meet art wall artist: lucy snowe

Today, Lucy Snowe, photographic heroine and seeker of "the perfect moment," has willingly offered a few insights into the thought behind her work and her inspirations as an artist.

(AW) You've mentioned in your artist statement that you're intrigued by fashion magazines and the idea of shooting your subjects as though photographing for a high fashion magazine. How and why do you choose the subjects in your work?

(LS) Vogue Magazine always inspired me as a young girl. I loved exotic color combinations, unnatural postures and dramatic lighting. I loved that there was nothing ordinary about those photos. I also love contrast and juxtaposition. I love combining beauty with humor, masculine with feminine, barnyard with glamor, simple with complex, and even modern with vintage. Basically, I am addicted to beauty. I will shoot anything that astonishes me with its beauty.

(AW) Much of your work seems to utilize the idea of everyday images presented in a formal, aesthetically organized way. Can you talk a bit about your process and how things come together on site?

(LS) Well, lighting is everything...shadow, the perfect moment...the clouds as a natural diffuser, the sheen on a feather. Of course, shooting creatures is a bit of a challenge. I must return to the scene of the crime again and again...to uncover the subtle mystery of the delicate soul of whatever subject. Shooting creatures can be tricky. Being attacked by your subject, for instance, is one of the perils of working with livestock.

(AW) Oh my! It's an courageous thought, the idea of a little Nikon before a heard of horses. There's a very real tension there with the incursion of technology in an otherwise "wild" environment. Besides such adventurous paradoxes, and magazines like Vogue, what are you inspired by?

(LS) I love architecture, design, poetry (especially Haiku), Technicolor Film; nature, of course.

(AW) What are your thoughts on the idea of selling your work?

(LS) Selling, actually marketing my own work, is unnerving to say the least. I am more dreamy, than practical...so hopefully my work speaks for itself and can find its own audience. The internet has been extremely helpful in marketing my work.

(AW) How did you get started as an artist? And, what's your idea of artistic success?

(LS) No one in my family was an artist. My parents were bewildered when I dyed my sneakers in a huge vat on the stove, when I wrote and starred in vampire plays in the garage, and attempted to join the FBI when I was 16. Everyone thought I was just eccentric. I grew up in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where my photography subjects were more glamorous than woodland creatures I shoot today. My idea of artistic success is Doing The Work, staying connected to my belief in my art, and being able to continue working no matter what!

(AW) Thanks for your openness, Lucy. It's been wonderful hearing your thoughts on your work.

Lucy's "Little Red Bird at Sunset," can be found on the Master Bedroom wall on Art Wall. Her Etsy shop is a wonderland of naturalistic photography, and her general website is ethereal.