kenosha, WI
2022 41st Annual Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, View Center, Old Forge, NY
2022 Blue Hill Art an Cultural Center, Pearl River, NY
2022 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition, Baltimore, MD
2022 NY Artists Circle Online, “I Dreamed a Garden”
2022 Chashama at One Brooklyn Bridge Park Searchlight, NY
2021 NY Artists Circle, Fragile Earth: Artists Respond to Climate Change online.
2021 Arts Gowanus online, Art for Environmental and Climate Justice.
2020 Art at First, Save the Earth exhibit, New York, NY.
2020 Arts Gowanus, ArtWalk, Brooklyn, NY.
2019 Gallery Gaia, Brooklyn, NY.
2019 Naples Art, Founders 53rd Juried Exhibition, Naples FL.
2019 Monmouth Museum, Annual Juried Exhibition, Lincroft, NJ.
2018 92 St.Y faculty show, New York, NY.
2018 Spaceworks "Between You and Oblivion", Brooklyn, NY.
2018 Salmagundi Annual Non-Member Exhibition, New York, NY.
2017 Spaceworks Invitational Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY.
2017 Art Students League, A Landmark Exhibition, digital display, New York, NY.
2017 NorthEast Watercolor Society International Exhibition, Kent, CT.
2017 Monmouth Museum, Traditional to Modern, Lincroft, NJ.
2016 Spaceworks Invitational Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY.
2016 NorthEast Watercolor Society International Exhibition, Kent, CT.
2016 Salmagundi International Exhibition, New York, NY.
2006-16 92 St. Y annual faculty show, New York, NY.
2013 Brooklyn Heights shown on THE GOOD WIFE, CBS television show
2010 Core Constellation, Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY.
2009 Gowanus Conservancy, Brooklyn, NY.
2007-8 Millbrook Gallery, Millbrook, NY.
2007 ArtGotham, New York, NY.
2007 The DownTown Club, Skyline Show, New York, NY.
2007 A Space Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
2006 ArtGotham, Skyline Artists exhibitions, New York, NY.
2005 Sputnik, Project Diversity, Brooklyn, NY
2005 Brooklyn Borough Hall, Project Diversity, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Artists Space, Night of 1000 Artists, New York, NY
2004 Belanthi Galley, Brooklyn, NY
2002 Museum of the City of New York, New York Prints, New York, NY.
2001 Rittenhouse Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA.
2001 Ruby Gallery, Kane & Steinsnyder, Brooklyn, NY.
2001 Mill Gallery, New York Artists' Circle, Sante Fe, NM.
2000 Contemporary Museum, Snapshot,, Baltimore, MD.
1999 Richard Anderson Fine Arts, New York, NY.
1999 Marsh and McLennan Securities commission for a suite of Wall Street pastels
1998 Brooklyn Marriott commission for a quartet of Brooklyn Landmarks pen and inks
1997 Gallery Henoch, New York, NY.
1996 National Arts Club, New York, NY.
1994 MetLife Exhibition Space, New York, NY.
1993 Gallery Henoch, New York, NY.
1992 Gallery Henoch, New York, NY.
1992 Salmagundi, 15th Non-Members' Exhibition, New York, NY.
1992 50th Annual Audubon Artists Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York, NY.
1990 John Szoke Gallery, As They See Themselves: Self Portraits, New York, NY.
1989 Jamaica Arts Center, Queens, NY.
1989 Queens Museum, Best of the Annual Juried, Queens, NY.
Jurors: Henry Geldzahler, Grace Glueck, John Perreault
1989 John Szoke Gallery, A Sense of Place, New York, NY.
1988 John Szoke Gallery, New York Inspired: Past and Present, New York, NY.
1988 Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1988 Viridian Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: Lisa Phillips (associate Curator, Whitney Museum)
1988 Queens Museum Annual Juried Exhibition, Queens, NY. Juror: Irving Sandler
1985 Queens Museum Annual Juried Exhibition, Queens, NY. Juror: Grace Glueck
1984 Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia,PA.

Selected Honors and Awards

2022 Mid-Atlantic Regional Exhibition, Baltimore Watercolor Society, Awards Juror Kathleen Giles
Award: Ampersand Art Supply Inc., Dr. Ph. Martin's, Jerry's Artarama, Talas, Watercolor Artist Magazine Award
2021 North East Watercolor Society International Juried Exhibition 2021, Awards Juror Sarah Yeoman
Holbein Artist Materials Award
2021 Pennsylvania Watercolor Society International Juried Exhibition 2021, Awards Juror Ted Nuttall, Bernie Tyler Friend of PWS, Art Depot, West Charlton Frame, and Dr. Ph. Martin's Award
2003 New York Artists Online, First Prize, New York, NY.
1999 Art Students League Honorable Mention, Printer's show, New York, NY.
1996 National Arts Club Award of Distinction, New York, NY.
1995 Nessa Cohen Grant, Art Students' League, New York, NY.
1992 David Smith Merit Scholarship, Art Students' League, New York, NY.
1984 International Art Competition, finalist, oil and acrylic.
1983 Teaching Fellowship, art, Queens College.
1983 Lender's Art Competition, first prize, painting.
1982 Elected into Phi Beta Kappa.
1982 Smith Scholar, concentration in painting.
1981 Yale Summer Art Program at Norfolk.
1979 New England Arts Festival, award of excellence.
1977 National Scholastic Art Competition, gold medal and representation on sculpture filmstrip.

Education

1995 Printmaking with Deli Sacilotto, Art Students' League, New York, NY.
1984 MFA, Queens College, NY.
1982 BA, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Smith College, MA.
1981 Yale Summer Art Program at Norfolk, CT.

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