Earnest Snell goes from homeless in Third Ward to a one-man gallery show
Artist Earnest Snell will have a one-man show of his clay works.
Artist Earnest Snell will have a one-man show of his clay works.
Earnest Snell, who lived on the streets of Houston’s Third Ward for over 20 years, is a new man at the age of 70 who is about to have his first art exhibition. Born in Savannah, Ga., in 1951, his life story is a poignant tale of salvation through art.
Snell fondly remembers his childhood with his single mother and his older brother, Vernon, and the first stirrings of his artistic talents.
“I realized when I was about 9 that people liked what I drew,” Snell recalls. “I even helped my seventh grade art teacher teach the other kids when she had to have a meeting with a parent.”
But life got harder as he grew into his teen years.
“I dropped out of school in the 11th grade,” he said, “and then I got my GED.”
He enrolled in the Job Corps, a Department of Labor program that offers vocational training, and was sent to New Jersey to apprentice at a print shop.
“When the Job Corps time ended, I joined the Army before they could draft me. This was during Vietnam. I was 17-and-a-half years old. Since I signed up, I was able choose to go to Germany instead of being sent to Nam, and I got extra assignments drawing maps with the tank locations.”
Snell could have reenlisted after his two-year commitment, but by 1970, most enlisted men were being sent to Vietnam, so he declined.
Following his honorable discharge, he again signed up with the Job Corps. This time, he was sent to Texas and another print shop. Then, in the early 1980s, the Texas economy collapsed. Things were dire for those without safety nets, and Snell ended up on the streets.
He got occasional gigs designing T-shirts and some small painting commissions. And there was a stint in prison for marijuana possession. Even there, he continued creating art. Inmates would pay him in commissary notes to draw on a handkerchief, a piece of paper, or whatever was available.
“I had a prison guard commission me to create a drawing of his pit bull next to his truck,” he said. “He bought me a really nice canvas and a magnifying glass to see the photo better. I was really proud of the details I captured.
“God has always been by my side and brought good people into my life,” he said. “I could tell you stories of Him saving me a few times when I almost died. I messed myself up by getting on crack. Different artists and galleries in the Houston area helped me out, and I helped them by drawing, painting and doing odd jobs. I never begged on the streets.”
Two of the people who came into his life, Snell says, were Judy Adams and John Foelber, owners of Foelber Gallery and Pottery Studios on Richmond in Montrose.
They recognized a kindred spirit and fellow artist, Adams says, when they first met Snell in 2002 at the jazz services at St. James Episcopal Church in Third Ward. It was during an after-service dinner, offered to those in need, that they first noticed Snell’s talent.
Inherently shy, he was crouched in a corner drawing on his Styrofoam cup.
As they got to know him, Foelber and Adams invited him to their pottery studio to try working in clay.
Snell says a web of good Samaritans helped support him during his lean years. Capt. Paul J. Matthews, founder of the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, is a strong supporter. Earl Nash, owner of Shine’s Shoe-Boot Polishing, became an ally, working with Snell on small art projects. Robbie Lee, owner of the Black Heritage Gallery, which has since closed, gave him a place to stay in exchange for doing odd jobs and art projects.
Darryl Harper advocated for Snell through a “government bureaucratic maze,” Adams says.
Program coordinator of the Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program for Volunteers of America, Harper helped Snell get off crack and qualify to receive housing benefits, taking him to housing interviews until, in 2015, they found a good fit with the De George at Union Station in downtown Houston.
Today, Snell lives in veterans’ housing at the De George, where assistant manager Cassandra Johnson says she considers him a model tenant and a kind soul – and where he is still drawing, painting and creating in clay.
“This isn’t a fairy tale. It truly took a village of kind, compassionate and tenacious people and years of setbacks and slippery slopes,” Adams says. “Of course, the biggest piece to the story is Earnest. He had the willpower to survive decades of life on the streets. And through all of that, he kept his faith in God and in people.”
To celebrate Snell’s 70th birthday and his hard-earned success, Foelber Gallery is hosting a retrospective of his clay work.
Even though he will have his first art exhibition, Snell is humble about his talents. “I don’t consider myself an artist,” he says. “My ability is God’s gift in me. He blessed me and I have to pass my blessing to others.”