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wumuxr Cit-(mica . Wednesday. August 5. 2009 . a Vijay 3 Indian Cmsme Voted I! 7 CURRY 1 23.COM 519 7436060 I he picture I naker O C 0 Peter Em! Snyder closmg the doors after 40 years of operating uptown gallery BY Boa VBMNAC But private collectors commission most of Chronicle Surf the work he does these days Snyder. always a .. s . ~ savvy marketer, said the reach of the internet Peter Etril Snyder calls himself a picture- . a, means that he doesn‘t have to have a space maker. anymore to display his work. “Calling yourself an ‘artist’ puts you up on He can sell most of his prints online and a pedestal away from the community.” he cut down on the need of being at the gallery Snyder. six days a week. Plus. he's made enough of a "it takes you away from the community name for himself that he can embrace the and the fabric that forms you." W! . g ‘ technology. Snyder is a painter who has always been . Ewe?" ’ " g”. “I don't really need a gallery to do com- inspired by the community that surrounds "- -' missioned art." said Snyder. “I‘ve got a web- him â€" whether it was its history. its beauty or ‘3 .. site and an answering machine but it's the pockets of the area that held on stub- , ' taken 40yearsto get here.” bomly to a way of life that most people had ' “tat might suggest a little cognitive disso- forgotten. V nance between using technology to sell If there is a painter more closely associat» paintings that stir a sense of nostalgia. But . ed with the area he lives in than Snyder. you'd Snyder has never shied away from the need be hard pressed to name them. It would be ' . to couple art with commerce. He said it's difficult to separate him'from the mythos of . .. * .fi; allowed him to follow his passion for so his Mennonite upbringing and the agrarian ' , ‘ ~, , .4 ' “f: '5; many years when so many ofhis contempo- lifestyle that inspired so much of his work. , 2 M' I ‘ ‘ '. All ‘ i ‘ raries had dropped by the wayside. And it's a mythology he's helped create by ' " g“ “I did things differently.” said Snyder. capturing Mennonite life in a way that many ' 3' whose gallery helped serve as a successful thought was passe after he returned to the - 5 model for other galleries that took up resi- area from a stint at the Ontario College of Art 33- dence in the uptown core 'Frankly, l didn't He announced last week that, after 40 ,5 thinktheold system worked." years of operating the Peter Etril Snyder “'3 ‘ The gallery system of having an owner Gallery on Erb Street in uptown Waterloo. he who holds showing was a restrictive model, will be closing that chapter of his life by the _ and Snyder said it often kept the artist from end of the year. A combination of health "V - pursuing their work. An artist able to have issues. fatigue and the desire to slowdown all ' their own space to display their art gave him helped shape that decision. ~ 9:;ng more control of his career. "l‘m hoping it will help me focus a lot on. " ‘ “It wasn‘t a good deal for the owner of the relaxing,‘ he laughed. “After 40 years l'm . gallery an it wasn't a good deal for the artist.” ready to get away from the day to day. 7 said Snyder. 'We had to invent a new - “l'm off forgood behaviour.” ‘ digm. That's what I did and 1 Mi People told him that he would never be that came out of my Mennonite Wound ableto makeagoofitasanam'stbycaptur- ofgrowingthecropandbringingittomarket. ing simple charms of mral life. They told him "I‘hat’s how I was able to keep painting. to paint something elseand forget the beauty The other guys who weren't willing to are inhisownbackyard ‘ worldngfortheBankofMontreal.‘ Birtovertheyeershesfoundanenthusi- Retirementwon‘t keephimfrom pursuing asticaudieneeaaoesCanadaendthewodd anoflierpassbnâ€"Iendinghisnameandhis for his work. And he's taking some of the ‘ . - . artistic abilities to local charities like credit for coining the term 'Mennonite WM'OO "15‘ W EV" 9W is retiring 3"" ‘0 yew 0' overtime his 5“" Street 9"”!- Kideility inWmetloo. Country'tfutdrawssomanypeopletothe “mm 'lthlnkhe’shadahugeimpactforusand area aplecefromthereandpieoefromhereand “Wealreadytnvelalot.nowlthinkm'll we'regratefulthathehaschosenusasoneof 'l thinkthat peoplesee the honestyin my weave them together.” be able to travel that much more.” said Sny- his charities,” said Lisa Talbot. executive work.“ said Snydec “I don't the people that I And he laughed that there are those out der. “l'm tired offiayingcatch-upt director of the KidsAbility foundation. “We’ve do. or the Warranties that I paint. into a eer- there who don‘t believe him and figure he “It's time to up. and that's just your had a long relationship that is going to con- toon. ' isn‘t capable of retiring But. he said. it's time. body telling ”til: cool your jets. I don't tinue. and we‘re proud to have his beautiful “They are real people who sweat and work His industriousness and work ethic has think I' going to ave that problem.” artwork." . hard. and I think that's what people respond drikn him for the past four decades But. at it wig have its challenges Snyder’s iamily When the question turns to legacy. once to. 65. Snyder decided it‘s time to listen to his history goes back to the settling of Waterloo. again his Mennonite roots start to show. “Are 'They are all pieces woven together. You body, and his wife Marilyn. and do a little and/a house where his great-grandfather you trying to tell me something.‘ laughs Sny- can‘tjustgodownamadandfindthatAtake moretravelling. livedisjustdownthestreetfromhhfllery. der.'Heveyoubeentalklngtomydoctor?‘ J .er .fl. i" .t‘l‘fi “,1: “ Sly“; 1 l‘t\‘ ( '» mam smut - Ital m :1 ~ ' ' ’ ' *i‘kgh? I I16llfi‘l. I..IAICI100 l SI’JILNN l III.SP.I.GII