What does a painter do?
Dobee Snowber's Swimmers series and other things too
I love swimming, and wrote a bit about it here. I am a year round swimmer thanks to my local YMCA. Since it’s full-on summer and a lot of us are swimming, it seemed propitious to showcase Berkeley-based painter Dobee Snowber, whose work features swimmers.
I met Dobee while we were in residency on Vashon Island off of Seattle last autumn.
The following are Dobee’s’ words, filtered through my edits.
As a kid, Dobee loved to doodle and make things out of various materials. She took art classes in high school and college but never thought of herself as an artist. After college, a friend encouraged her to take an etching class. She loved it and applied for a printmaking residency at Penland Art Center in NC. From there, she decided to go to art school. Almost 40 years later, she continues to create.
Dobee writes—
“I don’t feel I have a choice, in a good way. Art is my habit and my sanity. I see paintings everywhere I look. I love bodies, buildings, pools, places that are falling apart-the more peeling paint the better. I love color and texture and the interplay of the two as they become visceral.”
With her studio in her house, Dobee can slip in at various times of the day and night to paint, to prep or just look. She calls it “painting between the cracks.” Because she works full time and has a family, part of her art happens in her head, outside the studio. She turns it around in her mind so that sometimes by the time she gets into the studio “it just happens.”
Over the past few years, Dobee has worked on a series around swimmers, pools, and water.
Why swimmers?
One answer is that Dobee’s parents were from Long Island, from water. The family spent time in the summer near water. Her grandmother lived at the end of Long Island and they visited often. Dobee spent hours with grandmother and her buddies on the beach, fascinated by these women; sagging, full bodies trussed in complicated swimming outfits drinking gin and tonics and playing bridge.
People ask if Dobee is a swimmer. Her emphatic answer is NO. She hates the cold and doesn’t like chlorine. She loves the ocean, but it has to be room temperature or above to take the plunge.
Another answer is that Dobee loves drawing/painting women’s bodies but doesn’t want to do naked bodies. The red swimsuits allow her to create a certain anonymity, while each figure has her own distinct narrative.
“I’m drawn to swimmers, moving through water. Perhaps a metaphor for how we have to push through the unpredictable parts of life and carry on. That push is about resilience and prevailing.”
Art is a powerful vehicle for human connection. The driving force behind Dobee’s work is the exploration of the delicate balance between the harsh reality of entropy and the enduring spirit of resilience.
For many years, Dobee avoided portraits, instead leaving the figures either without features or just ambiguous lines, anonymous. At some point, she decided to confront her fear and just do it. Now she loves portraits. She often paints with only a pallet knife to sculpt the faces with paint. This allows for a range of color.
Dobee is fascinated by structures, old falling down buildings in beautiful decay. For her, they represent entropy, a reflection of survival. Despite what life has imposed on them, they stand strong. There is magic in this strength. She feels her work offers a way for people to see themselves reflected, and in turn to feel seen.
Speaking of art…. Dan and I visited the Smithsonian’s Asian collections over the weekend and saw this magnificent clay pot, over 2300 years old.
And finally a huge thank you to author Rosemary Hayward, who recommended DUET FOR ONE in a very generous piece. I am so grateful. You can read it here.
Thanks and love,
Martha
P.S. ICYMI, here’s my most recent newsletter/Substack, “War and Peace.”
Lovely piece about Dobee, one of my favorite people.