artist's statement & biography

Riki Schneyer, a self-taught artist, has been making art since she was old enough to hold a crayon. Born in Buffalo, N.Y. to a family of artists, musicians, and social activists, her painting reflects the peculiar cross-section of multicultural influences that have permeated her life. Currently, she is particularly taken with exploring the relationships between color, texture, and form, and how they may be used to express powerful emotions in a more abstract format.

While her paintings have ranged from large figurative works in oil to predominantly abstract expressionist works in a variety of watermedia, the enduring constants in her work remain: the use of vivid, intensely saturated color to evoke emotion, a whimsical sense of design, and a boundless lust for life.

Riki is also a teacher for and the vice-president of "Art for the People," a non-profit organization which brings the life-enhancing pleasures of making art to "at risk" populations. She particularly enjoys teaching the mentally ill and homeless. She has studied "Art for Process" with Stewart Cubley and the Painting Experience, and loves to help people to make art, especially those who have never considered themselves to have artistic ability.

She has toured and performed as a musician and singer for much of her life, and has made her living as a psychotherapist for 26 years. She is happily married to a geologist and has one extraordinary daughter, two extraordinary stepchildren (one daughter, one son), and an enthusiastic poodle named Arlo. She loves making art to her very bones.

Selected exhibitions include: