Meet Snow Winters

Today we’d like to introduce you to Snow Winters.

Hi Snow, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My life story falls somewhere between “small-town girl” and “that just can’t be real”. I was born in the northwest corner of Arkansas to a Vietnamese mom and a Kansas dad. The only baby in the hospital. My name was supposed to be Leiah Snow Winters, but the nurse recorded Snow Leiah Winters.

Snow Winters is a big name to grow into.

I graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2000, married my first husband, and worked at the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST), as a 3D Visualization Artist. An amazing place and even more amazing work. I got the job because I had volunteered and was eager to learn anything, it was a “fake it until you make it” beginning. Most people don’t turn down free, punctual labor. All of my careers started that way. So after doing 3D work at CAST, Google, and my own company, I needed something new. I wanted to BAKE. I fell in love with it. That new career started with walking into Kim and Jake’s Cakes in Boulder, CO, and saying “I’ll work for free, just teach me.” When I moved to Oklahoma City, I chose ceramics. In Tacoma, WA, I chose laser cutting. In Seattle, I chose kink.

In Tacoma, I also chose to leave my second husband. It was a week after my brother had passed and three weeks after I had returned from New Zealand where my collaboration partner, Dawn Mostow, and I received an award for “Lady Ethereal”, our latex and laser cut acrylic garment at the 2018 World of WearableArt competition. I felt like I had reached the top in New Zealand and then the very bottom in Tacoma a month later.

I was humbled by the amount of support I received. I was being held together by the fact that everything was new again. This was my next “career” change. I just needed to learn something new. My new community gave me the space, knowledge, and support to explore kink. I saw happiness.

Then in September 2019, I lost my mom, a year after losing my brother and divorcing my second husband. The following year, the pandemic caused the dissolution of my share in a kinky BnB. This felt dangerously close to the bottom again. But I had made it out before and knew I could do it again. In late 2020, I Tinder matched with Sean. We met Sunday evening on my friend’s porch, love at first sight. The next day I went over to his place and we haven’t left each other’s side since. I saw happiness again.

In 2022, I chose painting and marriage to Sean in Oregon. Now that I’m in Nashville, I feel it’s time to bring all these choices together and see what next may come.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It’s not been a smooth road, but I also love rocky road ice cream. So yes, it could’ve been a bit smoother at times, but there were a few struggles that I would’ve never chosen.

I’m not able to have kids naturally. That continues to be a struggle that has manifested in many different feelings. Anxiety and depression have also been lifelong companions. I’m glad that my parents lived as long as they did, but I really miss my mom. That was something I wasn’t ready for and has been one of my biggest struggles.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My art and my life are the same.

My 20+ years as an artist have been an ever-evolving experiment in artistic styles, mediums, and my relationship with art.

I’ve had the opportunity to work in a variety of industries. I’ve traveled, experienced alternative lifestyles, and intimately understand hardship and tragedy.

All of these life experiences profoundly impact and drive my creative process, sometimes taking it into new directions while always maintaining a consistency that represents my core. With my wearable art, I am able to express this in the form of earrings, necklaces, purses, and other accessories while painting has been a medium that has also allowed me to represent my life.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I may have taken a few. I’m a very curious person with a yummy core of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Pricing:

• Earrings – $25 – $85
• Purses – $350 – $650
• Ties – $150 – $250

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.snowwinters.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snowwintersdesigns/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snowwintersdesigns
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snowwinters/ 

Image Credits
World of WearableArt, Erik Christianson, and Snow Winters