Ruth Snyderman Takes a Bow

Ruth Snyderman traces her life in craft back to the opening of the Works gallery in Philadelphia in 1965. Since then, she’s been a juror, a speaker, a collector, and a community organizer – as well as co-owner, with her husband, Rick, of the merged Snyderman-Works Galleries in Philadelphia’s thriving Old City neighborhood. American Craft had occasion to speak with Snyderman about her career and a Clay Studio benefit honoring her contributions to the craft field coming up in March.

Tell us a bit about your involvement with the Clay Studio.

The Clay Studio is just a block away and sometimes the same artists we show also show there. We have that relationship. Sometimes the [Evelyn] Shapiro Foundation gives a grant to an artist to be there for quite a length of time and then have an exhibition, and sometimes that person becomes an artist that we represent at some point. Sometimes we get work that we see that’s in an exhibition and take it for a permanent part of our stable of artists. That has happened from time to time. We go back and forth. And I have been on the board of the Clay Studio.

How do you feel about being honored by the Clay Studio?

I am very excited. I didn’t think it was as big a deal as it’s turning out to be. So many people seem so excited about it and have said, “Well, congratulations; it’s due. You are certainly worthy of this.” So now I realize: I am a worthy being! I hadn’t analyzed all of the projects I’ve been involved with until now to see, well, yes, that was a good thing I was involved with. And it’s getting more exciting because we’re planning on some parts of this whole gala being unusual.

Can you share some of those plans?

The theme is the ’70s, with a South Street influence; so clothes might be from the ’70s – I know mine will be – and we’ll have a performer, Warren Muller, who performed on South Street in the ’70s. The raffle prize is a scooter with glass wheels made by our son [R 20th Century gallery co-owner Evan Snyderman]. So we’re thinking maybe I should ride in to the gala on that. We’ll see.

Describe what you mean by “South Street influence.”

Well, it was a whole lifetime from the ’70s until the ’80s of developing that community that was all boarded up. And it was dangerous. We had 10 galleries that showed craft of some sort and clothing stores, and the most interesting restaurants in Philadelphia actually started there. We had festivals to draw people because they were afraid to come to the neighborhood. And 25,000 people would come to the festivals, dressed in unusual clothes, and parade down the street.

What sort of unusual clothes are we talking about?

One time I was wrapped in a Polish rug, and my husband wore a washerwoman’s costume.

But South Street wasn’t all fun and games. You were involved in some serious activism.

Yes, we had the threat of a highway wiping out South Street from one end of the river to the other. So we had all kinds of demonstrations, we went around City Hall with our baby carriages, and we had meetings to stop the highway. And we did stop the highway, and we also stopped the ramps that were going to come on South Street so that cars would have just rushed right by that neighborhood. So after we stopped all that, then the buildings could really be developed, and it became the busiest street in Philadelphia. We were open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. That’s when so many people came and went to the restaurants and walked the streets.

That’s impressive. Let me ask this. Your Works Gallery became a catalyst for that 1970s revitalization of the South Street area. Then in 1992 you moved to the Old City section of Philly – and led another revitalization of a desolate area. What led you to move and start over again?

There was a reason for that. South Street became a gathering place for young people who were not buyers; the stores changed, and a clothing store from New York came down and bought a lot of the buildings. Rents went up very high, we were surrounded by chain stores, and there was no reason for us to stay there anymore. We found this wonderful building in Old City and were able to buy it. It took a couple of years to get the financing to renovate it. I didn’t come right away. I stayed on at South Street for a few more years because there wasn’t as much going on here in this [Old City] neighborhood. Then I came over.

How does Old City compare?

It’s not as busy as South Street ever was, but it has a more targeted audience. Now we have more than 30 galleries and showrooms in this area – design showrooms – and 24 boutiques in this area. We all work together to promote the area, discussing events we’re going to do.

When you embarked on this second revitalization, did you look forward to it, or did you think “oh, gosh, here we go again”?

No, I was excited about it.  Since I wasn’t here at first and Rick was, there were events going on and I wanted to be a part of it. They started First Fridays in this neighborhood, the galleries that were here. And I thought, “Oh, I want to be over here and be involved in all of this.” It was something to look forward to and to work on, to get more galleries to come to this neighborhood. We still have our First Fridays.

What are First Fridays like?

All of the galleries change their exhibitions usually every first Friday or every two months, people still come down, and then they go to restaurants afterwards. Sometimes when the weather is nice, there is music on the street.

What else is nearby Snyderman-Works in Old City?

Well, there’s the Center for Art in Wood and of course the Clay Studio. There is also the Wexler Gallery, and Moderne gallery, which shows some ceramics, as well as Wendell Castle, Wharton Esherick, and [George] Nakashima. And we have many design stores, contemporary furniture showrooms, and many galleries for paintings.

Sounds like quite a hub.

It is. The neighborhood was just voted one of 12 best neighborhoods for arts and culture [by ArtPlace, a collaboration of 13 leading national and regional foundations and six of the nation’s largest banks].

And it’s a transformation that happened in just 20 years.

Yes. It was slow getting started, but now it’s booming. Now a lot of people own condos here. Everybody owns their building on our block, Cherry Street.

You’ve got 12,000 square feet in Old City, which houses the Snyderman-Works Galleries and a loft upstairs where you live. How is it to have your work and living spaces in such close proximity?

Wonderful. If you’re having snow or downpours – we have an elevator – we just push the button and go downstairs. But that means I have to go to gym 3 days a week because I’m not walking the 12 blocks from home to work. And we entertain in our living space as well as the gallery. We do that many times. It works out very well.

I get the sense, never having been there, that the Works and Snyderman galleries, though merged, are still somewhat separate. Is that true?

They were entirely separate until two years ago. But officially now we’re one gallery. That means we don’t have separate books. We don’t have separate checkbooks. We make decisions together instead of my making the decisions for the Works and Rick making decisions for the Snyderman gallery. And our staff is involved in our decisions jointly. And I didn’t know how that would work after all these years, but we’re not having any problems.

It sounds as if you’ve rather seamlessly made a transition.

Definitely, and Rick is in charge now – more or less, which he’s been waiting for for many years. We’re co-owners, but he’s making most of the decisions.

What is your role today?

Frank [Hopson], my director, and I still pick the jewelry, the ceramics, and the exhibitions on our lower level of the two-level space. But we discuss it with the higher-ups. We still have that freedom.

I’ve read that, in recent years, you’ve added paintings and photography. Tell us about that change.

We actually don’t have photography now. It’s not for us. There are other galleries that can do a better job with photography. But since we moved, we have 14-foot ceilings, and paintings work well in the upstairs gallery.

One of the aspects of your work that you’ve said is most gratifying is spotting artists who later become important. Who are some of those artists?

Garry Knox Bennett and Wendell Castle come to mind. In the ’60s, there were Ted Hallman (fiber artist), Dan Dailey (in ceramics at that time, later glass), and Billy Bernstein (glass). Now there is his son, Alex Bernstein (also glass).

Are there artists today you suspect will become household names? Who are you excited about?

Ani Kasten – she will rise. She is having a show here in March.

You’ve said in this economy it’s particularly important that, before they represent an artist, gallery owners vet work to ensure it will hold its value. How do you go about such vetting?

First of all, we have to have artists who have a consistency and aren’t all over the place. And they have to be able to produce and not just make work once in a while. Most of the artists we show we have shown for years. They might change their style somewhat, but they are still consistent, still producing, and still loyal to the gallery.

What is ahead for you? What do you see in your future?

Working with the community around here to bring more people to the neighborhood, meshing our ideas with others’ in the neighborhood. We are working on all of that. I see retiring someday. In the fall will be 48 years. When my director decides to retire – and he told me yesterday it would be 3 years or 3½ – that’s when we should go. I have to convince Rick of that. But that will be 50 years. It’s time.

For more information about the Clay Studio gala honoring Ruth Snyderman, email gala2013@theclaystudio.org.