Ray Snyder
Drawing inspiration from the natural world, Ray Snyder’s works reflect universes, factual and fictional, past and present. Exploring organisms from the beginning of life on Earth to modern day, Snyder focuses on the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the intricate relationships between all living things. With a passion for education and science, Snyder uses scientific illustration as a bridge to teach people about the world around them. Ray is fueled by the weird and captures the strange through highly chromatic yet eerie visuals. Primarily an illustrator, they also use acrylic paint as well as reduction printing to bring these worlds to life.
Sleep Study
Allosaurus Fragilis was a Jurassic Period top-predator who dominated the Morrison Formation (parts of present day Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming). Observing this creature in a 3D environment invites viewers to understand these animals as real living things and not just names in textbooks or Hollywood-ified movie monsters. Seeing this animal at rest reminds us that in the massive scale of geological time, and in all the different organisms that have occupied Earth, there has always been connection. We all crave a nap in the sunlight, may it be on the floodplains of the Morrison or on the grass in Golden Gate Park.
My love for science directly influences my art, and my passion for teaching. Making science accessible through either arts integration as a way to teach content, or through the creation of art to represent concepts is what I strive to do with my work.