Delta College graduate Tracey Snelling’s work will be on display at the L.H. Horton Gallery through March 25. Snellings art has been exhibited all over the world, most recently at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, NY. Snelling answered questions through an e-mail interview about her Delta exhibit, “A Sort of Homecoming.”
Question: What do you miss about Delta?
Answer: “When I was at Delta, there was a great group of 4 or 5 creative students in the photo department — Steven, Kim, Charles, and Scott, as well as Jacques Munger, the lab tech. It was a wonderful, unique experience to have so many interesting, experimental artists together at one time in a junior college. This group of people and our desire to experiment with the boundaries of photography influenced me quite a bit at that time.”
Question: When you were a student at Delta what was your favorite class?
Answer: “Photography was definitely my favorite. But I also remember liking some of the biology/physical science classes.”
Question: What made you want to be an artist?
Answer: “Since I was young, I liked drawing and painting. It was always something I could lose myself in, and forget about time and everything else.”
Question: What did you do to get out of Delta College and into the world of art?
Answer: “I left Delta and joined the California Conservation Corps, doing environmental work and traveling. I returned to Delta for a semester to finish my AA degree, then worked as a fire fighter with the US Forest Service while going to the University of New Mexico for art and photography. Taking breaks from school to work in jobs that were unrelated to art, I realized that I still had the desire to study and make art. Once I had a few good bodies of work, I began sending packets to galleries, and started getting into exhibits.
Question: Who was your inspiration for your art work?
Answer: “I have had many inspirations. A few of my early inspirations were Bosch, Cindy Sherman, the Starn Twins, David Lynch, and David Levinthal. Others I find interesting today are Francis Bacon, Tom Sachs, Pipilotti Rist, and Hans Op de Beeck.”
Question: How did you feel coming back to Delta to do an exhibit
Answer: “It’s nice to come back and have an exhibit at a place that influenced me early on. It’s also a strange feeling to return to a place that I have not been to in 20 years or so. Maybe I will feel like I stepped into a David Lynch film!”
Question: If there was one thing you wanted the students and staff of Delta to get out of the exhibit?
Answer: “I hope that my in-depth exploration of everyday places encourages people to stop and look around them more carefully. The mini mart on the corner or house down the street has details, people and stories that our more interesting than we often acknowledge.”