Katy Schneider

Katy Schneider is a painter and Professor of Art at Smith College, where she has taught all levels of painting and drawing since 1990. She holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Indiana University. Her work is deeply personal, exploring themes of light, domestic intimacy, family dynamics, and spatial constraints, often inspired by her upbringing in a small NYC apartment.

Her research and creative interests include:

• Painting and drawing with emphasis on light and narrative
• Domestic and interior spaces as artistic subjects
• Self-portraiture and family portraiture
• Children's book illustration and visual storytelling
• Small-scale and serial painting projects, such as the 'Silver Linings' pandemic series

Although she does not publish academic articles, her body of visual work represents a sustained and influential artistic inquiry. Her recent projects include over 700 small oil paintings on aluminum created during the pandemic, curated into 'visual poems,' and a 2023 commission from The New York Times.

Her numerous awards highlight her excellence in both fine art and illustration:

• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (2004)
• National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
• Thomas B. Clarke Prize and Henry Ward Ranger Award from the National Academy of Design (2002)
• Bank Street College Irma S. and James H. Black Book Award (2006)
• Massachusetts Cultural Council and Blanche Colman Awards
• Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Society of Arts and Letters

Schneider advises students in painting and drawing at Smith College and has mentored emerging artists through her long teaching career. She has received significant support through fellowships and grants, including from the Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, and Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work is held in major collections such as the Smith College Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and New Britain Museum of American Art. She also collaborates across disciplines, notably in music with bands like Jerks on the Loose and Katyland, and in literary-visual projects with poet Jim Armenti during the pandemic.