Biography

Gilda Snowden, born in Detroit, graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1972. She is currently Interim Chair and Professor of the Fine Arts Department at the College for Creative Studies [CCS], in Detroit. She taught painting and drawing at Wayne State University from 1979 to 1985, then left WSU when she became a full time instructor at CCS. Gilda also functions as Gallery Director of the Detroit Repertory Theatre Gallery. She maintains a studio in Downtown Detroit in the Alternative Work Site /2000 Brooklyn, just two blocks from Old Tiger Stadium. Prior to moving to this current studio, she had a studio for 10 years in the historic Merchants Apparel Building in Harmonie Park.

As an active participant in the Metro Detroit art community, Gilda began exhibiting her work while still a graduate student at Wayne State University, where she received a BFA, MA and MFA in Painting. She has been exhibiting her work steadily both locally, nationally and internationally since 1977, in such varied venues as the Sherry Washington Gallery, Dell Pryor Galleries, O.K. Harris/David Klein Gallery, GR N’Namdi Gallery, Willis Gallery, Focus Gallery, Detroit Artists Market, Feigenson Gallery, JRainey Gallery, Saginaw Art Museum, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Her exhibition SIGNATURE IMAGES at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1990, resulted in several works being purchased for the museum collection. One of these works, MONUMENT, is one of the 400 works featured in the book TREASURES OF THE DIA that was published in November 2007.  Her works have also been exhibited in Mexico, Canada, and West Africa. Gilda’s works are in many private and corporate collections, including Post/ Newsweek WDIV Detroit, the Neiman-Marcus Corporation,
Ameritech, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Compuware, and Beatrice Foods. In June of 2007 the new MGM Grand Casino in Detroit acquired a series of prints that are featured in each
of the 400 rooms of their new Hotel.

In addition to her role as Gallery Director with the Detroit Repertory Theatre, Gilda has curated shows at the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, the Detroit Institute of
Arts, the Willis Gallery, Pontiac Art Center, Focus Gallery, Dell Pryor Galleries, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts and the Zeitgeist Gallery. She is a member of the National
Conference of Artists, Michigan Chapter, and has written reviews and art criticism for the Atlanta ARTPAPERS, Detroit Focus Quarterly, New Art Examiner, and the National
Conference of Artists publications. She also an artist/advisor on the DIA Friends of Modern Art Board; the advisory board of the historic Scarab Club; and the Educational Advisory Board for the Art Education Department of the College for Creative Studies.

Gilda’s exhibition list includes a solo show titled SORCERY at the Saginaw Art Museum in Saginaw, Michigan; PERSONAL ABSTRACTION at the Sherry Washington Gallery, and GARDENS at the Motor City Brewery Works in Detroit. She has also participated in AFRICAN AMERICAN TEACHING ARTISTS at the Focus Hope Gallery;ABSTRACT FOR LIFE at the 4731 Gallery in Detroit; ACTUAL SIZE, at the Detroit Contemporary Gallery;
DETROIT SAMPLER in Tampa, Florida; THE LORCA SHOW, a series of twenty-two paintings based on the Romancero Gitano poems by Federico Garcia Lorca, at
the Cass Cafe; and CAN IT!, an invitational exhibition at the GR N’Namdi Gallery in conjunction with the DETROIT PRETTY CITY beautification project. In January
of this year she had a number of recent works on display at the NATIONAL BLACK FINE ARTS EXHIBITION in in New York, courtesy of Dell Pryor Galleries in Detroit. Gilda finished a series of works commissioned for selected Detroit Public Schools in tandem
with the Sherry Washington Gallery, and has six large paintings hanging on the first level of the Cobo Hall Convention Center. Gilda completed a large Sabbatical Exhibition with fellow faculty member Tom Phardel, which was on display at the College for Creative Studies.  Gilda has work on display in an exhibition as a part of the National Conference of Artists
PORTFOLIO at the Fayetteville Art Museum, Fayetteville SC., and is represented around the country by the Caesar Jackson Gallery in Washington, D.C., Crump Fine Arts in Ohio.
Gilda’s works are discussed in several books and other publications, including COLLECTING AFRICAN AMERICAN ART by Halima Taha; CREATING THEIR OWN IMAGE: THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS, by Lisa Farrington; NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART & IDENTITY by noted curator, educator and artist David Driskell; The ST.JAMES GUIDE TO BLACK ARTISTS, Published in association with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, by St.James Press/an Imprint of Gale Research; GUMBO YA YA: an Anthology of Contemporary African-American Women Artists,with an introduction by Leslie King-Hammond; and CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PAINTING--A CHINESE VIEW, the Jilin Fine Arts Publishing House, Changchun, China. Gilda is prominently featured in Dennis L. Forbes new book, STUDIOS & WORKSPACES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS, where her work and studio is depicted in a four-page section. Gilda was invited to write an essay about the work of artist Kara Walker for the recently published Midmarch Arts Press anthology, KARA WALKER: YES, NO,? that was published in February of 2009. Most recently, Gilda was invited to exhibit with a number of other nationally and internationally known artists in the exhibit, MICHIGAN MASTERS at the Kresge Art Museum of Michigan State University. This exhibition brings together works by 30 artists deemed the most exciting and inventive of the thousands active in the state today. Best of the vetted best, artworks included in the exhibit stimulate, challenge and reward viewers. Curator April Kingsley surveyed the wealth of artistic expression across the state to assemble this ambitious show, which concentrates on artists who have practiced their craft for decades.
Gilda was honored in July 2009 by being chosen one of the eighteen inaugural artists to receive a $25,000 Kresge Arts In Detroit Fellowship.

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS

2009   KRESGE ARTS IN DETROIT FELLOWSHIP
2004    NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ARTISTS VISION & EXCELLENCE IN THE ARTSAWARD

2001    Finalist---Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship
ALAIN LOCKE AWARD  Friends of African & African American Art/Detroit Institute of Arts
2000    Creative Artist Grant, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs [Painting]
1999    Travel Research Grant, CCS/CAD  Research in Contemporary Art / New York City
1996    Creative Artist Grant, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs [Sculpture]
            New Initiative for the Arts (NIFTA) exhibition award[10th Anniversary Exhibition]
1994    New Initiative for the Arts (NIFTA) exhibition award[Assemblage Sculpture]
1992    Nominee, Arts Foundation of Michigan Award
1991    New Forms Regional Grant---Randolph Street Gallery (NEA) Chicago (Sculpture/Book)
            •Nominee, Awards in the Visual Arts 11  (SECCA / NEA)
1990    Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artists Grant (Painting)
            •ArtsMidwest NEA Regional Fellowship (Works on Paper)
            •Tannahill Faculty Grant---Center For Creative Studies (Assemblage research)
1989     New Initiative for the Arts (NIFTA) exhibition award
1988    Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artists Grant (Sculpture)
              •New Initiative for the Arts (NIFTA) exhibition award
1986    Nominee, Awards in the Visual Arts 6  (SECCA / NEA)
1985    Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artists Grant (Painting)
1982    Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artists Grant (Painting)