About The Art Engine

The Château Retreat for Artists and Workshops in France is organized by The Art Engine, a resource organization for visual artists.

We have a mission to bring artists together in wonderful destinations to become inspired by their surroundings and the creativity that comes from working in small enrichment groups. These retreats are designed to give our guests an ideal environment for making art while enjoying themselves to the fullest following a tradition of artists traveling and living together. The South of France was selected for the fantastic weather, sensational scenery, the rich tapestry of historical towns and villages, not to mention the cuisine and wines of one of France’s most abundant regions.

Since the life of the working artist can be a very solitary enterprise, confined to a lonely studio, the Château Retreat for Artists was conceived to fill this void with a highly enriching experience to make memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

Your Art Retreat Leader

The Art retreats are non-instructed. The retreats are led by Julie Snyder, an experienced traveler who works tirelessly to make the experience exceptional for all guests. She is passionate about art, exploring new places and sharing these opportunities with other artists. She is an award winning artist in her own right.

A native of Scotland, Julie Snyder was encouraged to pursue her art by an artist-mother and a writer-father. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art.

Snyder’s artistic career has spanned both sides of the Atlantic and included several years of residence in Southern Spain. Julie Snyder forged her craft as an illustrator in advertising, publishing and the motion picture industry.

Her work hangs in collections and galleries across the USA and in Europe. The National Art Museum of Sport honored her three times, including her paintings in their exhibits and awarding her the prestigious gold medal for painting in 2013 for her painting “Daily Drill”. Her painting, “Blinn House Kitchen Chefs” hung in Contemporary Masters | Artistic Eden exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of History. She has exhibited with The Oil Painters of America at the SorrelSky Gallery, Santa Fe, the Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara; and the Howard/Mandeville Gallery in Washington; Addison Art Gallery in Massachusetts, The Boston International Fine Arts Show, Silvana Gallery’s International Salon of Figurative Art and with the California Art Club.

Julie Snyder also an advocate for the arts. She spent years working in promotion and marketing and uses her experience to promote the arts. She is a program coordinator for The Art Engine, and is a frequent seminar presenter for art marketing and art collecting workshops with DanielakFineArt.

To learn more about her work visit her website, JulieSnyder.com