J. Christian Snedeker was born in 1952 and lived on the South Shore of Long Island, New York, until 1967. He attended the Boston Museum School of Art in the early 70's, where he studied painting, drawing, and photography. Upon completion of his studies, he moved to Charleston, SC, and began a career in furniture making. Though creatively satisfying, it was painting that was Snedeker's passion rather than furniture making. In the 1990's Snedeker returned to a more intensive study of painting and joined the Charleston Artist Guild and became an associate member of Oil Painters of America. He was welcomed into the art community with a "Best in Show" award at the 2001 Artist Guild Member Exhibition. Other awards Snedeker has received include: Third Place-Folly Beach Festival of Arts 2000 juried by John Carroll Doyle; Honorable Mention-Charleston 2001 People's Choice Art Exhibit; Honorable Mention-Charleston Outdoor Painters Association 2004 Paint-Out juried by John Carroll Doyle; and Second Place-2007 Charleston Southern Light Paint Out juried by Jonathan Green. Snedeker exhibited at the juried Oil Painters of America 2016 Salon Show at the Castle Gallery in Fort Wayne, IN. Of his artwork, Snedeker says, "I don't remember what first interested me in art, but the event that definitely ignited in me the realization of the power of painting and a desire to explore it was the Andrew Wyeth retrospective exhibit at The Boston Museum in 1970. I was simply awed by the power of an artistic vision that sought to delve deeply into the reality of one man's world. It is this searching that compels me to put paint to canvas.”