04-04-2025
Artist Steven Schneider draws inspiration from daily living, nature
TUPELO – Ringed by trees on the 10-acre property he shares with his wife, Steven Schneider can simply take a peek from the studio he built next to their Colorado-inspired stone-and-wood home for inspiration.
Stepping out onto the back porch with a commanding view overlooking the vast agricultural fields stretching below and into the horizon, the clear turquoise of the pool is inviting, albeit it's still a bit too cool to take a dip.
"It's beautiful out here, isn't it?" he says. "See that cedar over there? I think I'll paint that soon."
The setting is ideal for Schneider, who is in his element. At 70, he has an infectious enthusiasm. His eyes sparkle while describing some of his acrylic canvases.
"I've been through an evolution ... mostly based on nature references," he said "I tend to go back to landscapes. It's a familiar thing. Growing up in south Louisiana, I'm greatly in love with nature. It feels good."
A pre-med major with a fine art minor while in college, Schneider had a revelation while going through the rigors of his studies. While his 3.5 GPA was good, he didn't have the passion for medicine. And his art was as constant companion.
"I piddled in watercolor and this and that ... and I realized I wasn't going to medical school," he said. "The art people were so much more fun, and I blame music, too, since I play a little."
After graduating from the University of Louisiana, he was associated with a gallery in Lafayette, and it didn't take long for one off his paintings to capture the interest of a buyer.
"The gallery called and said, 'Somebody's really interested in your painting and wants to meet you and talk about it,'" he said with a sigh.
That wasn't something he was exactly thrilled to do.
"My initial thought this would be easy. I could stay at home, do these pictures and these paintings and just send then to galleries, and they sell and they send me a check," he said. "It never really worked out that way."
Eventually, he overcame his own hesitation to meet and greet his potential buyers.
'I realized later on that more and more people want to engage with you, the process, what you're all about, and in most cases it's a personal thing if they're going to purchase," he said. "I'm OK with that after 40 years of doing that."
Planting the seed
Schneider tapped into his affinity for the creative process starting at an early age.
"I drew like so many artists, and started drawing as a kid, and discovered I had an aptitude," he said. "I remember in the fourth grade, I was out on the playground drawing, and the teacher put my piece up and asked, 'Who did this?'"
That drawing, a house, planted a seed that has blossomed into a career that now finds his artwork viewed and purchased from Oxford Treehouse Gallery in Oxford, Fischer Galleries in Ridgeland, Justus Fine Art in Hot Springs, and Greg Thompson Fine Art in Little Rock.
He has been inspired by a range of artists — Georges Braque, the founder of Cubism; Van Gogh and his colorful impressionism; surrealists like Salvador Dali, Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp; the abstract expressionism of Han Hofmann and the graphic styles of Andy Warhol and Franz Klein; and others.
After earning a fine arts degree, Schneider studied advertising design and went into business with his brother. He later opened an ad agency, but after two years, his urge to paint was greater than ever. He wanted to be seen.
"All along I was doing my art and painting, and so what I would do was keep contacting galleries and do my art," he said. "So, when I left the ad agency, it was just me. I would do an advertising piece get some money to get some chickens to throw in the freezer, buy some canvases go paint, have an art show, sell a few pieces and go back and forth between graphic design and painting. So, I guess I've been doing that since the age of 25."
And he was no starving artist.
"I always managed to eat. Advertising paid the steady money," he said.
One person who took interest in Schneider was his wife, Cynthia, who he met at a charity event in Lafayette, some 22 years ago. She was intrigued when she first heard about him.
"I'd always heard about this very elusive, hidden away artist, a total man of mystery," she said.
Cynthia owned a restaurant at the time, and the couple later moved to Donaldsonville, Louisiana, in 2004, where they opened the Schneider Art Gallery and Grapevine Cafe and Gallery and often held events together.
"It was really neat," Steven Schneider said. "Have a little wine, a little art. It really paired well."
Schneider's style
Schneider's art can't be put in a single box, given his various influences. He describes himself as being "compelled to observe and document daily living." He said he draws inspiration from both the "natural and spiritual realms."
His interest in plein air forms a base for his landscapes, with planar shapes combined with realistic impressions.
"I did plein air painting for a while, and it's something I really enjoyed I have a lot of plein air friends but realize there are thousands of them, and I'm just OK," he said. "Within the past four years, I've tried to push a little more unique and personal."
A painting he's working on is inspired by the natural beauty of the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas, where the Schneiders lived for a decade before moving to Tupelo last year. This particular piece is an homage to the Lost Valley Trial in the Buffalo National Forest, the most popular hike in the Ozarks. With sheer rock faces, flowing water and a forested landscape, the trail is being interpreted by Schneider with the blue of the sky, the brown shadowed rock and the green trees playing off each other.
Some of his paintings are referenced by photographs, and with his graphic designer skills, he's learned to manipulate the shapes and colors in order to get it to where he wants to be with his paintbrush.
"I've done oil, watercolor, 3-D assemblies. Acrylic works for me. I've gotten to the point where I can develop colorizations that mimic texture and depth," he said.
Another landscape — called simply, Trace — is inspired by the Natchez Trace. It recently hung at the GumTree Museum of Art in Tupelo, and it speaks to his use of light and shadow.
"The colors just sizzle off each other," Schneider said. "After years of studying art theory and plein air outdoor painting, no longer are all the shadows dark and there's just not much light ... now the shadows are luminous.
"I like the light and focusing on an area where everything else sort of contributes to the lit areas," he added. "You want people to look at a painting and go, 'Wow, that's cool.' I keep wanting to get to that point where people are compelled to look at it and say, 'Wow, for some reason, I really enjoy looking at it.'"
Schneider also has surrealistic paintings like a fireworks stand that caught his eye after a wedding, or a series of paintings of antique vehicles from a junkyard.
What he paints is what he would want to hang in his own home, "Things that are cool and intrigue me."
For example, there is a 60-by-60 painting of his Martin guitar which he admits is for a very specific audience.
Retirement is just a word, not a vocation, but he is trying to be "sort of retired." However, he also feels like he has a lot more time to devote to painting.
"My focus for image making is to interpret and communicate more effectively, while my goal is to reveal some truth that initiates interaction and conversations," he said.
