Kevin Snipes' Spinal Fusion Surgery
Donation protected
~ Support Kevin Snipes as he recovers from Spinal Fusion Surgery ~
Many of you in the ceramics community know Kevin Snipes through many places, times in your life, and from various events such as residencies, workshops, lectures, conferences, and symposiums. Through a wide array of visiting artist series nationwide and out of the country, we’ve had the privilege of professional and personal interactions with him. He is a steadfast friend to many.
We think our ceramics community across the nation would want to know that he’s undergone major spinal fusion surgery to repair his spine and severe spinal nerve damage on June 27, 2022. Over many years, he has lived with chronic pain, unable to sit comfortably and stand up straight. His spine has even prohibited him in the studio from working more ambitiously or larger because of his severe pain. This surgery will be a new lease on life for Kevin and is planned to ease his chronic pain, improve mobility, and provide a better quality of life and relief. After this ~6-hour surgery, it will take approximately 8-12 months to heal, as this is always unknown based on individual bodies. It will take months for him to recover well enough to start enjoying extra-curricular activities again. He will not be allowed to lift more than 5 lbs., bend, twist, or stretch his body until his surgeon gives the green light.
Post-operative pain management and physical therapy will be a large part of his reality for a while. We ask for your financial support today, so that when he’s recovered and healed, he may continue his daily life and work without the added stress and financial burdens from the medical system.
*correction: large typo in recovery time. It was previously stated as 8-12 weeks. CORRECTION: 8-12 MONTHS. (apologies for the error)
About Kevin:
My work is based in the combination of narrative imagery on hand built ceramic forms. But primarily I think of myself as a storyteller. The stories I tell are open-ended investigations of difference and otherness. They are ways in which I can explore the underlying emotional and psychological issues of discrimination. I am interested in what happens when people who are different come together. One aspect of my work is that the narratives I portray encompass different sides, so that every side of the piece is the front side, or protagonist. This said, my approach to working with these ideas is somewhat subversive.
Both the intimate scale and the jewel-like surfaces that are hallmarks of my work are a sort of misdirection that the viewer must dig through to get to the kernel of the work. I’ve loved working this way because I believe that the viewers of my work are dynamically engaged enough to understand that there is a layer of social unease below the surface.
As an African American artist I am excited to see how the role of artists of color is changing. I have been working quietly but I would love the chance to more fully embrace my own voice.
Bio:
Kevin Snipes is an American artist born in Philadelphia and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a BFA in ceramics and drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1994 and concluded graduate studies at the University of Florida in 2003. He works primarily in ceramics, blurring the boundary between craft and art. Snipes combines techniques of narrative figure drawing, text, and hand-formed porcelain constructions to create objects that can be seen as multi-layered paintings.
Kevin has participated in many artist residency programs, often maintaining an itinerant existence. Through both national and international residencies including The Clay Studio, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, New Castle, Maine, and Wesleyan College in Georgia, he has allowed a sense of place to augment his sense of identity and contribute to the dialog of his work. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, including recent solo exhibitions at Konkling Gallery at Minnesota State University, Mankato and Plinth Gallery, Denver. Kevin Snipes lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.
Fundraising team (2)
Artists in Residence 2022
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
Kevin Snipes
Beneficiary
Kyra Calhoun
Team member