Gilda Snowden

Gilda Snowden (July 29, 1954 – September 9, 2014) was an African-American artist, educator and mentor from Detroit, Michigan.

Early life and education Snowden was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, 1954, and grew up in northwest Detroit. Snowden's father was a dentist. She attended Cass Technical High School with a focus on fashion design.

Snowden earned her earned her BFA degree in Advertising Design and Painting in 1977 and her MFA degree in Painting in 1979 from Wayne State University. She decided her sophomore year of college to focus on fine art.

She was married to William "Bill" Boswell, an actor and director of the Detroit Repertory Theatre. She taught at CCS for 31 years, serving as chair for both the fine arts department and the painting department at various times during her years there. At the college she also served as a curator and juror for art exhibitions. City Album: Department of Railways 1929 is an example from a series of charcoal rubbings she made of the Detroit manhole covers she discovered riding though the city on her bicycle.

She was a member of the Michigan chapter of the National Conference of Artists. 1982, 1985, 1990 in Painting, 1988 in Sculpture – Individual Artists Grant from the Michigan Council For the Arts. 1977–1979 – Graduate Professional Scholarship, Wayne State University 1990 – Tannahill Faculty Grant, Center for Creative Studies 1990 – Arts Midwest NEA Regional Fellowship

Exhibitions Gilda Snowden's work has been featured in gallery and museum, this is a select list of her exhibitions including:

Solo exhibitions 2013 – Gilda Snowden, Album: A Retrospective 1977-2010, (solo exhibition) Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, New York, United States 2006 – Abstractions of Life Paintings, (solo exhibition) Sherry Washington Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, United States 2002 – Gilda Snowden, New Work, (solo exhibition) Sherry Washington Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, United States 1986 – Paint Creek Center, Rochester, Michigan, United States 1993 – TransFORMING IDEAS, Michigan Gallery, Detroit, Michigan 1992 – Women of Color, Dahl Arts Center, Rapid City, South Dakota, United States 1991 – Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit (DIA), Michigan, United States

1990 – Signature Images, (with artist Michael Luchs, curated by Jan van der Marck), Detroit Institute of Art (DIA), Detroit, Michigan, United States

Death and legacy

Snowden died on September 9, 2014, at the age of 60. the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, Oakland University Art Gallery, and the Wayne State University Art Collection.

The Gilda Snowden Emerging Artist Awards, funded by The Kresge Foundation since 2015, honor Gilda Snowden's lifetime of work mentoring Detroit area emerging artists.