Late Spring Mills artist’s wood carvings featured at exhibit

SPRING MILLS — Grace United Church of Christ in Spring Mills was the site of an art show Aug. 6 which featured the folk art wood carvings of the late James William “Bill” Snyder, of Spring Mills.

Snyder was born in 1928 in Spring Mills, and grew up there. He graduated from Gregg Township High School in 1945, then spent a year in the U.S. Army stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1947, he married Miriam Zettle, and they had two children, John and Audrey.

Snyder worked for Titan Metals (later Cerro Metals) in Bellefonte, then was employed for 40 years as a sign painter for Penn State University, retiring in 1990. It was after his retirement that he took to making wood carvings in his basement workshop.

“He would go downstairs after breakfast, come up for lunch and go back down until 4 or 4:30,” said Miriam Snyder. “He liked to keep busy.”

The subjects of Snyder’s carvings were mostly animals and birds, which reflected his youth spent trapping muskrats and beavers in the woods and along the streams of Penns Valley. He sold the pelts to local fur processors for spending money in those days.

In addition to bird and animal carvings, some of Snyder’s work includes examples of Native American- themed carvings, as well as Christmas pieces, including a large Nativity scene, and figures resembling those from the Nutcracker ballet.

Snyder’s son, John, said his dad used wildlife photographs from magazines and calendars for reference in his carvings. He made drawings on paper or light cardboard, then cut them out to use as templates when shaping the carvings. His carvings were made using only hand tools including a coping saw, spoke shave, a small block plane, rasps, knives, and many grades of sandpaper.

Snyder’s sign painting experience came into play when he gave his carvings realistic paint jobs, which seemed to bring them to life.

“He used oil paints at first because that’s what he used in the sign shop, but switched to acrylics because they were easier to use,” said John Snyder.

Bill Snyder used a variety of wood species in his carvings, including elm, cedar and several soft woods. Many are painted but some were left in their natural finishes. The Grace Church exhibit contained about 130 carvings, and family members estimated that around 50 pieces remained in the Snyders’ home.

Bill Snyder passed away in 2015, at age 87, after a battle with lung cancer. The Snyder family is justifiably proud of his legacy and believe he would have enjoyed the exhibit.

“He would be honored,” said Bill and Miriam’s daughter, Audrey Snyder Stensrud.