How Kelsey Paz Snyder Finally Embraced Fine Art
By Darien Davies
Before Kelsey Paz Snyder had a studio in Delray Beach’s Arts Warehouse, she had a corner of her son’s playroom. While there were plenty of happy smiles, it was a bit stifling for her growth.
“I was working out of Hudson’s playroom with high hopes that a harmonious collaboration between him and I would happen,” said Kelsey, 39, who knew she needed a change. “Eighty percent of the time I ended up on the floor playing with toys after the incessant questions won me over.”
Today, as an Artist “It’s been a year since being accepted and moving in, and I still unlock my door every day with a pinch-me feeling,” Kelsey said. Residence at Arts Warehouse, she has her own playroom: a small studio with a lovely window that shines natural light on her creations.
For Kelsey, Arts Warehouse isn’t simply a studio space, it’s a transformative space. That journey, however, began years before she ever picked up a paint-brush professionally.
Art has always been woven into Kelsey’s family history. Her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-aunt were all artists, and their work still hangs throughout her home today.
“I honestly don’t remember a time where art and nature weren’t at the center of our lives,” Kelsey said.
“My dreams were reflected back at me through my son’s eyes in that moment. I knew deep in my soul that painting was what I was meant to be doing.”
After college, she landed an internship at MTV in New York City, where she also met her husband, JD. They later moved to Los Angeles, where she studied floral design and worked in the industry in addition to co-founding an eco-friendly candle company with her husband. The business, Piece by Paz, exceeded their expectations, with products appearing on The Late Late Show with James Corden and in more than 50 stores and hotel gift shops nationwide.
All of that changed when her husband’s job relocated the family to Florida. Their business began to unravel, and when the pandemic arrived, they were forced to close the company altogether.
Around that same time, JD asked a question that Kelsey says altered the course of her life: “If Hudson has a class project one day where he has to draw you with three things that represent you to him, what would you want him to draw?”
Kelsey answered quickly: a heart because she loved him, a flower from the garden, and a paintbrush because she wanted him to know she was an artist.
His response was an eye-opening moment for her, saying, “If you want Hudson to see you as an artist, then you have to take yourself seriously as an artist.”
“My dreams were reflected back at me through my son’s eyes in that moment,” Kelsey said. “I knew deep in my soul that painting was what I was meant to be doing.”
Soon after settling in Delray Beach, Kelsey discovered Arts Warehouse. Even though it seemed so novel and out of reach for her, she nervously applied for the Artist in Residence program anyway.
Being accepted transformed her career because she was able to think — and create — bigger. Kelsey expanded her work beyond small canvases and began experimenting with scale, texture, and new materials. Just as importantly, she found herself surrounded by fellow artists who challenged and encouraged one another.
“The community of artists that fill the halls at Arts Warehouse are relationships I will carry with me for the rest of my life,” said Kelsey, who describes her experience at Arts Warehouse as “expansive.”
The visibility of having a public studio also opened unexpected doors. Her debut exhibition was during her first year in her studio. Since then, her work has appeared at the Palm Beach Cultural Council, JAG Gallery in Key West, Coral Springs Museum of Art, and Women’s Art Week Palm Beach.
“My art is inspired by nature, with a current focus on the coast and the quiet moments found there,” Kelsey said. “I’m interested in making work that feels both tactile and immersive, that invite people to slow down and reconnect with the natural world or maybe see something they may have overlooked or forgotten.”
Her newest collection, Shells of Hope, is inspired by any coastline she can sink her toes into and the shells and rocks she collects from it. Back in her studio, Kelsey painstakingly crushes them into fine powders before mixing them into paint, thus creating handcrafted pigments that she uses in her art.
It was just the painstaking process that she needed. While going through a difficult chapter in her life, she wanted a way to channel that pain into her art to help heal the wounds. What she found was a deeply interesting method that was also therapeutic.
“That’s when I started basically taking out all of my frustration onto shells from the beach in my mortar and pestle,” Kelsey said. “I do want my healing to be apparent, and I do want the story of the shells to be told.”
Kelsey still has two years remaining in her Arts Warehouse residency, and is excited for the annual Resident Artist Exhibition coming up in October. While she’s not sure whether her family will remain in Delray or pack up yet again, she knows that her pigment passion project will always be with her.
“I see a lot of traveling along both coasts to forage for shells and rocks, and study the diverse colors each coastline yields. So no matter where I end up, this is a future projection I’m sure of,” Kelsey said.
While Kelsey’s journey as an artist might have been a winding — albeit, very fun — road, she has finally found the therapeutic purpose behind her palette.
Some artists find a studio. Others find a community. Kelsey found both, and in doing so, found herself.
