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I was born in New York the same year that the
Rolling Stones started making music. I grew up in Florida, then
moved to Oklahoma. Kansas City has been my home since 1980. I have
been making art for as long as I can remember. I was first
introduced to commercial art while attending the Graphic Arts course
at the El Reno Vo-Tech high school program in Oklahoma. In 1979 I
was accepted into the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute screenprinting
workshop and worked with Dan Kiacz who was the chairman of the Art
Department at the University of Oklahoma at the time. Dan showed me
a “bare bones” approach to screenprinting on paper using a single
screen with hand painted block out for the stencil. Many of the
techniques that I learned from Dan are still incorporated in my
current printing process.
I’ve worked in the screenprinting business for most of my life,
beginning in 1979 as a paste-up artist for Serigraphics, Inc. in
Oklahoma City, OK. I attended the Kansas City Art Institute during
the early 1980’s focusing on ceramics and printmaking. I began what
I thought was only a summer job in 1984 at a medium sized commercial screenprinting company, Designer Products, Inc. I was promoted to
Art Director and did not return to college. While at Designer
Products I managed the art and screen department, designed the
company’s trade show booths, developed new product lines, created
and managed their ink department and set up their embroidery
department.
During the 1990’s I continued to work for commercial screenprinting
and embroidery companies in the Kansas City area including American
Design Group and KC Sportswear. Eventually I opened my own
screenprinting business, Doc’s Caboose, Inc., in 1993. I also
married my wife, Jennifer, that same year. Our business
is located in a four story warehouse in the West Bottoms which we
purchased in 1997. We have expanded our business to include a retail
store, Doc's Caboose, that sells model trains and the Blue Djinn art
gallery. We lease a portion of the warehouse to a custom cabinet
manufacturing company, Constructive Ideas, and studio space to local
artists.
I am also working with steel, creating sculptural pieces. This is very
different than the two-dimensional format of seriography and has
proved to be both challenging and rewarding.
Thanks for
visiting!
Doc Snyder
1400 Union Avenue
Kansas City, MO 64101
(816) 518-4649
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